019 AI for Operators

Harry Siggins, Founder of OneTwo Growth Studio and former Chief of Staff at Quantiv, shares how scrappy teams drive durable AI adoption. We discussed:

• The GPT-3 wake-up call: Harry led 10 engineers to “AI-ify” Quantiv, building transcript analyzers, Salesforce tools, and more.

• The importance of transparent knowledge: enterprise search and documentation help connect previously disconnected silos within companies.

• The keys to effective change management: create desire, not fear; celebrate wins; pair training with clear personal upside so people invest beyond “slightly faster” outputs.

• Create company ambassadors to drive adoption: volunteer champions can own AI OKRs, get tool budgets, and share patterns cross-functionally.

• Starting change with workshops, not code: map pain points, define success metrics, then run atomic experiments that compound, avoiding six-month bets that could lock you into the wrong path.

• How operators gain agency and altitude with AI: roles like Chief of Staff evolve toward internal builder or EIR as tools amplify generalists willing to lean in.

Practical

• 50 ways non-technical people are using Claude Code to do their jobs (and live their lives) more effectively

• Monday.com’s AI PM says she ‘can’t do her job’ without AI - here’s her setup.

• Warp’s founder saw that his team was reluctant to be as AI-first as he wanted, so he tried something new: leading by example. Here’s how.

• Are you still typing to ChatGPT? How old school. Here’s a glimpse into how folks are using voice as their primary interface at work now. Apparently, by month 5, users of Wispr do 78% of their work through their voice software.

• Here’s what making a company AI first actually looks like: Handshake went from a jobs platform for new college grads to a Scale AI competitor - and now it’s more valuable than ever.

Perspectives

• What do we do if AI progress keeps happening? A case for appropriate fear from the co-founder of Anthropic.

• How are parents preparing their kids for an AI world? Some perspectives.

• Congratulations, Robot - You’ve Been Promoted: AI is no longer your smart intern; it’s not your senior engineer.

• ChatGPT —> operating system? Nick Turley, the head of ChatGPT, is opening up the tool to developers and has grand ambitions to turn it into a platform. WeChat 2.0?

• How Sora is poised to change the way we internet.

News

• In its latest earnings call, Compass announced that it had found $50-75m of cost reductions from the deployment of AI to its network of real estate agents.

• China just placed sweeping restrictions on a number of critical industries, with big impacts on the AI supply chain. Here’s one take on the decision and its implications.

• New research shows that firms that are adopting AI are sharply reducing open roles for junior employees (without a similar slowdown for senior hires). My anecdotal conversations back that up - lots of companies have stopped hiring entry-level employees entirely. Rough news for college grads.

Thanks for reading,

Tom Guthrie

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