Systems Thinking. Transparent About AI. Team Builder.
Systems thinking in action. Transparent about AI. Different perspective makes it clearer.
Built the design with Claude. Iterated the writing with AI. Shipped faster because of it.
I'm explicit about this because hiding it seems pointless. AI is revolutionizing work. I use it to ship faster and think better.
Using AI well is a skill. The people I'd want to work with understand that.
Most people obscure their AI usage. I don't see the point.
Using AI well is a skill. The people I'd want to work with understand that. The people who would judge me for being honest about my tools are probably not people I need to impress.
I'm more interested in outcomes than in performing effort.
I explain what I'm thinking in conversation—voice notes, chat, whatever's convenient.
AI structures my thoughts into something coherent. Better grammar, clearer structure.
I read it back. Does it sound like me? Is it accurate? Would I actually say this?
Good enough ships. Perfect never does.
For those interested in the implementation:
The site was built in approximately two hours of conversation.
I'm J. I'm 51. I live in Oakhurst, California—a small town in the Sierra foothills near Yosemite.
I think in systems because of how my brain works (ADHD), not despite it. But that's only half the story. I've also spent 18 years learning systems the hard way—building trust in mountain communities as a designer, learning how environment shapes people in youth development, understanding customer goals in sales, and architecting infrastructure that has to work when people depend on it. My perspective solves problems that homogeneous teams get stuck on—pattern recognition, systems design, seeing connections others miss. It's a feature, not a limitation. It's also earned.
15+ years in IT and technology leadership, building on a foundation of 18 years in other contexts. I've worked in government, built startups, managed teams scaling from chaos to clarity. Currently leading Client Services for Madera County. I approach leadership as partnership—developing people, not just managing them. I'm married to Chrissie. Two adult sons. I cook seriously—Traeger, sous vide—and build iOS apps when I have space to think.
Building in public now—doss.me, @whatmefocus, my thinking notebook. Transparent about what I'm learning, what works, what doesn't. The people I want to work with understand that. Everyone else probably isn't a fit anyway.
Happy to talk about technology, AI tools, or building things.