Field Notes.
Practical Field Notes on AI, Programming and Customer Experience.
Enterprise AI agents do not feel incomplete because the models are too weak. They feel incomplete because the business context they need is still fragmented across systems, workflows, permissions, teams, and people.
More Notes
What 5K Support Tickets Taught Me About Fine-Tuning
Fine-tuning isn’t about making models smarter. It’s what you reach for when prompting starts to drift and consistency actually matters.
The End of Pour-Over Code
Software used to reward engineers who could hand-craft every line. The next wave will reward engineers who can design systems that safely accept code they did not write.
Backyard Corn and the Future of SaaS
AI agents will absolutely pressure weak SaaS products, but that does not mean the whole category disappears. The ability to build or operate something yourself is not the same as replacing the infrastructure, reliability, and economies of scale behind it.
Little Software
We’re entering the era of small, focused tools: scripts and mini apps built in hours that remove real workflow friction for individuals and teams.
The New AI Moat Is Forward-Deployed Engineering
Model access is now table stakes. The moat is forward-deployed engineering: teams that embed in real workflows and keep shipping through edge cases.
The Browser Is the API: How I Built zd-agent-cli
I built a local-first Zendesk CLI that reuses authenticated browser sessions to power AI-assisted ticket triage without API key overhead or extra auth surface.
AI Triage: Evaluate First, Automate Second
Most teams try to automate intake triage too early. This guide shows how to evaluate decision quality, safety, and operational impact before turning on auto-routing.
One Billion CSV Rows in Rust
Streaming, decompressing, transcoding, and validating a billion-row CSV from S3 in a Rust Lambda, without falling over.
Web Scraping vs API
Choosing web scraping vs API depends on how a page loads content. Here is a practical way to decide the right approach for reliability and speed.
Hello World
A quick first post to kick off Field Notes and experiment with code snippets, formatting, and publishing workflow.