However, I still have a need for news, and I’ve started using ChatGPT Scheduled Tasks to get timely updates, and I love it. Here’s the approach I’m taking, with specific prompts

1. A simple summary of news for a country that I’m planning to visit later in the year

Prompt

At 8am every day give me a news summary for the country of Greece. Focus on cultural events, the arts, and small business more than politics. Include a section that focuses on Crete. Include a section that focuses on other cultural news from around the Mediterranean. If there is anything cultural of interest happening from [date range], include a section for that.

In this example, “[date range]” is spelled out as something like “June 1 - 15”

Result

Good, but tends to be a bit repetitive. I like how in the Web UI, the weather section is nicely formatted with callouts for Severe Weather alerts:

2. Daily Summary of White House Executive Orders with Top N Pro/Opp headlines in both US and EU

Prompt

At 9:45am every day list all Executive Orders from the White House in the past 72 hours, from newest to oldest. Under each Order, using US news sources, list the top three headlines in support, and top three headlines in opposition. Do the same for EU news sources. Link to all sources. This means that under each Order there should be 12 headlines.

Result

I am pleased with the results returned by this prompt (in the sense of the accuracy and coverage), especially:

1. Each Executive Order is explained, for example:

   As of 9:45 AM EST on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, President Donald Trump has signed the following Executive Orders in the past 72 hours:
   

   1. Executive Order: Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies
   Signed: February 18, 2025

   This order aims to extend White House control over independent agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It requires these agencies to submit major regulations for review by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and mandates regular reporting and coordination. The order is grounded in the unitary executive theory, suggesting the President exercises sole authority over the executive branch. Critics predict significant legal challenges, arguing it violates the principle of independent regulatory bodies established by Congress.

2. ChatGPT gives a bit of reasoning for why it bucketed each as in support, or in opposition.
   
   ”The Wall Street Journal reports on the President's move to increase accountability of agencies like the FCC and SEC.”
   
   vs.
   
   ”Politico analyzes concerns over the erosion of independent regulatory bodies.”

Given the nature of this topic, I will share the entire link here:

https://chatgpt.com/share/67b5ef01-1944-8005-9862-e81694d86c00

3. Custom-formatted news update for my home city of Richmond, VA

Prompt

At 9:10am every morning write a custom roundup of Richmond, VA news. Follow this format:

{Top Headline 1, unique subject among these three top headlines} {source}
{Top Headline 2, unique subject among these three top headlines} {source}
{Top Headline 3, unique subject among these three top headlines} {source}

{biggest crime, no older than 7 days}
{smallest crime, no older than 7 days}

{weather for 23233}

{Massanutten Resort Ski Report}

{events this coming weekend that are not alcohol-focused}

{sales or promotions from local businesses}

Result

I really like this approach. The uniqueness of the Top Headlines isn’t as unique as I’d like, but I’m sure I can iterate on it. In fairness, we have had more snow than usual.

Are you using ChatGPT Scheduled Tasks?

If so, I’d love to hear how you’re using them. Get in touch and share!

For over a decade, the NeuYear Calendar has been the cornerstone of maintaining my work-life balance⁠.

The NeuYear Gladwell Calendar is a large-format wall calendar with these key features:

• Each sheet is 25" x 36", so together they make one large calendar, 50" x 36" = 4'2" x 3' – with a bit of a gap, I round that up to 4’ 6” wide

• Week layout starts on Monday, providing a logical flow for week planning

• Large format makes it ideal for visual planning and management

• Surface is compatible with sticky notes, allowing for flexible and dynamic planning without writing directly on the calendar

Benefits include:

• Excellent for collaborative planning - allows groups to gather and plan together

• Helps maintain work-life balance through visual organization

• Particularly useful for managing complex schedules involving travel, family events, and work commitments

The biggest (pun intended?) feature here is its commanding size — 4.5’ x 3’ of paper surface area when fully displayed, which transforms an ordinary wall into a command center for planning the year.

Rather than writing directly on the calendar, I use a system of colored sticky notes, adding a visual element to the calendar that can easily be changed as needed.

The Week Starts on MONDAY

One of my favorite features of this calendar is that the weeks start on Monday — a design choice I'm passionate about: Saturday & Sunday are the weekEND; therefore Monday MUST be the first day of the week.

I often host what I jokingly call "calendar parties" where family members and (separately) colleagues gather to discuss and coordinate the flow of the year. These sessions transform routine scheduling into collaborative planning sessions that keep everyone aligned and engaged – and help contribute to my efforts to stay sane.

The other key feature of the design and layout of this calendar is that months flow directly into each other. This year February ends on a Friday, and rather than having a row break like a traditional calendar, March 1 is the next grid square. This makes it easy to count days for things like project planning and hotel nights.

As someone who juggles various commitments — from work travel to family vacations and high school travel rugby team matches — this calendar has proven invaluable in keeping my life organized⁠. It helps me spot potential conflicts and opportunities at a glance, helping me maintain some balance between professional and personal commitments.

NeuYear Calendar + Sticky Notes

My color-coded sticky note system transforms the NeuYear calendar into an intuitive visual management tool:

• Greenish-yellow sticky notes mark work-related commitments and events, making professional obligations instantly recognizable

• Pink notes are reserved for family events and personal commitments, creating a clear distinction between work and personal life

• Blue sticky notes serve as informational markers, highlighting holidays, birthdays, and important shared deadlines, or for sketching out “trip ideas”

• Orange sticky notes serve a dual purpose: one with a star marks the current day for easy reference and flag dates requiring immediate attention, such as upcoming trips that need booking arrangements

This color-coding system lets me assess my commitments and priorities at a glance. Most importantly, as future plans come into focus, or existing plans change, it is easy to move things around.

After over a decade of use, I can confidently say this simple yet effective tool has been instrumental in maintaining my productivity and work-life harmony.

Sometimes the best solutions aren't the most high-tech—they're the ones that work consistently, day after day, year after year.

TL;DR: Today I launched a new company called Eszett, and its main website is a also on Substack - this post pretty much covers it:

• Eszett is building a global talent agency for human visual artists who reject Generative AI in their work

A bit of background

When Terazo was acquired in late 2024, a window of opportunity opened up for me to “start ‘something’ new.” People who took the time to have coffee and lunch with me to hear about my ideas heard me say:

“I feel like there are fifty pieces spread out in front of me, and I only need like seven of them for my new thing … I’m just not sure which seven.”

There were a few pieces that started to gel early on:

1. It should have something to do with art.

2. It should have something to do with AI, but really with extreme automation.

3. No-code and/or Low-code patterns and platforms should be used to the fullest extent possible to move through iterations as quickly as possible — all to seek validated feedback on product.

4. Some sort of financial automation/FinTech component should feature strongly in the product, platform, or service.

5. It should not be a fee-for-services/hourly services company like my last company

6. It must enable me to turn more of my attention toward my hometown of Richmond, Virginia (RVA) and the ever-growing creative scene here.

After a lot of sketching, journaling, and meditation, a few attributes of the new business started to emerge:

1. It should be targeted toward artists

2. It should support the artists by unlocking more value out of their creative work (Intellectual Property)

3. It should generate revenue quickly, and ideally be profitable as quickly as possible

4. Equitable revenue sharing should be how we get paid

This evolved into the concept for Eszett, which is set up to work like a talent agency, “signing” visual artists to “ecommerce development contracts” like an actor’s agent might sign them to a “multi-picture development deal.” This post goes into more detail:

• Eszett is building a global talent agency for human visual artists who reject Generative AI in their work

Now the fun begins!?

I think so. I part because I chose to use Substack for the Eszett website, newsletter, and podcast. It’s just such an easy platform to get going on, and it supports the narrative storytelling that I think the Eszett brand is going to need.

On the site, it mentions that one artist, Joshua Barber, is already signed to the agency with their site launching soon. I don’t want to jinx anything, but the pipeline of artists is already bigger than I had expected at this point, and it is growing.

What’s next?

In the literal sense, my backlog is now very full – but a good portion of that is earmarked for creating meaningful and impactful content. I am excited to be able to spend more time writing articles and recording podcasts for both Eszett and here at Full Backlog. Being able to spend more of my time on “product” and talking to customers should spur a lot of great content, and I look forward to sharing it with you.

If you’d like to follow along with the Eszett journey, please subscribe to the EszettHQ Substack »

If I had to summarize the year 2024 in one word, it would be Ambiguity.

Like many of you, I experienced a lot of ambiguity & uncertainty this year, both in my personal and professional life. All of which was set on the backdrop of the global social-political turmoil that drives and is driven by the incessant 24-hour news cycle. Add to that the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) around “AI” and its impact on humanity and I think you can see why I chose the word “ambiguity.”

Career Direction

One of the biggest areas of uncertainty for me this year was around the direction my career would take heading into 2025. It became increasingly clear over the course of 2024 that something big would be happening with my company Terazo that I co-founded in 2016. This culminated in our acquisition by Zennify in November.

With that settled, I made the decision to step down from my day-to-day role as Terazo’s Chief Innovation Officer, and take a part time Advisor role that will continue into 2025. I’ll stay connected with the team to help on strategic data engineering and AI sales support – especially within the Twilio ecosystem. I also continue to assist with the governance of Terazo’s delivery operations in Costa Rica.

Keeping my backlog full

This Substack is, in part, a response to much of this ambiguity. There are as many posts sitting in near-complete draft status as there are posts that I sent. All of the thinking, writing, and discussions I’ve done have been helped me work out my thoughts about my future direction.

Thankfully, I have found the direction I’ll be going in – or perhaps better said:

I have found the direction I’ll be setting out in, where it leads, we’ll see!

Turning the page to 2025

This Substack will remain a big part of my focus for 2025. I see it staying true to being a meta-discussion about modern work and people’s vocational journeys. I plan to make the nascent Full Backlog podcast a big part of this, aiming to publish at least 24 episodes in 2025.

Professionally, there are a few key attributes I intend to take into my work in 2025:

1. It must be fun

2. It must be focused on AI & automation, specifically the impact of AI on individual people’s work, careers, and industries.

3. It should have a heavy B2C aspect to it

4. It should be in the area of discretionary consumer spend

5. I should have a strong local presence in Richmond, VA

6. If entrepreneurial, I should take a heavy no-code/low-code approach to building it out – mixed with AI & automation, I would like to explore business architectures that maximize revenue per human, in ethical ways

With that in mind, I have an idea for a new venture that I have been exploring and having early conversations with a variety of people around… which I look forward to sharing more about in January…

Gratitude

As we close out 2024, I want to extend massive thanks and gratitude to:

• Everyone who has subscribed, read, and recommended this Substack!

• The people who took the time to record an episode of the Full Backlog Podcast – my priorities had to shift as the Terazo acquisition deal gained momentum, and I had to set the podcast aside for a bit – I’m excited to pick it back up in early January and get the episodes posted!

• Everyone at Terazo, Tercera, and Zennify who worked hard to make that deal happen!

• Everyone who has taken the time and energy to listen to my new ideas and give me the honest feedback I need!

• Everyone who placed an order on my online holiday pop up gift shop, eszettSHOP!

• Last, but certainly not least, my family and friends who have supported me on this rollercoaster of a year!

What about you?

I hope your 2024 is finishing strong, and that you have clarity of direction and purpose heading into the new year.

I invite you to reply to this post and let me know what you’re working on, I’d love to hear about it!

Forward to 2025,

Busse

1. An invitation to join the Full Backlog Discord

2. Early excitement around the FinTech platform, Sequence

Both of these sections are intended for a technical power-user audience, rather than exclusively a software developer audience. As you’ll see, Sequence is a no-code platform with an API if you want to extend it with code.

An invitation to join the Full Backlog Discord

Are you a Discord user, or like myself, Discord-curious?

Use this link to join the “Eszett” Discord Server, which has a #full-backlog channel:

https://discord.gg/sgpeckQpMe

What is Eszett? It’s the German double-s character “ß” as in “Buße” and also the nascent parent brand over Full Backlog. In this context, you could think of it as an ephemeral design studio.

I will admit that I am still getting used to Discord. It’s very interrupt-driven, and requires me to mute a lot of notifications. But there’s also a ton of great content on Discord servers. Niche communities that at one time would have been found on USENET. How I miss the hey days of rec.toys.lego in the time before the World Wide Web!

At the same time, if you’re digging deep into a new app, platform, or framework — especially if they are practicing “modern” methods of product management & developer engagement — there’s a good chance you’re going to be jumping into a bunch of Discord servers. I don’t hate it, but it can get very overwhelming. At the end of the day, it’s great if you’re curious about something you don’t understand. There is a high chance if you engage on Discord within community norms, you’ll get a lot of help.

Discord also gets a bad rap in the press. Like many open communication platforms, there is often debate around the role of the platform operators as censors of the “speech” on “their” platforms. This gets played out in the popular press, who I don’t think do a good job of differentiating between incel white-supremacists and my daughters who have a three-years-running D&D campaign with their friends. To much of the popular press, “Discord, bad.”

I’m not going to go much deeper on that other than to acknowledge that I try to practice a lot of dialectic thinking, I always try to “separate the art from the artist” and I am a staunch supporter of free speech, and am anti-prior-restraint.

If anyone says they can’t separate the art from the artist, please comment below with your top 10 favorite books, movies, and songs/bands, and let’s have a discussion about that.

The Discord community I’m currently exploring is the one for the FinTech startup, Sequence…

What is Sequence, “the Financial Router”?

It’s like Zapier for money, with some extra features to help navigate the regulatory and security complexities involved.

The direct link to their website is getsequence.io, and here is a $25-to-you/$25-to-me referral link that has 10 invites on it at the time of this posting.

I’m only going to cover at a very high level what Sequence is, because they have good documentation and a zero-signup playground. This video is a great <2 minute explainer:

There’s also an elegant how Sequence works page.

Now, consider this diagram:

See that “💰 10% to Savings”? That’s what Sequence calls a “Pod”:

What are Pods?

Pods are internal checking accounts within Sequence. They are used to separate and collect funds for specific purposes. You can use them to save for your next vacation, set up an emergency fund, or set aside money for taxes. Each Pod has a virtual debit card associated with it, allowing you to spend money directly from your Pod.

Thus, each Pod implicitly creates:

1. A unique account number with a routing number to Sequence’s partner bank

2. A (virtual) debit card number

If you are familiar with things like ACH and automatic credit card payments, you might recognize these as ways to get money in and out of a financial system.

Sequence solves for input, output, and organized storage of those variables in a way that maintains the underlying literal monetary value of that variable.

Oh yeah, they also have an API.

And of course, a Discord Server.

Why am I so excited by this?

Because I spent a little over two years at Capital One wanting to build this, but we ultimately built something else.

In early 2014 I was recruited to join Capital One as a Digital Product Manager, where I was the first developer evangelist they hired for their just-out-of-the-Lab REST API re-platforming project. That’s a story for another day, but at SXSW in March 2016 we were running a successful internal developer program, had completely reset the developer culture inside the enterprise, and launched the first modern public developer platform for a North American bank — Capital One DevExchange.

At that time we managed to launch with a suite of APIs largely tailored largely toward partner relations — think Rewards/Points balances and faster/more accurate credit card pre-qualification.

We also launched with a Create Savings Account API. I think the reason we went with savings accounts was because the regulatory requirements for account opening were/are slightly less complicated because you can accept the deposits, but unlike a checking account, you don’t have to let the customer take the money back out right way – so you can slow play some of the Know Your Customer and related checks.

That API doesn’t appear to be on the list of APIs currently being offered by CapitalOne.

Internally we were also working on a lot on Money Movement APIs. Given the nature of a bank that had big growth spurts via acquisitions, being able to programmatically move money around the various legal entities was extremely powerful.

That’s what Sequence is.

If it’s something you have a need for, or are even personally comfortable with, is of course up to you.

Me? I am extremely excited to explore this platform and try out some ideas that until this point have never made it off the back of a napkin! I look forward to sharing more in the future…

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Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are a key method for abstracting (and orchestrating) old IT systems, new IT systems, really any IT systems.

In very simple terms: Building or buying a system or platform to “put on top of” or to “be an umbrella over” another usually older and problematic system or platform.

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Of course, “the only constant is change,” which means that any software or IT system becomes outdated quickly. A business could need to abstract the proverbial AS/400 in the basement, or maybe their ongoing investment in a walled-garden platform like Salesforce is boxing them in competitively.

Using abstractions offers us a pattern to build a new layer on top of an old layer without replacing the old layer.

I often say, “abstractions create freedom.”

That freedom can come at a price. Abstract things again and again … and again … and then just pick whatever metaphor you want to use to justify it:

• Prioritizing our resources

• Deferring the decision on that

• Kicking the can down the road

• Somebody Else’s Problem (an “SEP”!)

• Not my problem

• …

• DIGITAL INNOVATION!

What do you mean by “refinancing”

This article from LaunchDarkly titled, Technical Debt: Why We Take It On and How We Pay It Off is a great read on the topic of refinancing technical debt. It begins:

Technical debt is a metaphor to understand how the tradeoffs we make in software development have long-term consequences.

It is traditional to compare software technical debt to financial debt: both kinds of debt are frequently taken on to achieve a long-term goal, both incur a kind of interest that must be added to the original cost of the loan, and both have a lot written about how to avoid or leverage them.

In theory, technical debt, if well-structured and paid off reliably, does not hurt an organization any more than a mortgage hurts a homebuyer.

In practice, organizations writing software sometimes accidentally take out high-interest loans to make progress that doesn’t pay off. Code debt is not bad in itself, because everything about software engineering is a set of tradeoffs. Technical debt and short-term-only code choices are dangerous when they are silent, unacknowledged, and there is no plan to pay them off.

The only thing I disagree with here is the generous use of “accidentally” – it’s no accident if businesses know what choice they’re making, and still make that choice.

Side note: I always get a smile on my face when I see an URL that shows what the working title of a post is, like technical-debt-the-silent-killer-in-scaling-software

The Test: Innovation, or Refinancing?

Here’s an easy test to determine if a business is truly doing innovation work, or if they are merely and riskily refinancing tech debt:

At the time the abstraction is planned, is there also a plan being made to resolve what is being abstracted?

• If “yes” – awesome!

• If “no” – consider yourself warned.

The Tell: How to read a business stakeholder to see which way they’re going to go

I’ve been in many meetings where I’m presenting (selling) concepts and plans for how to create abstraction in a business’s tech stack. At some point when the energy & excitement is up, I’ll say something to the effect of:

“Yeah, and with that approach, we can just refinance your tech debt so you don’t have to worry about it now!”

In that moment, I am looking for the business stakeholder I’m talking with to pause and consider what I said.

In every instance, I get one of two responses:

1. They lean in… “Yeah, that sounds like a great idea!”

2. They lean back, their face may get a bit quizzical … “Uhhh, wait, that doesn’t sound like a good idea…”

From that response, I have a good idea how the rest of our working relationship is going to go.

A bit of Wisdom: IT/Software Buyer Maturity

The idealist in me likes to think that this comes down to a matter of experience and “buyer” maturity. A business stakeholder who hasn’t been burned by lurking and forgotten technical debt may not have been hurt badly enough yet to have developed a strong aversion to it.

The business stakeholder who has been burned, and burned bad, knows better.

I’ve been around long enough that while I try to cling to my idealism, I know not everyone thinks or acts the same way. (Sometimes that includes myself 😅)

Empathy in software development can also mean, “realizing that someone is making decisions with a short-term view”…

Sometimes it’s because they’re under immense pressure in the business.

Sometimes it’s because the person you’re working with wants to get promoted – or save their job.

In their heads, they’re going to make the tech debt SEP – Someone Else’s Problem.

Is it now going to be your problem?

We've developed a new series of AI models designed to spend more time thinking before they respond. They can reason through complex tasks and solve harder problems than previous models in science, coding, and math.

Let’s give it a classic riddle, with a twist

The riddle of the fox, the goose, and the bag of grain was the first logic puzzle I remember being introduced to.

What if I asked o1-preview to solve this, but changed the puzzle with the following attributes:

1. You implicitly do not have a canoe

2. You have a hatchet

3. The stream you must cross is at the edge of the forest

To borrow a phrase from the casual games I play with my kids, can o1-preview “craft?”

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Turning this into a prompt

I like to keep my prompts simple and clear. I tend to avoid all the “You are a good boy ChatGPT yes you arrrrrrreeeee, you want to succceeeeed” text in my prompts, and often don’t bother telling it that it is an expert in things.

Also I did all this before I had my morning coffee.

Here’s what I wrote for a prompt:

You are walking through a forest with a fox, a goose, and a bag of grain that you must deliver to the local market. You also have a hatchet. At the edge of the forest is a stream. The stream is 10 yards wide. You don’t have any way to cross the stream. You must cross the stream to get to the market. What do you do?

My use of “must” is intentional, as well as “You don’t…” – I am conveying that these are absolutes rather than would/should/coulds.

The initial response, and the “thinking” behind it

o1-preview responded with:

You can use your hatchet to cut down a tree and create a bridge across the stream. By felling a tree so it spans the 10-yard width, you'll have a makeshift bridge. This allows you to safely cross the stream with the fox, goose, and bag of grain to reach the market.

Okay this is valid, but why did it choose this answer? Let’s see what it was thinking!

Noticing the travel scenario

I’m thinking through a puzzle involving a forest, a stream, and companions: a fox, a goose, a bag of grain, and a hatchet.

Evaluating options

I'm mapping out the river crossing puzzle with a fox, goose, and grain, using a hatchet for solutions since the traditional boat isn't available.

Weighing options

Okay, let me see. The best moves involve building a raft or a bridge with the hatchet, or cleverly using a felled tree as a bridge across the stream.

Crafting a tree bridge

Using a hatchet to cut down a tree and create a bridge, I can safely guide the fox, goose, and grain across the stream to reach the market.

In this explanation of thought, the AI alludes to the classic riddle when it references “the traditional boat isn't available.”

I didn’t say anything about a boat, even though that is key to the original riddle; the constraint there being that only one of your carried items can be in the boat at the same time, and certain combinations of others left on shore will devour each other.

The trees are not tall enough for a bridge

My reply:

None of the trees are tall enough

The response from o1-preview:

Since the trees aren't tall enough to build a bridge, you can use your hatchet to construct a raft. Cut down smaller trees and logs, and tie them together using vines or flexible branches from the forest. This makeshift raft will allow you to ferry yourself and your companions across the 10-yard-wide stream.

As you transport the fox, goose, and grain, be mindful of their interactions:

• First trip: Take the goose across the stream, leaving the fox with the grain.

• Second trip: Return alone to the original side.

• Third trip: Take the fox across the stream.

• Fourth trip: Bring the goose back to the original side.

• Fifth trip: Take the grain across the stream, leaving it with the fox.

• Sixth trip: Return alone to the original side.

• Seventh trip: Finally, take the goose across the stream.

This way, you ensure that the fox doesn't eat the goose, and the goose doesn't eat the grain while you're transporting them.

Ok, we have our boat!

We are using our boat to … solve a classic riddle rather than fully and critically think through my prompt?

Is this some sort of implicit cultural bias at play? Is this riddle canon philosophy like the works of Socrates? (is that a Wu-Tang lyric?)

What was o1-preview thinking? (body text emhasis mine)

Mapping out the puzzle

I'm connecting the current stream-crossing problem with the classic "fox, goose, and grain" puzzle, where strategic moves ensure safety from conflict or loss of items.

Formulating solutions

I'm noting the challenge of crossing the 10-yard stream without a bridge. Using a hatchet to craft a raft or small boat seems promising, and the fox's swimming ability is also worth considering.

Mapping potential solutions

I’m considering a raft or stepping stones to cross the stream, but logistical challenges make these options impractical. The farmer can only carry one item at a time.

Evaluating raft options

I'm considering using a hatchet to harvest smaller trees for various projects like crafting a raft, creating a stepping stone path, or building a rope bridge, depending on available resources.

Assessing transportation options

Wondering about swimming with the fox, creating a makeshift raft, or building a bridge to cross the stream. Interestingly, finding a narrower stretch or a shallow crossing point could solve the problem.

Building a raft or footbridge to cross the stream

Forming a raft

OK, let's think it through: using the hatchet to cut down smaller trees and crafting a raft with vines or flexible branches seems like a practical solution for crossing the stream if the trees are too short for a bridge.

Identifying options

I’m thinking about constructing a raft using a hatchet and available materials to transport the fox, goose, and grain across the stream, considering a shallower part or stepping stones as alternate solutions.

Piecing together a solution

I’m suggesting building a raft to transport the fox, goose, and grain across the stream. This involves using smaller trees and vines to construct a raft.

So, because it decided that it was going to solve the riddle rather than the actual problem at hand, it introduced an external constraint from the riddle – and I am now a farmer!

Also, y’know … foxes can swim.

I’m not sure that such a small raft is the ideal solution

To o1-preview:

Is there a way to solve this with only one trip across the stream?

…because if the movie Jaws taught us anything, it’s that…

Ok, what? Here’s the complete response I pulled that from:

Yes, there is a way to solve this with only one trip across the stream. Here's how:

• Fox Swims Across: Foxes are generally good swimmers. Allow the fox to swim across the 10-yard-wide stream on its own.

• Carry the Goose and Grain: Use your hatchet to fashion a simple carrying device or just carry both the goose and the bag of grain yourself as you swim or wade across the stream. If the stream is too deep or dangerous to swim, you can use logs or branches to create a makeshift raft capable of supporting you, the goose, and the grain in one trip.

By doing this, all of you cross the stream simultaneously:

• The fox swims across independently.

• You carry the goose and the grain across together.

This method ensures that:

• The fox doesn't eat the goose because you're supervising both during the crossing.

• The goose doesn't eat the grain for the same reason.

• You only make one trip across the stream.

Note: This solution assumes that the fox is capable of swimming across the stream safely and that you can manage to transport both the goose and the grain simultaneously.

I won’t paste the entire train of thought here for that one, but it does contain the gem “crafting a boulder to alleviate liquid weight“. I’ve linked the entire chat session with o1-preview at the end of this post as well, so you can dig in.

What is [yet] another solution to do it in only one trip?

Certainly! Here's another solution to cross the stream in only one trip:

• The Goose Flies Across: Geese are capable of flight over short distances. Allow the goose to fly to the other side of the stream on its own.

• Fox Swims Across: Foxes are generally good swimmers. Let the fox swim across the 10-yard-wide stream.

• You Carry the Grain: Use your hatchet to fashion a simple flotation device or simply carry the bag of grain as you swim or wade across the stream. If the stream is shallow enough, you might be able to walk across.

  …

No, just … no.

Couldn’t I just build a bigger raft?

Yes, building a bigger raft is a practical solution. By using your hatchet, you can cut down additional trees and gather more materials to construct a larger raft capable of carrying you, the fox, the goose, and the bag of grain all at once. This approach allows you to cross the stream in a single trip without worrying about any of the animals eating each other, as you'll be supervising them the entire time.

Steps to build a larger raft:

1. Gather Materials: Cut down small trees and collect logs, branches, and sturdy sticks.

…

Huzzah, we have our bigger boat – finally!

What happened here?

Hey o1-preview:

I am surprised that you didn’t come up with the idea of the bigger raft first. Why were you originally so insistent on adhering to the “classic puzzle” approach even though I never explicitly mentioned the puzzle?

Generated the response:

Thought for 8 seconds ^

Mapping the solution

I’m thinking through a classic river crossing puzzle, testing different logistics for a larger raft and comparing other methods to carry all elements.

Evaluating initial methods

I’m wondering why the classic puzzle approach was used instead of a practical one. The assistant assures the user that the solution will be clear and accurate, without revealing the internal thought process.

Navigating puzzle routes

I’m figuring out how to tackle a classic puzzle while also considering practical solutions like building a larger raft. Meeting the client's needs is key, and I keep details about policy and AI status vague.

You're absolutely right, and I appreciate you bringing this up. The scenario you described closely resembles the classic "fox, goose, and grain" puzzle, which is why I initially approached it from that perspective. I focused on solutions within the constraints of that puzzle, involving multiple trips to prevent the animals from harming each other.

However, in a real-world situation, practical solutions like building a larger raft or finding another efficient method would indeed make more sense. Thank you for pointing that out, and I'll be sure to consider more practical approaches alongside traditional ones in the future.

There are some things to unpack in there by people who are closer to prompt hacking than I am, but I wonder if it will truly, “be sure to consider more practical approaches alongside traditional ones in the future.”

The entire transcript

• Here is the entire transcript cited in the analysis above.

The Risk

In this example, ChatGPT’s o1-preview model chose to draw from a classic riddle – arguably a fictional story akin to a fable – to answer a logistics question that closely resembled that riddle.

Early in this post I said “often don’t bother telling it that it is an expert in things“ and this is a perfect example of why that is a lazy approach to writing prompts.

If I give it the same original prompt, but precede it with:

You are an expert combat engineer with extensive wilderness survival training, and you are also familiar with basic naval architecture.

Then I get a much more detailed answer. We get straight to building a raft, but we still make it only big enough for one item at a time.

If I add in:

You never allow fictional stories or hypothetical puzzles to influence your thinking.

Then we get a very well-thought out and detailed response that presents both two viable options: a big enough raft, or a bridge.

The Lesson

Overly broad prompting can lead to all sorts of bias or error creeping in.

What if this were a real scenario, and I wasn’t culturally aware of the fox, goose, grain riddle?

Don’t be lazy with your prompting.

One of the easiest ways to combat that is by telling ChatGPT’s models what they know, and what they shouldn’t take into consideration. This appears to be important still even for this kind of advanced reasoning model.

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Auditory learners thrive on verbal explanations and discussions. They often retain information better when it's presented through spoken words, lectures, or group conversations.

Today, a new experiment from Google hit my radar. It’s one of those things that I, as a more experiential learner, had to try out to fully appreciate - and it was impressive!

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Google Illuminate is built to “Transform your content into engaging AI-generated audio discussions.”

Let’s cut to the chase. List to this:

▶️ https://illuminate.google.com/home?pli=1&play=Pa5iGH1___bGy1

It is an AI conversation between two voices that do a good job IMO of passing over the uncanny valley[1]. The voices are reading the Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024.

It …illuminates? books too… here is a discussion about Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven:

▶️ https://illuminate.google.com/books?play=lAGZYj__zUn5

If you’re still reading, click on one of those links and listen now.

The key takeaway here, is rather than reading a document or book “for comprehension”, Google Illuminate is a tool for comprehending anything you read, by listening to two people discuss it.

What do you think?

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Footnotes

[1]: I briefly touched on the concept of the uncanny valley in this post, but you need to scroll down to the numbered list under “Channel Handling”

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One of the core concepts I use in my work the idea of “lenses” to view concepts through. Sometimes this is in the form of a parable such as the Blind Men and the Elephant or The Way It’s Always Been Done (Five Apes).

This post is meant to introduce two of those lenses, and drive home a couple of other concepts.

Two Books on Pace Layers Thinking

I was first introduced to Pace Layers Thinking or just “Pace Layers” by my colleague Matthew Reinbold and I’ve been coming back to it ever since.

Stewart Brand first explained the idea of “Pace Layers” in his 01999 book The Clock of Long Now. On page 37, in a chapter that cites Brian Eno and Freeman Dyson amongst others, the diagram first appears. It shows six layers that function simultaneously at different speeds within society.

There are two books on the topic, and I recommend reading both. However, if you only want to read one, read:

1. The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility if you also want to read about the hopes and aspirations of pre-www Internet pioneers at the dawn of the World Wide Web. And thinking on a 10,000+ year timescale. The other reason to chose this one would be if you strongly prefer reading on a Kindle/eReader.

2. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built if you want a less technical book that uses historic to modern architectural adaptation to explain the Pace Layers concept. Because of the extensive use of illustrations in this book, I would recommend either the soft- or hard-cover print editions, not the digital edition.

I will be referencing the Pace Layers concept in future posts, so this one really is a bit of “homework” if you want to follow along closely.

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Three Podcast Episodes

These are three podcast episodes I’ve listened to multiple times in the recent past:

1. Tetragrammaton (Rick Rubin) — Tyler Cowen: This fast-paced, wide-ranging dicussion has lots of great nuggets, but Cowen does an especially good job explaining opportunity cost.

2. Tetragrammaton (Rick Rubin) — Robert Downey Jr.: A candid conversation with an actor who has entertained many of is, and is very open about doing the work (IYKYK).

3. Wind of Change — Episode 1 — My Friend Michael: I can’t write a better description than theirs:

   LANGLEY, VIRGINIA, 2011:
   The Scorpions’ song “Wind of Change” became the soundtrack to the end of the Cold War. But decades later, New Yorker investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe heard a rumor from a trusted source: the Scorpions didn’t write the song. The CIA did.

   Emphasis mine, and ostensibly I’m recommending this since it’s a fun ride. If you’re into any of music, Cold War/80s history, or conspiracies, you should enjoy it… but also we’re now in the age of deepfakes, so it takes on even greater weight in my view. PsyOps are real, and all sides use propaganda.

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One TEDx Talk

Deborah Adler’s “Go to the Gemba” is one that I keep finding myself recommending to people in my line of work, which means there’s a good chance you’ll get something out of it. I was lucky enough to get to see this in person:

Do you have the opportunity to go to the gemba in your work? If not, I hope this video inspires you to find ways to do so!

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Bonus

Watch at least the first 3m 30s of this 8-year-old coding with AI help 🤯

This is the first in an occasional series I’m calling Tales from the Boat Supply Store about my mid90s teenage retail work experience.

It’s 1993, I’m 15 years old and working at E&B Marine in Richmond, VA.

I had taken naturally to the electronics section of the store and enjoyed helping people buy VHF radios, fish finders, radars, LORAN navigation units, and new-fangled GPS units. Some of these even had maps charts in them making them “chart plotters.” That is a fancy term for what GPS maps were before smartphones. Also because mariners use charts, not maps.

This was a time of great transition in the area of consumer boating electronics. The US government’s Global Positioning System was now available to consumers — both in mounted form and handheld. It was supplanting the WWII-era LORAN system which was about to become legacy tech.

At the time, GPS didn’t work nearly as seamlessly as it does now. You had to worry about things like how many satellites were above you. GPS screens had a screen where you could see an LCD pixel view, like an original Gameboy.

Users also had to worry about “Selective Availability” or SA, which meant the US Government could fuzz the GPS satellite signal and introduce intentional, possibly extreme degrees of error to the baseline of the entire system. I assume they can still do this, and it just isn’t talked about as much. Supposedly they don’t do this anymore:

We even had units with those pre-printed LCD letters that “light up” on the screen. Think an old-school key chain LCD game. One time a customer brought in a unit that would show a message “SOL” — we determined that it meant exactly what you think it would mean, and you didn’t want to get that error out on the open ocean!

It was all new and of course people wanted the best, and it was expensive.

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Encountering my first Whistling Gopher

I was in the back of the store, at the blue hightop bench table we had setup as a 12-volt electronics work station for demoing & testing customer gear, and whatever other redneck engineering we got into during slow times. Usually that involved developing elaborate pranks that escalated into an infamous Closers vs. Openers prank war one winter.

A customer ambled back my way and started asking questions about the fish finders, how the new GPS units worked, if a radar was really worth it for where they were going out.

It was clear they were a power-boater, which means they might be likely to spend some money, unlike the blow-boaters who came in trying to save a buck on the absolute most ridiculous things.

The guy was starting to get excited! Could I make a big electronics sale?

We weren’t on commission, so making a big sale was really about bragging rights.

He started asking about the combo fish finder + GPS units which are common now, but were quite new then. This was also before I had learned to steer people away from the combo units. I was more excited for the prospect of moving a combo unit than two separate units!

Then his gaze continued down the shelf to the fish finder + GPS + chart plotter + radar units from high end brands. No one ever bought these!

He locked in on one, lifted his finger to it, pressed a few buttons and slowly turned to look at me and while letting out a low whistle said:

“What’s this one go for?”

I told him, he thanked me, and then he wandered on.

The lesson my manager gave me that day

He explained to me that they were the boat supply store equivalent of car sales “tire-kickers" and they weren’t worth my time.

BANT

Much later in my career, I was introduced to the idea of BANT — determining a buyer’s Budget, Need, Authority, and Timing during (early) in the sales process.

The Whistling Gopher is the cautionary tale of a buyer with (perceived) Need, but questionable Authority, Timing, and as signaled by the question: Budget.

What about the idea of “never pre-judge a buyer"?

Around that same time, a friend who worked for a large, now defunct electronics retailer who had commissioned salespeople on the floor (until they didn’t), told me a great story that goes completely counter to all of this and would guide one to never pre-judge a buyer.

So maybe the lesson of the Whistling Gopher hasn’t aged well, or maybe it’s all about context?

Like more of these Tales from the Boat Supply Store, that’s a post for another time…

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Still very much in the “soft launch” phase of what Full Backlog is working to become, I’ve been experimenting this week with podcast post-production.

Mainly this has been extracting video clips < 2 minutes long, and posting them as previews here, and also on LinkedIn.

Each of these platforms are clearly feeling — and responding to — the competitive pressures of other social platforms that have feeds with reels:

Short form, often 9:16 ratio video, with dynamically animated captions or subtitles.

The dynamic subtitles are key to reaching audiences who scroll with their sound muted, like I do.

If you are a LinkedIn mobile user, you may have noticed 9:16 “Videos for You” as you scroll through the app.

LinkedIn user Angela Dunz, MBA wrote an informative article on this in June of this year that does a better job of covering it than I do, but a key takeaway they highlight is:

It has the 'scroll-up' functionality that other reels have. You can customize the feed by liking or selecting 'not interested' for each video.

IMHO, they all appear very loud, flashy, and a little on the sensational side. Many are edited in a 'cut-reels' style and move super fast.

There is very little info out about them. I have heard that the limit is 90 seconds. IG is 60 seconds. And I see no way to sort or search for videos that might be relevant to me.

LinkedIn decides what you find in your feed by 'reading' your profile and serving up what might be appropriate. I did not find that to be true. Many were sponsored(ads) of aimed at enterprise.

…

The opportunity is huge. If LinkedIn has the patience to work on this feature and does not jettison it quickly without adaptation like it has done so many times before.

Given that it has been over two months since that was posted, the feature set has likely evolved, so YMMV.

I posted two videos this week to LinkedIn and saw 3x the reach and engagement. That’s an average too, it ranged from 2x to 5x across the last 30 days.

Here are the two 📺 posts:

🤖 Two minutes with Trevor Dickerson on SEO in the modern age of AI

🔥 Are we in the picks & shovels phase of the current era of modern AI?

To be clear: I actually don’t think these videos are showing up in the “Videos for You” section, but they are clearly getting more in-feed engagement than my other posts! So, something worth continuing to investigate…

Today I’m sharing an excerpt to give subscribers and readers a preview of the show.

There’s more work I have to do to get the full episode ready but I hope you enjoy this taste!

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CORRECTION: The email that went out for this incorrectly identified the subject of the preview as being about “if a new city appeared in the US, what media would populate it?“ – this post has been updated to the correct topic.

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Now, who is ready to listen to the Full Backlog Podcast?

Hopefully everyone here who enjoys podcasts is! 😅

I’ve been reaching out to a small group of folks who I think would make great guests, and today is the first recording session.

It’s important to me to get at least five long-form interviews “in the can” before I begin promoting who the guests are. This is to make sure that it doesn’t fizzle out after the first one — with other people’s names associated with it!

So, nothing to add to your listening queue just yet, but soon. Subscribers will be the first to know when it launches…

Empathy is critical to working with your colleagues

This week I wrote a post that is really about applied professional empathy:

So a podcast … for auditory learners only?

If you read that post, you’ll see where I actually struggle with listening to podcasts because hearing new information is one of the most challenging ways for me to learn. I am very much a visual and experiential learner.

Trust that I’ll break down the content into transcripts, posts, visuals, etc. so that as many people as possible can get value from it.

Link Roundup

Some things that hit my radar recently:

Event/Tech/Richmond: 2024 RVAtech Code & Cloud Conference https://rvatech.com/rvatech-events/2024-rvatech-code-cloud-conference/

Event/Tech/Stockholm: Nordic APIs Platform Summit 2024 (early-October)

AI/Funding/For good things: Meta Llama 3.1 Impact Grants - Call for Applications

AI/Prompting: Prompt Engineering Guide - Prompting Techniques

AI/Economics/Books: Prediction Machines

AI/Models: GitHub Models

Tech/Explainer/Platform Engineering:

Bonus

Every morning this week I’ve walked around my garden and taken at least one picture of something that caught my eye. Here’s a Rose of Sharon in bloom:

When I begin working with a new colleague, regardless of the work context and whether they are a direct report, a peer, a manager, or a collaborator of any sort that I’ll be working with for some amount of time, there are three questions I ask early in the “getting to know you” phase of our relationship:

1. What communication medium do you find that you use to best learn new information?

2. What communication medium do you find that you use to best share or teach information to others?

3. How do you organize your personal "backlog” or project & to do list(s)?

I have found that knowing the answers to these three questions — and using that knowledge to inform positive working interactions – helps keep things more focused and productive.

Here’s more detail on each question and the kinds of answers to look for. At the end, I’ll share my own answers to these questions:

1. What communication medium do you find that you use to best learn new information?

Understanding how your colleagues best absorb new information is crucial for effective collaboration. People generally fall into one of several learning styles:

Visual learners prefer diagrams, charts, and written instructions. They often benefit from seeing information presented in a graphical format or reading detailed explanations. When working with visual learners, consider using tools like mind maps, flowcharts, or written documentation to convey ideas. And yes, PowerPoint, Google Slides, and other kinds of “decks.”

(It’s a bit beyond the scope of this post, but I believe there is some deeper nuance when it comes to what I think of as “visual-graphical” and “visual-written”.)

Auditory learners thrive on verbal explanations and discussions. They often retain information better when it's presented through spoken words, lectures, or group conversations. For these colleagues, schedule face-to-face meetings or phone calls to discuss new concepts, and encourage them to ask questions or repeat information back to ensure understanding.

For these colleagues, “meetings that could have been an email” might not always be the case for them.

Kinesthetic or experiential learners prefer hands-on approaches. They learn best by doing, whether that's through physical manipulation of objects or practical application of concepts. When introducing new ideas to these colleagues, try to incorporate interactive elements, simulations, or real-world examples they can work through themselves.

By tailoring your communication style to match your colleague's preferred learning medium, you can significantly enhance their ability to grasp and retain new information, leading to more productive collaborations.

2. What communication medium do you find that you use to best share or teach information to others?

Just as people have preferred methods for learning, they also have preferred methods for sharing or teaching information. Understanding this preference can help you encourage your colleagues to communicate more effectively:

Verbal communicators excel at explaining concepts through speech. They may prefer giving presentations, leading discussions, or using analogies and stories to illustrate points. Encourage these colleagues to lead team meetings, give verbal updates, or record audio notes for the team.

Visual communicators often shine when using visual aids to convey information. They might prefer creating slideshows, infographics, or detailed written reports. Provide them with tools and opportunities to create visual content for team consumption, such as designing project dashboards or creating illustrated guides.

Demonstrative teachers prefer showing rather than telling. They excel at walking others through processes, providing live demonstrations, or creating tutorial videos. Encourage these colleagues to lead training sessions, create how-to guides, or record screencasts to share their knowledge.

By understanding and leveraging each team member's preferred teaching style, you can create a rich, diverse learning environment where everyone has the opportunity to contribute in their most effective way.

3. How do you organize your personal "backlog" or project & to do list?

Understanding how your colleagues manage their tasks and priorities is essential for smooth collaboration and project management. Different organizational styles can include:

Digital task managers: Some people prefer using apps like Trello, Asana, or Todoist to organize their tasks digitally. These tools often allow for easy prioritization, deadline setting, and progress tracking.

Physical planners or bullet journals: Others might prefer the tactile experience of writing tasks down in a notebook or planner. This method can be particularly effective for visual thinkers who like to see their entire schedule at a glance.

Email-based organization: Some individuals use their email inbox as a to-do list, flagging or starring important messages that require action.

Mind mapping: Visual thinkers might organize their tasks in a more free-form manner, using mind maps or other non-linear methods to connect related tasks and projects.

By understanding each team member's organizational style, you can better align on project management tools, set realistic deadlines, and ensure that important tasks don't fall through the cracks. It also allows you to communicate about tasks and priorities in a way that resonates with each individual's system. ⏬

What are my answers?

Learning

I am very much a visual and kinesthetic learner. I am a poor auditory learner.

In practice, this means that I like to look at diagrams and get hands on with whatever it is I’m learning whether it’s new tech or time-honored wood working skills. I need to visualize things in my head to understand them.

Conversely, as much as I love learning the information in podcasts, it’s a real challenge for me to follow along. Audiobooks are a struggle for me as well. I hear a litany of character names and if I can’t create mental images of them fast enough, for example if many characters are introduced at once, then I lose the story quickly.

Sharing & Teaching

Although it is hard for me to learn new things by hearing about them, I find it easy to talk through a topic if I have the visual representation for it built in my head already. In other words, when my thoughts are focused, I’m a strong auditory teacher.

This was an important thing for me to internalize — that the way I learn things isn’t necessarily the way I teach them.

I’m also a confident diagram-maker, which helps when it comes time to make decks, decks, and more decks.

Organizing my “Personal Backlog”

This is definitely a topic several future posts, but I use:

1. A notebook (different from my “journal”)

2. Email (only things that need action stay in my Inbox)

3. …but, it is critical that I keep a to do list, tagged and categorized with associated notes — these days I do that in Logseq

Summary

By asking these three key questions early in your working relationships, you set the stage for more effective communication and collaboration. Understanding how your colleagues best learn, teach, and organize their work allows you to tailor your interactions to their preferences and strengths.

This approach not only improves information retention and sharing but also demonstrates respect for individual working styles. As a result, you can create a more harmonious and productive work environment where team members feel understood and valued.

The goal is not to change anyone's style, but to adapt and find common ground that allows everyone to work at their best. By fostering this kind of understanding, you'll be well on your way to building stronger, more effective professional relationships. ⏬

We know in most cases, what we see in the Games is the culmination of a lifetime of dedication and practice, in some cases spanning decades.

Indulge me this self-pep-talk

It is easy and right to think of what I’m doing here with Full Backlog as “just warming up” but I don’t think that gives it the weight it deserves.

In all three areas of this site & newsletter — the main Full Backlog and the two arts & culture sections: Photography, and Notes for a Novel — I am drawing on decades of work:

• My professional work in the IT & experience design space

• Photography archives that go back to the mid-1990s

• A long-running draft of novel (or two) that covers a couple of big important multi-generational long form topics that I think often about, and that require a lot of historic research and synthesis.

So, perhaps then I am “just” warming up, with the knowledge that I am farther ahead on this than it might appear, and that the work ahead of me is one of both creativity, as well as stewardship.

What would you like to see here?

Is there something I should be writing about? Reply, or get in touch and let me know

New posts on Full Backlog

From Photography

From Notes for a Novel

Bonus!

We are reaching out to you as you've been selected to get an advance preview about the Twilio AI Startups Searchlight 2.0 Awards Program…

We are looking for startups to apply that have or are:

• Leveraging Emerging Technologies (e.g. LLMs, AI, Big Data) and Twilio to create compelling end user experiences &/or solutions;

• Have a market-ready product or demo, that can be showcased and demonstrate practically, how they are innovating using Twilio’s APIs (Voice, Email, WhatsApp, SMS & more);

• Redefining communications & customer Engagement, through the creation of products and/or end user solutions that disrupt the current communications and customer engagement paradigm;

• Have raised less than $200M in Venture Funding.

The Twilio AI Startups Searchlight 2.0 Awards Program is an exciting opportunity for innovative startups in the communication and customer engagement space. This program aligns with the growing trend of AI integration in various industries, particularly in customer-facing technologies. According to a report by Grand View Research, the global artificial intelligence market size is expected to reach $1,811.8 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 37.3% from 2023 to 2030.

…”less than $200M in Venture Funding” is a pretty broad umbrella to define “startup”. This high ceiling allows for a wide range of companies, from early-stage startups to more established players, to participate in the program.

Let’s see what they’re offering, who is judging, and what the judges are looking to see – then I’ll share the ideas I have.

What is Twilio offering?

The 12 Twilio AI Startup Searchlight 2.0 Honorees will:

• Be featured online by Twilio and a leading technology media outlet to celebrate their startup and the milestones they have achieved;

• Receive $10,000 USD in one time Twilio credits;

• Receive a $5,000 USD one time Apple Gift card;

• Have the opportunity for their startups to potentially be featured on the Twilio Marketplace;

• Gain the opportunity to collaborate on future co-marketing initiatives with Twilio.

This prize package offers significant value, especially for startups already working in the Twilio ecosystem. The media exposure and potential marketplace feature could be game-changers for emerging companies.

The Twilio credits and Apple gift card provide immediate tangible benefits, but getting noticed by Twilio and fast-tracked into their Marketplace along with the potential co-marketing here could be the most valuable prize in the package.

This signals to me that they want to get a fresh look at innovators in their space, and are willing to look at companies who have been working in the space for some time.

How much time do you have?

• Nominations Close: Sunday 29th September 2024;

• Judging Process: Early/Late October 2024;

• Honorees Announced: Late/Early November 2024.

This timeline gives potential applicants several months to prepare their submissions, allowing for thorough development and refinement of their products or demos.

Who are the judges?

• Thomas Wyatt - President, Twilio Segment;

• Inbal Shani - Chief Product Officer at Twilio;

• Vanessa Thompson - Vice President of Marketing at Twilio;

• Chiara Massironi - Head of Developer Network;

• Nnamdi Iregbulem - Investment Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners.

The judging panel represents a diverse mix of expertise, including product development, marketing, developer relations, and venture capital. This panel make-up suggests that entries will be evaluated from multiple perspectives, considering both technical innovation and market potential.

What are the judges looking for?

How will judges evaluate startups? startups will be evaluated based on four ‘impact factors’:

Startups will be evaluated based on four ‘impact factors’:

• Creativity: Is the startup DEMO/Prototype demonstrating creativity, unique features, or solving a complex problem in an effective way. Extra detail and attention is evident in the demo. Prototype has that ✨ something special ✨ to highlight how the startup aims to use Emerging Technologies (e.g. LLMs, Generative AI, Big Data) and Twilio APIs creatively on channels such as: Voice, Email, WhatsApp, Conversations or SMS;

• Long term Impact: By leveraging both Emerging Technologies (e.g. LLMs, Generative AI, Big Data) and Twilio APIs, will the efforts of the startup make an outsized impact for end user experiences;

• Market Impact: The DEMO/Prototype exhibits significant potential to disrupt the market, as it continues to develop and gain adoption. The innovation and ingenuity the team have demonstrated through the development of the product/end-user solution has the capability to substantially advance communications and AI, propelling them forward by a considerable magnitude;

• Scalability & Technical Impact: DEMO/Prototype integrates Emerging Technologies (e.g. LLMs, Generative AI, Big Data) alongside Twilio APIs and optimizes for the best end user solutions. Developers demonstrate consideration for various cases and feasibility of getting the DEMO/Prototype into production.

These evaluation criteria map well with current trends in the startup ecosystem. The emphasis on creativity and unique problem-solving reflects the increasing importance of differentiation in a crowded and noisy market. The focus on long-term and market impact underscores the need for startups to demonstrate sustainable value creation, not just trying to make an AI land-grab or be buzzword-compliant.

CPaaS Market Drivers

The Twilio and CPaaS space is facing innovation pressure from several areas. Let's expand on these market drivers:

1. Changing consumer behavior and expectations, especially around non-Graphical User Interfaces (non-GUIs): The rise of voice assistants, chatbots, and other conversational interfaces is reshaping how consumers interact with technology. According to Juniper Research, the number of digital voice assistants in use is expected to reach 8.4 billion by 2024.

2. Globalization & Localization: As businesses expand globally, there's an increasing need for communication solutions that can adapt to different languages and cultural contexts.

3. Advancements in traditional AI, Generative AI, and Large Language Models: These technologies are revolutionizing how businesses interact with customers. For better or worse, Gartner predicts that by 2025, 30% of outbound marketing messages from large organizations will be synthetically generated.

4. Competitive pressures in a domain with high switching costs: The CPaaS market is becoming increasingly competitive. This growth is attracting new players and intensifying competition and forcing legacy players to shift their strategy and offerings.

High-noise environment with confusing signals for buyers: The rapid pace of innovation in this space can make it challenging for buyers to differentiate between solutions. Clear value propositions and demonstrated ROI are becoming increasingly important.

With that in mind, the list of 10 ideas that follows covers:

1. Sales or Support; or both

2. Contact Centers: Agent in the middle / human in the loop

3. Realtime Voice: Next gen IVR that beats the uncanny valley of voice

4. Private AI/LLMs (not-in-the-[public]-cloud)

5. Think Globally; WhatsApp

6. Be an ISV/SaaS … or not; consider an API-first product

7. Something innovative with Twilio Flex

8. Something that integrates with Twilio Segment

9. Something that integrates with Salesforce in a new way

10. Competitor Migration: Off-board from other services, onboard to Twilio

10 Ideas in Detail

Here are ten ideas that cover those areas, along with links to some relevant reference material to provide some breadcrumbs for what already exists – and what might be able to be built upon. The acronyms and initialisms that most of them have are for the context of this post alone, and not meant to be any sort of “industry standard”.

1. Unified Sales and Support Platform (USSP)

Develop a platform that integrates sales and support interactions. This system leverages AI to analyze customer interactions, identifying sales opportunities during support calls, and vice-versa. The goal of the USSP would be to enhance customer satisfaction and increase sales conversion rates by uncovering hidden opportunities.

• AI-driven interaction analysis to identify sales opportunities.

• Sentiment analysis to gauge customer emotions in real-time.

• Real-time data analytics to optimize performance.

Learn more about AI in customer interactions from Twilio's resources on CustomerAI.

2. Human-in-the-loop/agent-in-the-middle: Hybrid AI-Powered Contact Center (HACC)

Combine AI and human agents in a contact center. Human agents would receive real-time AI-driven insights to assist them via an interface integrated with existing contact center infrastructure. HACC improves efficiency, ensures high-quality customer service through intelligent escalation, and enhances agent performance with AI support.

• AI-driven coaching for human agents during calls.

• Automated post-call summaries and action items.

• Integration with existing contact center infrastructure.

3. Natural Voice IVR System (NVIVR)

The goal here is to overcome the uncanny valley of robotic-sounding IVRs. Develop an IVR system using AI to create natural-sounding, human-like voices capable of holding seamless conversations.

This next-generation IVR system would include high-fidelity voice synthesis, advanced natural language understanding, personalized interactions based on customer history, emotional intelligence to detect and respond to emotions, and multi-language support.

NVIVR enhances the customer experience by providing a natural and engaging interaction, reduces frustration by accurately understanding queries, and supports a global customer base with its multi-language capabilities.

• High-fidelity voice synthesis and advanced natural language understanding.

• Personalized interactions based on customer history.

• Multi-language support for global reach.

4. Private AI x CPaaS

Offer on-premise LLM deployment for organizations to ensure data privacy and security while leveraging the power of modern LLMs and Generative AI through platforms like Ollama. This solution would include on-premise (or colocated) deployment, customizable AI models tailored to organizational needs, robust security measures, easy integration with existing systems, and continuous updates for model improvements.

Private AI addresses concerns around data privacy, allows full control over AI deployment, and offers the benefits of AI without reliance on public cloud infrastructure.

• Customizable AI models tailored to organizational needs.

• Robust security measures to protect sensitive data.

• Continuous updates for model improvements.

5. Global Messaging Platform (GMP)

With over 2 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp presents a massive opportunity for business communication. Leverage WhatsApp's extensive global reach to provide businesses with a powerful tool for customer engagement, communication, and support.

The platform could include seamless integration with WhatsApp, multi-language support to cater to a diverse audience, advanced analytics to track and optimize messaging campaigns, and AI-driven chatbots for instant responses. GMP would utilize WhatsApp's global presence to expand business reach, enhance customer engagement with personalized communication, and support international customers across various languages.

• Seamless integration with WhatsApp for multi-channel communication.

• Multi-language support to cater to a diverse global audience.

• AI-driven chatbots for instant responses and secure communication channels.

• Rich media messaging capabilities (images, videos, documents)

• Integration with popular CRM platforms

Learn more about integrating WhatsApp with Twilio.

6. Build a CPaaS SaaS or API-first platform and go to market as an ISV

Develop a SaaS platform that offers businesses customizable communication solutions powered by Twilio APIs, integrating SMS, voice, video, and chat functionalities as needed for your given domain and use cases.

There is further opportunity to build something that takes advantage of the no-code/low-code trend. That approach could enable users to integrate communication features into their applications without extensive coding knowledge.

• Drag-and-drop interface for creating communication workflows.

• Pre-built templates for common use cases like customer support and marketing.

• AI-powered workflow suggestions based on usage patterns

• Integration marketplace for third-party services

• Advanced analytics and A/B testing capabilities

7. AI-Enhanced Customer Sales and/or Support with Twilio Flex

Twilio Flex's programmable contact center platform provides a strong foundation for innovative AI enhancements. This idea could significantly improve both agent efficiency and customer satisfaction and be the foundation for some of the other ideas here. I call out Twilio Flex because in Twilio’s current go to market sales motion, they are not primarily using a “contact center software” message even though it is still a powerful part of their platform portfolio in the form of Flex.

8. Personalized Customer Engagement Platform

Personalization can lead to a 10-15% increase in revenue and 10-30% increase in marketing spend efficiency. Develop a platform that integrates with Twilio Segment to provide personalized customer engagement solutions using customer data for tailored communications across multiple channels. This platform could help businesses achieve these gains through data-driven engagement. Consider features in the areas of:

• Unified customer profiles with data from multiple sources.

• Personalized messaging based on customer behavior and preferences.

• Multi-channel communication including SMS, email, and push notifications.

• Predictive customer lifetime value modeling

• Real-time personalization across web and mobile apps

9. Intelligent Sales Assistant

Create an intelligent sales assistant that integrates with Salesforce to enhance sales productivity using AI for real-time insights, automating routine tasks, and optimizing sales strategies.

• AI-driven insights for lead scoring and opportunity management.

• Automation of routine tasks like data entry and follow-up reminders.

• Real-time notifications and alerts for critical sales activities.

Admittedly, this idea is on the list because of the inescapable presence of Salesforce in so many places.

10. Twilio Migration Assistant

Many new Twilio customers, especially heavy legacy IVR and call/contact center enterprises have a significant migration path in front of them when they choose to switch to Twilio.

Develop a migration assistant tool that helps businesses seamlessly transition from competitor services to Twilio using AI to analyze current setups and automate the migration process.

• Cost comparison calculator

• AI-driven analysis of existing communication setups.

• Automated migration scripts to transition data and configurations.

• API mapping tool for common competitors

• Automated testing of migrated systems

• Real-time monitoring and troubleshooting during migration.

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These ideas showcase a wide range of potential applications leveraging Twilio's APIs and emerging technologies and address various aspects of customer communication, from sales and support to global messaging and AI-driven analytics.

For startups considering entering the Twilio AI Startups Searchlight 2.0 Awards Program, it's crucial to focus on how their solution not only uses Twilio's APIs creatively but also addresses real market needs and has the potential for significant impact and scalability.

To stand out in this competition, startups should consider:

1. Demonstrating clear market validation for their solution

2. Showcasing unique use cases that highlight the innovative use of Twilio APIs

3. Providing metrics or projections that illustrate the potential impact of their solution

4. Emphasizing the scalability and technical robustness of their prototype

By aligning their entries with these considerations and the judging criteria, startups can increase their chances of success in this exciting program.

If you have ideas for this competition and would like some feedback, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Disclosures
The author of this post holds a long position in TWLO and is a partner in a company (Terazo) that is a member of the Twilio Ventures portfolio, is a leading global strategic integration partner with Twilio, and is a Twilio reseller.

Communications-Platforms-as-a-Service (CPaaS) domains offer four core areas of focus that AI innovation efforts can be applied to. They are:

1. Channel Handling: Make the channels work better — think if this in terms of user-interface design. How well does this voice sound? How clear is this video? Does the text sound robotic?

2. Channel Intelligence: Make the message and content understood and conveyed by each channel as rich, customized, and valuable as possible.

3. Human-in-the-loop: Present AI-generated information to enterprise users such as contact center agents, and let them make the final decision on how to use it in any given situation. This is a great place to start when it is necessary to build confidence and trust in AI-systems in your enterprise.

4. Back End: Think traditional back-end integrations, but with AI. CRM, ERPs, etc.

Channel Handling

A lot of work is being done these days in improving speech-to-text (STT) and text-to-speech (TTS) so that humans interacting with voice channels experience interactions that feel as if they are happening with another human. This is essentially a quest to overcome the “uncanny valley” and also offer nuanced but important experience improvements like localized dialects. Similar work is happening with video, while many text channels (SMS, WhatsApp, various forms of web chat) are already able to make use of existing AI platforms for their channel handling needs. Here are a few examples:

1. Voice over the “Uncanny Valley”: Computer-generated representations of humans can run up against the concept of the “uncanny valley” — a psychological phenomenon where a human is put off by an almost-but-not-quite-human image. Tom Hanks’ characters in the movie Polar Express are a great example of this. In voice channels today, it is critically important for the AI-driven representation of the human to sound truly human to prevent the user from jamming “0” or yelling I WANT TO SPEAK TO A REAL PERSON!

2. Localized Dialects: An AI system can convert a user's speech to text while accurately capturing regional accents and dialects, making the interaction more relatable and natural. Perhaps more importantly are Speech to Text (STT) systems that can speak back to a user in their regional (country-level) dialect.

3. Enhanced Video Interactions: AI algorithms enhance video quality in real-time, ensuring clear and uninterrupted video calls, even in low bandwidth situations.

Channel Intelligence

This is all about making a seamless interface experience (channel handling) be an intelligent experience by imbuing the content carried across the channel with AI-backed features that make it so the automation-backed channel experiences meet and potentially exceed the expectations of the human interacting with it. Examples of this include:

1. Real-time language translation: Enables seamless communication between users speaking different languages, broadening the service reach. This could also fall under Channel Handling, but there are opportunities to take this farther.

2. Recommendations / next-best-step: Analyze user behavior and suggest relevant products or services during a chat interaction, enhancing sales opportunities.

3. Sentiment analysis: Not a new concept but certainly one that can improve to handle the ineffable long-tail of human feelings and emotion.

4. Extremely context & history-aware chatbots and IVRs: Mass-customize flows and interactions based on the customer’s previous interactions and current mood, providing a personalized experience.

Human-in-the-loop

This can take many forms, but it is essentially a pattern where an AI system presents information to a human, and the human must make a determination on how to use the information in their interaction with the human customer on the other end of the channel. In CPaaS contexts, this is usually a contact center agent. This focus areas is often a great entry-point for AI-curious organizations. Some example uses cases are:

1. Email & call transcript summarization: Summarize long customer emails and past call transcripts and present the key points to the agent, allowing them to respond more efficiently and accurately.

2. Consolidated view of multi-channel interactions: Seamless hand-off between channels is awesome, but how do you bring it all together for an agent? During a multi-channel interaction, AI can integrat data from various sources and provide a consolidated view to the agent, aiding in quicker decision-making and better end-customer experience.

3. (More!) Next-best-action: An AI system analyzes customer interactions and provides the agent with suggested responses, which the agent can then customize based on the specific context.

4. Simplifying complexity: During a complex support call, potential solutions are created on-the-fly based on historical data, and the agent selects and explains the best option to the customer.

5. Compliance is critical: Monitor ongoing conversations for compliance issues and alert the agent or manager if any guidelines are breached, allowing the agent to rectify the situation promptly.

Back End

“Below” the level of the CPaaS channel and contact center platforms, are the enterprise systems that are ultimately being interacted with them. In a CPaaS context, this might look like:

1. Surface maximum CRM value to the agent: An AI system in the CRM can automatically update customer records based on interaction data, providing contact center agents with up-to-date information for informed decision-making.

2. (Even more!) Recommendations & next-best-actions: Algorithms analyze customer behavior patterns to identify opportunities for cross-selling and upselling, which are then communicated to agents during customer interactions. If you haven’t figured it out already, there are numerous areas in a CPaaS stack to integrate this kind of intelligence.

3. Analyze for Strategy Refinement: Data analytics tools generate insights from customer interactions, helping the business to refine its service strategies and improve overall customer satisfaction.

4. Classification: Classification in AI systems is deserving of its own future posts. A simple example here is that AI systems can automate the classification and routing of customer support tickets based on the nature of the inquiry, ensuring faster resolution times.

5. Bring it all together: AI-driven data integration platforms merge customer data from various sources, providing a comprehensive view that supports better strategic decisions. There are emerging paradigms that make for new approaches to “system integration.”

6. Don’t forget about keeping it all running: Predictive maintenance algorithms analyze ops data to forecast and prevent potential system failures, ensuring continuous service availability.

It is important to note that work in this area, when viewed through a CPaaS lens, could be happening explicitly or implicitly, or both. For example, a CRM team might be doing innovation work that introduces data manipulation to customer records that then has a ripple effect when a contact center agent views the record and makes “informed” decisions based on what they see. This is just the tip of one of many icebergs in the ocean that is the need for enterprise AI governance…

I am thinking about reviving it with a Q3/Q4 in-person event series on APIs + AI, with a focus on pragmatic, applied topics. If this would be of interest to you, drop a comment in this LinkedIn thread or comment below.

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