Field notes
Expert opinions. Independent views.
Real experiences from operators building with AI in the SDLC, including what worked, what failed, and what changed. We freely give our content. Our only requirement is that you attribute it to here.
By Norman and Nathan — practitioners who build production software with AI agents.
All content reflects the personal opinions of its authors and does not represent any employer, client, or affiliated organization.
Articles
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You Are About to Hire a VP of AI Capability. Do Not.
You diagnosed the CoE pattern. Now you are about to repeat it by hiring a VP of AI Capability. Here is why forcing your organization to…
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If You Are Tracking Activities Without Outcomes, You Have Already Lost
Executive Deck ↗People trained. Workshops delivered. Pilots launched. These are activities, not outcomes. If your transformation dashboard is full of activity metrics and empty of business results, you…
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If Mythos Is Real, Will the Board Wait 24 Months While You Figure It Out?
Executive Deck ↗Everyone is talking about Claude and Mythos. Nobody is talking about the fact that your org still cannot ship. The models are not your bottleneck. Your…
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Your Transformation Org Just Got a Fifteen-Year Service Award. Now You Want to Repeat That Pattern with AI?
Executive Deck ↗Your Agile Transformation VP just got a 15-year service award. The org still cannot release without a CAB meeting. Now you are building an AI team…
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Should You Take That Job or Should You Stay
Executive Deck ↗A comprehensive guide for developers weighing an offer, leaders trying to retain talent, and executives wondering why their best people keep leaving. The diagnostic that reveals…
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You Do Not Have Time for a Two-Hour Kickoff but You Have Time to Fail for a Year
Executive Deck ↗A VP told me his org only had 30 minutes for AI training. I recommended the two-hour kickoff that has consistently produced results. He said they…
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I Drove a Cactus Into a House in Marseille, France
Executive Deck ↗You keep buying the fastest tool on the market and wondering why nothing changed. The problem is not the vehicle. The problem is your streets were…
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Introducing Synthetic Users, Customers, and Personas
Executive Deck ↗A synthetic user is an LLM agent calibrated to a real reader persona that can navigate your product, read your copy, and tell you what is…
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Your Leaders Stopped Building. Now Vendors Own Your AI Strategy.
Executive Deck ↗Your technology leaders stopped building years ago. When AI arrived, vendors filled the vacuum. The fix is not better tools. It is rebuilding the technical leadership…
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The Tool Is a Commodity. The Organizational Adoption Expertise Is Not.
Executive Deck ↗Listen ↗The performance gap between top Gen AI coding tools is not what is slowing you down. Your governance model and your SDLC are. Pick the vendor…
Essential or Ornamental
Three companies. Three choices. One satisfactory ending.
One does nothing. One maps the waste. One bets everything on twelve people in a warehouse.
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