Autonomy and authority aren’t the same thing. Agents can do the work. Restarting the system should still take my signature.
\n","content_text":"Autonomy and authority aren’t the same thing. Agents can do the work. Restarting the system should still take my signature.","date_published":"2026-11-01T12:00:00-05:00","tags":["Agents","Automation"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a5","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a5","content_html":"Match the model to the stakes. A small coding model is fine for light work and the wrong call for anything critical.
\n","content_text":"Match the model to the stakes. A small coding model is fine for light work and the wrong call for anything critical.","date_published":"2026-10-26T12:00:00-04:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611b2","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611b2","content_html":"Don’t let the main menu turn into a junk drawer. Anything that keeps piling up gets its own menu.
\n","content_text":"Don’t let the main menu turn into a junk drawer. Anything that keeps piling up gets its own menu.","date_published":"2026-10-23T15:00:00-04:00","tags":["macOS"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611b1","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611b1","content_html":"A good test for any app: what would make it a no-question $25 one-time purchase?
\n","content_text":"A good test for any app: what would make it a no-question $25 one-time purchase?","date_published":"2026-10-23T14:00:00-04:00","tags":["macOS"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a7","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a7","content_html":"Ask what standard practice is. Then ask what the gold standard is, and build toward that one.
\n","content_text":"Ask what standard practice is. Then ask what the gold standard is, and build toward that one.","date_published":"2026-10-23T13:00:00-04:00","tags":["Automation"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a6","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a6","content_html":"When a model swings from “this is nothing” to “build everything around this” in one reply, call it out and get a second opinion.
\n","content_text":"When a model swings from “this is nothing” to “build everything around this” in one reply, call it out and get a second opinion.","date_published":"2026-10-23T12:00:00-04:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611b3","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611b3","content_html":"Name things so they don’t collide with words people already know. “Package” already means something on Linux.
\n","content_text":"Name things so they don’t collide with words people already know. “Package” already means something on Linux.","date_published":"2026-10-22T12:00:00-04:00","tags":["Infrastructure"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a3","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a3","content_html":"If an agent answers with a list of things for me to do, it has the roles backwards. I’m not the worker here. It is.
\n","content_text":"If an agent answers with a list of things for me to do, it has the roles backwards. I’m not the worker here. It is.","date_published":"2026-10-20T12:00:00-04:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a1","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a1","content_html":"Separate the agents that decide policy from the agents that carry it out. Church and state.
\n","content_text":"Separate the agents that decide policy from the agents that carry it out. Church and state.","date_published":"2026-10-18T12:00:00-04:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a8","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a8","content_html":"If the text already exists, read it. Don’t record the microphone to transcribe what the closed captions are already saying.
\n","content_text":"If the text already exists, read it. Don’t record the microphone to transcribe what the closed captions are already saying.","date_published":"2026-10-17T12:00:00-04:00","tags":["Automation","macOS"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a9","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a9","content_html":"Let the user pick light or dark. Player controls that change color with whatever is on screen are just annoying.
\n","content_text":"Let the user pick light or dark. Player controls that change color with whatever is on screen are just annoying.","date_published":"2026-10-16T12:00:00-04:00","tags":["macOS"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a4","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2611a4","content_html":"Not every decision needs a frontier model. Let a cheap model judge whether the request needs an expensive one.
\n","content_text":"Not every decision needs a frontier model. Let a cheap model judge whether the request needs an expensive one.","date_published":"2026-10-13T12:00:00-04:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2025a2","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2025a2","content_html":"If your agent’s only memory is the chat window, it doesn’t have a memory.
\n","content_text":"If your agent’s only memory is the chat window, it doesn’t have a memory.","date_published":"2025-06-24T22:10:00-04:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2025a1","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2025a1","content_html":"I don’t want an AI that does everything. I want one that tells me exactly what it did.
\n","content_text":"I don’t want an AI that does everything. I want one that tells me exactly what it did.","date_published":"2025-02-11T21:50:00-05:00","tags":["Agents","Automation"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2024a2","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2024a2","content_html":"A small model that knows its job beats a big model guessing at yours.
\n","content_text":"A small model that knows its job beats a big model guessing at yours.","date_published":"2024-08-20T06:45:00-04:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2024a1","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2024a1","content_html":"Run a model on your own machine once and you’ll understand what you’ve been trading for convenience.
\n","content_text":"Run a model on your own machine once and you’ll understand what you’ve been trading for convenience.","date_published":"2024-03-12T22:30:00-04:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2023a2","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2023a2","content_html":"The AI demo ends when the model says it worked. The product starts there.
\n","content_text":"The AI demo ends when the model says it worked. The product starts there.","date_published":"2023-10-03T21:20:00-04:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2023a1","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2023a1","content_html":"Prompt engineering is a job title for a problem that should be solved in code.
\n","content_text":"Prompt engineering is a job title for a problem that should be solved in code.","date_published":"2023-05-16T22:40:00-04:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2022a2","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2022a2","content_html":"Everyone’s asking what ChatGPT knows. The better question is what it will do when nobody’s checking.
\n","content_text":"Everyone’s asking what ChatGPT knows. The better question is what it will do when nobody’s checking.","date_published":"2022-12-06T23:15:00-05:00","tags":["Agents"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2022a1","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2022a1","content_html":"Pediatric studies are the hardest work in sleep medicine and the most rewarding. Kids don’t fake sleep, and they don’t fake being uncomfortable either.
\n","content_text":"Pediatric studies are the hardest work in sleep medicine and the most rewarding. Kids don’t fake sleep, and they don’t fake being uncomfortable either.","date_published":"2022-04-26T06:30:00-04:00","tags":["Sleep Medicine"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2021a2","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2021a2","content_html":"The patient trusts the device, and the device maker never meets the patient. When something goes wrong, the technologist is the one in the room explaining it.
\n","content_text":"The patient trusts the device, and the device maker never meets the patient. When something goes wrong, the technologist is the one in the room explaining it.","date_published":"2021-07-08T06:55:00-04:00","tags":["Sleep Medicine"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2021a1","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2021a1","content_html":"NFTs are the new box of samples. Same pitch, new chain.
\n","content_text":"NFTs are the new box of samples. Same pitch, new chain.","date_published":"2021-03-18T22:05:00-04:00","tags":["Commentary"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2020a2","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2020a2","content_html":"Home sleep tests will keep growing, and they should. But a home test can’t watch the patient. Some studies still need a technologist in the room.
\n","content_text":"Home sleep tests will keep growing, and they should. But a home test can’t watch the patient. Some studies still need a technologist in the room.","date_published":"2020-09-22T07:40:00-04:00","tags":["Sleep Medicine"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2020a1","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/w2020a1","content_html":"Remote work isn’t new. We ran EnLab as a distributed team in 2015. What’s new is that managers can’t hide behind the office anymore.
\n","content_text":"Remote work isn’t new. We ran EnLab as a distributed team in 2015. What’s new is that managers can’t hide behind the office anymore.","date_published":"2020-04-14T21:10:00-04:00","tags":["Entrepreneurship"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/s000002","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/s000002","external_url":"/notes/embrace-the-rain","content_html":"I always take time to learn from my circumstances. Life has seasons. I’ve learned to embrace the rain.
\n","content_text":"I always take time to learn from my circumstances. Life has seasons. I’ve learned to embrace the rain.","date_published":"2018-08-24T07:35:00-04:00","tags":["Writing"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/s000003","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/s000003","external_url":"/notes/embrace-the-rain","content_html":"Take a whole day and make a good inventory of what’s positive in your life and what’s negative.
\n","content_text":"Take a whole day and make a good inventory of what’s positive in your life and what’s negative.","date_published":"2018-08-24T07:31:00-04:00","tags":["Writing","Entrepreneurship"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/s000004","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/s000004","external_url":"/notes/embrace-the-rain","content_html":"You have to understand who you are. That’s critical to finding happiness.
\n","content_text":"You have to understand who you are. That’s critical to finding happiness.","date_published":"2018-08-24T07:21:00-04:00","tags":["Writing"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/s000005","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/s000005","external_url":"/notes/embrace-the-rain","content_html":"While you shouldn’t always concern yourself with what others think of you, you should always aim to present the best possible version of yourself.
\n","content_text":"While you shouldn’t always concern yourself with what others think of you, you should always aim to present the best possible version of yourself.","date_published":"2018-08-24T07:11:00-04:00","tags":["Writing"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"},{"id":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/s000008","url":"https://waltspence.com/thoughts/s000008","external_url":"/notes/song-of-an-entrepreneurs-soul","content_html":"There are way too many articles selling a lifestyle that doesn’t exist for everyone in this startup community.
\n","content_text":"There are way too many articles selling a lifestyle that doesn’t exist for everyone in this startup community.","date_published":"2015-08-31T09:05:00-04:00","tags":["Entrepreneurship"],"_kind":"thought","_source":"native"}]}