Last weekend I was playing with Claude AI. I need to get more experience of generative AI for work, and that requires a larger project to play with. But what do I work on?
Suddenly, code is easy. I should be excited by the opportunities that agentic code generation gives me. The problem is, there weren’t any projects I was blocked on due to software complexity. If I’m not careful, I’ll simply generate another source of clutter in my life.
I did have something that stalled due to the coding. It’s due to emerge as a real-world project in collaboration with a friend, using very little technology. We’re not giving that one a URL or even a web presence.
Another project involved taking data from the FitBit API. This floundered on the issue of needing an official privacy policy and terms of service. That API was intended for corporations rather than hobbyists.
There was a controversial essay by Mike Judge, Where’s the Shovelware, which claimed that agentic AI had yet to produce an uptick in finished projects on places like Steam and the app stores – code is not the only barrier to getting things out in public.
Maybe the power of agentic AI is in enhancing private workflows. Craig Mod has talked about building his own private accounting software. Maybe I should write bespoke editors or plugins to fix the clumsy errors I make when writing. I’m definitely thinking of using agents to structure my hugely complicated South Downs Way project. That is, at least, public-facing – but not something I can talk about in my corporate role.
Which means a new project, but one that won’t add clutter to my life. Maybe it should be a game, a photo scavenger hunt. Or a collaborative art project. But those would involve a lot of non-technical work to manage the participants. Other ideas are half formed – something to do with mapping?
So many projects have the drawback of making my life more complicated. Improving private workflows looks like the best case. Fortunately, it looks like I have a friend who needs this for a public project. Something I can work on for now.