JOURNAL FIELD NOTES FROM THE BUILD EST. 2026

What we learn shipping agents — written down before we forget.

Field notes from the engagements, the patterns we keep seeing, and the occasional stubborn opinion. Mostly written by the people doing the work.

24
Posts published since launch.
9m
Median read length, in minutes.
6
Working partners contributing essays.
1×
Posts per week. Quality over cadence.

Recent writing.

All Field Notes Engineering Company
HITL
FIELD NOTES9 MINAPR 28

The case for the human in the loop.

Why we design every workflow with a partner-level review checkpoint — and why removing it has cost other vendors the engagement.

Z. PIPPINSREAD →
3.6×
FIELD NOTES7 MINAPR 14

What "3.6× throughput" actually looked like at Meridian CPA.

The hidden week-by-week curve, the two workflows we shipped first, and the one we held back until partners had a feel for the system.

Z. PIPPINSREAD →
SOP.
ENGINEERING11 MINAPR 03

The SOP doc lies. Sit in the room for two weeks.

Why the first phase of every engagement starts with a chair in the operations team's room — not a spec. The exceptions are where the work is.

K. AHMEDREAD →
π34d
ENGINEERING8 MINMAR 22

Shipping the first workflow in 34 days, and what we cut.

Our default kickoff timeline — and the four things we explicitly do not build in phase one, even when the client asks.

S. NEWELLREAD →
615.
COMPANY5 MINMAR 10

Why we picked Nashville — and why we'd rather pick up the phone.

A short note on the operating principle that shows up in every other thing we do. Calendars are the second-best option.

Z. PIPPINSREAD →
AUD.
ENGINEERING13 MINFEB 24

One audit log to rule them all: how we structure traceability.

Every agent action, every human signature, in one place. The schema we settled on after three engagements and one painful migration.

K. AHMEDREAD →

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