Get it out of your head and shipped.
For the brain with twelve tabs open and nothing finished. I test the tools and build the workflows that get things out of your head and shipped — costs and dead-ends left in. Field Notes through the week, the long read on Friday.
43% open it every week · tested on real builds, not think-pieces
— hours saved with AI, and counting ≈ 7 hrs/week since 2023
This is for you if…
You've got twelve AI tabs open and haven't finished one.
You can see what to build but can't make yourself start.
You've been burned by AI hype and want what actually holds up.
This week
All posts →- Newsletter SoN 2.29: Agents reading your passwords? Would you let them?
My AI's been getting into my password manager for months. The setup that makes that safe — and what this week's headlines get wrong.
- Field Note Field Note: Tell AI What You Want and Who You Are
Two takes on the same idea — the ASD-STE100 controlled-English standard and the i-have-adhd Claude Code skill — on giving your AI a writing system and telling it what you want.
Who writes it
I'm Jim Christian — an integrator. I connect domains most people keep separate: security, education, AI. I test everything I write about, and if it doesn't hold up, I say so. Nothing here is theory — it's what I've actually shipped.
What lands in your inbox
- Field Notes through the week — quick, tested, one idea each.
- The Friday issue — the full build, costs and dead-ends left in.
- No fluff — no "AI will change everything," just what worked and what didn't.
Start getting the signal.
One email through the week, the long read on Friday. Free.
Subscribe free →Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
Reader-supported
Everything I publish is free — every Field Note and every Friday issue, in full. No paywall on the writing, ever.
If it's useful and you'd like to help keep it going, you can back it for €7 a month (or €69 a year). As a thank-you, supporters get it ad-free, plus the builds and code behind each issue in a member Notion.
Support the writing →