Where should the robot look?
FIELD NOTES · AUGUST 202601
My team of personal productivity robots
Eliminate all
tedious digital work.
In the past two months, I’ve built robots that handle all the tedious digital work in my life: invoicing, project management, website edits, inbox triage, meeting notes, logistics, sales pages and client budget changes.
I don’t do that work anymore.
It has freed an enormous amount of time, reduced my mental load and restored my enthusiasm for work. I’m excited to show you how—and help you do the same.
MEET THE FIELDGUIDE · BACKBONE02
Backbone: one conversation became everything we needed to launch a retreat.
Backbone is a men’s retreat I’m developing with a collaborator. After our first conversation, I gave the transcript to the Fieldguide—my main business robot—and asked: “Can you take care of this?”
1-hour conversation about a possible retreat
→
→
▤Collaborator’s agreement▦Budget▣Sales page☷Launch plan
TIME SAVEDSeveral days of my work → about 20 minutes
QUALITYMet both our quality standards after just a couple of minor tweaks
MEET THE FIELDGUIDE · THREE SYSTEMS03
Backbone worked because the Fieldguide already knew my business.
The Fieldguide is my main business robot. I built it gradually from ordinary text files, shared documents and selected integrations—not one giant prompt. It works because of three simple subsystems:
=
Whose move? When should it return?
Across my connected inboxes.
That is why “Can you take care of this?” was enough: it already knew the business, the project and the relevant conversations.
THE FIELDGUIDE · CONTEXT04
THE FIELDGUIDE▤1 · Context☷2 · Projects✉3 · Messages
Context Engineering: I taught the robot where to look.
8 YEARSof business contextmarketing · brand · purpose · vision · mission · values · operations
→
10useful Google Docs
Shared in Google Docs, so collaborators and robots use the same canonical map.
→
▤A COMPACT MAP OF THE BUSINESSTen short summaries and pointers to canonical sources—not a copy of everything.
I’ve done marketing projects, brand workshops and purpose / vision / mission / values workshops. None came close to understanding my businesses as well as this robot.
THE FIELDGUIDE · PROJECTS05
THE FIELDGUIDE▤1 · Context☷2 · Projects✉3 · Messages
Project management is a conversation now.
“Backbone retreat is waiting on my collaborator. Finance needs my review. Coliving Event can wait until next week.”
☷ THE FIELDGUIDE ORGANISESWhose move?What matters now?When should it return?
Behind the conversation, each project has a simple text record: my role, status, next actions, whose move it is, source links, and how often it deserves attention. I report what changed; the Fieldguide maintains the system.
THE FIELDGUIDE · MESSAGES06
THE FIELDGUIDE▤1 · Context☷2 · Projects✉3 · Messages
For 15 years, inbox overload was one of the most consistent pain points in my life.
WhatsAppTelegramTwitter DMsEmail
too many messages→fall behind→shame→avoidance
I let down friends and missed business opportunities.
✉ NOW I ASK THE ROBOT
“Which messages do I need to pay attention to?”
- Clients get the fast replies they need.
- I’m reaching out to friends more.
- I am liberated from inbox anxiety.
When I ask, the Fieldguide checks recent messages against the projects and clients it already knows, then returns one prioritised list. Inbox access is read-only and on demand: the robot can inspect and draft; only I send.
THE FIELDGUIDE · THREE SYSTEMS TOGETHER07
THE FIELDGUIDE▤1 · Context☷2 · Projects✉3 · Messages
Three systems turn one WhatsApp question from a client into an intelligent answer.
☎ WhatsApp message“What would it do to the budget if we extend the retreat by a day?”
THE ROBOT DRAFTSan intelligent answerfor me to review
It matches the sender to the client, finds the active retreat and budget, applies our budgeting method, and drafts the answer. I check the numbers and send it.
IN MY PERSONAL LIFE · FITNESS TRAINER08
FITNESS TRAINERIN MY PERSONAL LIFE
The Fitness Trainer robot is helping me build an exercise routine that suits me precisely.
Calisthenics instructions were scattered across 81 YouTube videos. I asked the robot to transcribe them and build an interactive exercise database with video demonstrations, workouts and progress tracking.
6h 45m≈64,300 words
TODAY
Workout
5ten-step exercise ladders
▶click-to-watch demos
↗history + progress
20 logged entries alreadyIt turned scattered instruction into something designed precisely for me—something I can follow, use and track.
IN MY WORK AS A COACH · COACHING SUPERVISOR09
COACHING SUPERVISORIN MY COACHING PRACTICE
As a coach, I’m getting feedback from my supervisor robot.
I feel myself getting better with every call.
WITH EXPLICIT CLIENT CONSENTone session transcript → two outputs
PRIVATE SUPERVISION FOR MEprecise feedback · 60-second next-call brief
STRENGTHS
- Finds the live pattern
- Restores agency without blame
- Turns abstraction into experiments
DEVELOPMENT EDGES
- Slow down before becoming useful
- Stay longer with emotion
- Land the plane
When I leave a call with doubt or discomfort, the robot points to the moment, names the blind spot, and suggests something precise to practise next time.
HOW TO ELIMINATE TEDIOUS DIGITAL WORK10
These robots want to help you eliminate all tedious digital work.
This is the skill I want to help you develop: identify what can be automated, delegate it safely, and build a personal system one useful job at a time.
Copying and pasting. Logistics. Checking. Chasing. Reformatting. Reconciling. Anytime you are combining existing information from multiple sources into a new destination: a robot could do that.
Give it the relevant history, examples and source material. Install integrations between your AI and your other digital tools.
Explain what should happen, how it should work, the boundaries, and what a good result looks like.
The only technical skill you need is the ability to express your intentions precisely and give feedback when your expectations are not met.
Automate one small task. Test it for a week. Then add another task. Build your system gradually.
Start read-only or draft-only. Keep consequential decisions human until the job is stable.
The aim is much higher digital productivity with far less digital tedium and mental load—leaving more attention for discernment, personal development, relationships, creativity, fun and higher-leverage work.
If you want help getting started, reach out to Rich.
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