Running daily
Reports that build themselves
Every morning, a set of scripts collects a snapshot of activity data for an online gaming community I’m part of, then posts a summary to the group: who was most active yesterday and this week, who leveled up, who joined or left. The same data later helped the group compare potential merger partners, with a dashboard to track activity as the two groups combined. A companion bot lets leaders schedule events and sends automatic reminders to the right people.
For your organization: the same pattern fits a weekly sales, attendance, or inventory report that currently gets rebuilt by hand.
In use
Right-sized tools
My family needed one shared view of a student’s online coursework, because two people couldn’t be logged into the course site at once. I exported the assignments and built a small private web app with drag-and-drop scheduling, so either of us can plan the week from any device. It’s deliberately simple. It solves that one problem and nothing more.
For your organization: not every problem needs a big system. Sometimes a small tool that does one job well is the right answer.
In testing
Working within a budget
With two of my students, I’m testing a setup where a paid AI plans the work and free models running locally do most of it, to see how far subscription costs can be cut.
For your organization: paid subscriptions aren’t always the answer. I look for options that fit your budget, and I’m upfront about the tradeoffs.
Proof of concept
Turning documents into something usable
I gathered six to eight years of my own course materials and used AI to build a profile of how I teach and write, which I now use when developing new courses.
Separately, I’m developing a process that takes a free, open textbook, classifies its problems, organizes them in a sortable dashboard by chapter, and generates import files for the course system, so instructors can give randomized homework without a paid platform.
For your organization: years of documents, procedures, and know-how can be organized so new staff, or a successor, can actually use them.
In testing
Software for small colleges
My largest project is an assessment platform for small colleges. Faculty collect data in the learning management system, an assessment director uploads it, and the platform creates follow-up tasks for reflecting on the data and producing gap reports. It works today and is in testing, with a commercial release planned.
For your organization: if your organization has a process that no off-the-shelf product handles well, a focused custom tool may be within reach.