There are two AI helpers in this talk

1. The builder: The AI tool you talk to (hi Claude/Codex 👋)
2. The thing it builds: a small tool that does one job for you (you're going to make one!)
   
   

(The industry calls both of these "agents." This is confusing. I didn't name them. Welcome to AI.)

Is this a good job for an AI helper?

1. It happens again and again, like every week or month
2. The information is digital and organized the same way every time (a spreadsheet, a form export or a website)
3. The result looks the same every time

4. A person was going to check it anyway

   Ours? Obviously.

Recipe card 1: the plan

ok so: every week our volunteer coordinator takes the sign-up spreadsheet and builds a shift calendar by hand. I want a small tool that drafts the calendar, and a person checks it before anyone is told.

Don't write code yet. Write docs/BUILD_PLAN.md. The calendar should keep every shift staffed with the right number of people, including an experienced person where needed; give people their preferred shifts first; never schedule anyone outside their availability or over their limit; and spread shifts fairly. Lock the decisions: runs on my laptop, reads signups.xlsx, makes a calendar file I can import into Google Calendar plus a one-page view to check, never emails or texts anyone. Break it into phases I can build one at a time.

In plain English: make a plan first. Don't build yet. A person checks it. It never contacts anyone.

Burnt batch 2: the Saturday problem

Every shift had an experienced person. Most had only one.

If that one person cancels, nobody on the shift has done it before.

hmmm. I think Saturday PM sessions ... people are more likely to drop that day for personal reasons. Let's get another experienced person in case they drop.

The AI didn't know Saturdays fall apart. The coordinator did.

The lesson: you know things the spreadsheet doesn't.

Recipe card 4: the instructions

Write docs/RUNBOOK.md for the volunteer coordinator who will run this every week. Assume they have never seen the code and never will. Start with the weekly review, then what to do when the sign-up form changes.

Written for the person who runs it next week. Or after you've moved on.

Disclose twice

In the tool's save history, for whoever maintains it

At the bottom of every schedule, for whoever reads it

Add a line at the bottom of every schedule saying it was drafted with AI from the sign-up form and checked by staff.

The checklist ✅

1. Pick a task that repeats, uses information organized the same way every time, and has a result that looks the same each time. If not, write a checklist instead.
2. Plan first. Lock the decisions. Write down what you're NOT building yet.
3. One source. Add the second when the first is boring.
4. Build with made-up data. Keep real personal information on your own computer.
5. Ask the AI to check its own work, like a skeptic.
6. Ask what it left out.
7. Add what you know that the spreadsheet doesn't.
8. Write the instructions for the next person.
9. Decide where a person checks it, and make the tool stop there.

10. Tell people AI helped. Twice.

    
    (Hint: This is the slide to take a photo of.)

Good fits at a nonprofit

• A weekly list of new grant opportunities from funder websites
• This month's program numbers, dropped into the same board-report table
• A monthly check of your website for broken links
• News coverage of your issue, gathered and summarized

Not a good fit: one-time judgment calls, or anything no one will check.

Your turn on Monday

1. Pick one task you do every week or month.
2. Ask: Does it repeat? Is the information organized the same way each time? Does the result look the same each time? Will a person check it?
3. Check its color: green (public), yellow (internal) or red (personal). Red stays out.
4. Then start with: "Don't build anything yet. Help me plan this."