Field notes from the work

Ideas worth testing in the real world.

Practical writing about what current AI can do, where it still struggles, and the systems teams need around it.

Capability · 14 min

99.9% of People Have No Idea What AI Can Do Now

AI capability has moved from answering questions to completing long, tool-using work. Most people and most organizations are still operating from an older picture.

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Systems · 11 min

Demos Are Easy. Systems Are Not.

A model response can be impressive in five minutes. Dependable work requires context, tools, permissions, evaluation, recovery, and an owner.

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Decision framework · 10 min

Agent, Automation, or Ordinary Software?

A practical framework for choosing the least complicated system that can reliably complete the work.

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Data · 11 min

Most AI Projects Are Data Projects First

The model is rarely the first hard problem. Access, meaning, permissions, freshness, and feedback determine whether the system can work.

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Leverage · 11 min

What One Person Can Build Now

AI does not eliminate expertise. It gives a capable person enough execution leverage to cross boundaries that once required a small organization.

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Architecture · 12 min

The Real AI Stack: Models, Context, Tools, and Evaluation

The model creates capability. Context, tools, state, controls, and evaluation determine whether that capability becomes a dependable product.

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Decision framework · 10 min

Build, Buy, or Integrate?

A decision framework for acquiring AI capability without buying a platform where a feature would do, or building a platform where a product already exists.

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Evaluation · 12 min

How to Know Whether an AI Agent Actually Works

Evaluate the completed job, the decisions inside it, and the operating cost. Do not accept a confident final message as evidence.

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Notes, not a content calendar

Occasional writing when the work teaches us something.