Proto Typing Too

A computer monitor displays a huge Excel spreadsheet named "JANAs-spreadsheet-COPY-203.xlsx," representing the business-critical spreadsheet everyone is afraid to change.

The Spreadsheet Everyone Was Afraid to Touch

A temporary spreadsheet built to save time became a business-critical system that outlived its creator. A funny story about institutional knowledge hiding in plain sight.

Computer screen showing multiple spreadsheet files named Budget_FINAL, Budget_FINAL_v2, Budget_FINAL_v2_REAL, and Budget_FINAL_v2_REAL_THISONE, illustrating version-control workarounds.

Version Control for Normal Humans

Why do so many shared drives contain files named FINAL_v2_REAL_THISONE.xlsx? It isn't bad file naming. It's how people adapt when software doesn't match the way work actually gets done.

Illustration of a project manager on vacation while an AI assistant handles routine project questions, highlighting the value of captured knowledge and documentation.

The Vacation Test

A 35-day vacation, an AI clone, and the real lesson about knowledge capture. AI doesn't replace experience. It depends on it.

2 office workers chat by a server rack used like a water cooler. A monitor above joins the conversation, showing how an AI assistant can feel like a coworker after repeated interactions.

The New Work Relationship

We spend years teaching computers to communicate like people. Then we accidentally start treating them like coworkers. Why the relationship change has more to do with us than AI.

A traveler uses a smartphone while airport workers prepare an aircraft outside, illustrating that people still perform most of the work behind modern travel.

Typewriters. ATMs. AI?

What do the printing press, the typewriter, the ATM, and AI have in common? Every one sparked predictions of widespread job losses. The reality was far more interesting.

Movers carry boxes labeled with error messages from a cubicle area into an executive corner office, illustrating how automation shifts mistakes and responsibility.

The Error Moved To The Corner Office

Automation can eliminate some mistakes, but it doesn't eliminate responsibility. Often the errors just move somewhere harder to see - and more expensive to fix.

Hiring manager examining a resume through a magnifying glass while the job candidate standing behind it appears slightly blurred.

The Resume That Gets The Interview

AI can make resumes better, clearer, and fairer. It can also change what a resume actually measures. And that's where things get interesting.

A giant sandworm swallows digital files, records, and data streams in a desert landscape, representing fears that AI turns every interaction into training data.

The Worm Emperor Problem

Many people imagine AI as a giant hive mind that learns from every interaction. The reality is far less dramatic—and understanding the difference matters.

Professional using an AI assistant to generate plans & documents while unfinished work piles up around her.

Show Me. Let Me Try. Correct Me.

AI may be changing how we learn. Instead of manuals and courses, many of us now learn through conversation, experimentation, and feedback - much like traditional apprenticeships. The opportunity is real. So is the risk. The hardest part isn't "Show Me." It's "Correct Me."

A Pac-Man-shaped figure labeled “CHATBOT” eats a book manuscript while spitting out scene cards, summaries, notes, and metadata instead of finished writing.

The Chatbot Ate My Scenes

AI helped me start writing a book. Then it quietly buried the actual writing under scene cards, summaries, rewrites, and endless almost-progress. A look at how AI can create the feeling of momentum without helping you finish.

Professional woman holding a plant-based menu while a confident waiter proudly serves a large steak, illustrating how AI can generate polished but contextually wrong answers.

Solving The Wrong Problem Efficiently

AI can generate polished, useful, and completely reasonable answers while still missing the actual problem underneath the request. Why good outputs can quietly create dangerous misalignment.

Middle-aged man riding a skateboard along a beach path while tossing polished documents into the air, illustrating how AI can mimic expertise without deep understanding.

AI Is Flattening Expertise

AI can produce polished, professional-looking work in seconds. The real difference between novice and expert increasingly shows up somewhere else entirely: edge cases, tradeoffs, loopholes, and the weird moments where reality refuses to cooperate.

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