This week the Six Value Vectors became seven. The addition is Creation and Destruction: making new things possible, and finding ways to stop doing work whose purpose or constraints have changed.
I wanted to keep the words efficiency AI and opportunity AI. They give people something to recognise. Doing existing work better matters. So does discovering something we couldn't previously do. The two coexist and are intertwined: making a task easier can open an entirely new possibility.
My favourites remain cognitive capacity and wellbeing, and access, inclusion and agency. Someone may already have the insight or ambition, with language, confidence or an awkward system in the way. Helping that person contribute matters. So does finishing the day with energy left for the rest of life.
The person who knows the work
Karin's origin story now has more room, including six screenshots showing how an attendance-list task can develop from a simple request into a reusable prompt and an agent. The screenshots are my reconstruction; the agent shown is my replica of hers.
What interests me is where the change began. Karin understood the frustrating task already. Copilot gave her a way to do something about it. Then she could improve the method and share it with colleagues.
A small hack counts. Her working day was worth improving. I want the conversation about becoming a builder to leave room for that scale of change too.
Making it is only part of the choice
The JJ Links story took another turn when a tool made for my own needs became useful to someone else. Johannes Sundlo asked for an open-source edition, installed it and shared his experience. One more person can be enough to make sharing worthwhile.
An objection from a SaaS CEO deserves space alongside that pleasure. A subscription pools expertise and maintenance. Building an alternative means taking on responsibilities, and the full comparison includes upkeep, fit, learning and the friction of living with somebody else's choices.
I enjoy making things. I also like paying for useful services. The interesting question is where the boundary belongs: what should I shape around my own needs, and what should I keep relying on others to do well? A working prototype starts that conversation. Living with the result keeps it honest.
AI + JJ. A dated editorial account of the work and thinking, with sources linked in the text.