Notes for the Second Edition
This edition builds on more use cases I've seen, discussed, researched, and worked through in collaboration with humans and AI since the first edition was released.
This edition moves the book beyond the launch room. The original migration story remains, but more of the work now happens after the first answer: verifying the result, recovering when it fails, and changing the system without teaching it a new mistake.
If you read the first edition, there are six new chapters and a lot of rewriting. Here's where to return.
| If you care about | Read |
|---|---|
| Organizational resistance | Chapter 5: four fictional NIMBY cases, a self-check, and the objection that correctly stops an unsafe rollout |
| Build versus buy | Chapters 7 and 8: current platforms, component ownership, lifecycle cost, connector retirement, and exit risk |
| Agents talking to agents | Chapters 15 and 16: trustworthy identity, and proof that an action actually happened |
| Promises and measurement | Chapters 17 and 18: commitments to the customer's working result, the 40% × 40% = 16% calculation, and visible metric definitions |
| People who ship improvements | Chapters 6, 19, and 29: protected time, training, review authority, and customer impact |
| Release and recovery | Chapters 20, 22, and 27: decisive migration with a tested fallback, a repeatable shadow gate, and accountable recovery |
| Evaluation after launch | Chapter 28: seven- and thirty-day outcome checks, calibrated review, and a rubric for correct-but-useless answers |
I also got some things wrong. This printing revisits first-edition claims in Chapters 8, 9, and 20: when to build, what a vendor questionnaire proves, and why a migration needs a fallback. I've made the writing more conversational and moved the full prompt library and detailed evaluation methods into the companion skills.
My appearance on The Prompt Room adds a personal self-check in Chapter 5, continuity across the sales handoff in Chapter 17, earlier customer signals in Chapter 18, debugging judgment in Chapter 19, and welcomed human handoffs in Chapter 23. The Reader's Note links to the episode.
At the back: Appendix E indexes the field notes and keeps nine dated observations. Appendix F connects the repositories to the chapters. Appendix G shows you how to install the book as a skill, with ten prompts to start. Appendix H groups the research and product links by chapter, so the story doesn't stop for citations. Ten illustrations sit beside the discussions they explain: the six operating gates, the 16% calculation, delayed evaluation, action recovery, and the midfield model.
The vendor discussion is a snapshot checked on November 1, 2026. Announced, early-access, generally available, and enabled in your workspace are different states. For Fin (formerly Intercom), the Operator, Skills, audiences, and customer-success direction widen the questions to ask. They don't remove the need to test your own configuration. Pylon, Salesforce, and Plain provide useful alternative approaches to examine.
Personal accounts, fictional teaching cases, prototype demonstrations, and recommended practices are identified throughout the book.
The first edition remains available in the edition archive, including its PDF, DOCX, and Markdown.
What changed in this printing
- Chapters 8, 9, and 20 revisit three first-edition claims: when to build, what a vendor questionnaire proves, and why a committed migration still needs a fallback.
- The writing is more conversational throughout, with research and product links grouped in Appendix H.
- Appendix E now indexes every chapter's field note alongside the dated observations.
- Appendix G focuses on installation and ten starter prompts. The full 80-prompt library and detailed evaluation methods ship with the skills.
The changelog records the release details.