Start narrower than the big vision.
Begin with one independently sourced or permissioned material stream, its specification, buyer requirements and delivered economics before considering broader optimisation.
FIELD NOTE / 001
05 / FIELD NOTES · LEARNING
What the work is
teaching.
Notes from researching mill materials, trying AI tools and starting a business.
Operational memory is an asset.
Experienced people hold contextual judgement that often never reaches SOPs, databases or formal training material.
FIELD NOTE / 002A useful business needs more than AI.
Defensibility comes from specialist context, permissioned data, workflow integration, testing and real outcomes.
FIELD NOTE / 003Show what has actually been tested.
IDEA, VALIDATING, TESTING and READY mean different things. The label should reflect evidence, not enthusiasm.
FIELD NOTE / 004The documentary stays personal.
Other factories and Port Adelaide history support the story. The centre remains the miller, the closure, redundancy and the next chapter.
FIELD NOTE / 005The website supports the work.
Once the platform is coherent, real pilots, users and evidence matter more than endless redesign cycles.
FIELD NOTE / 006Begin with the experience you already have.
Make a record of the tasks you can do, the judgement behind them, and the conditions you need in your next chapter. Use AI to organise possibilities, then choose a small real-world test.
Explore the career restart guideTraceability travels beyond the mill.
Document coordination and knowledge capture share a useful principle with grain intake: know where information came from, what has been checked, and what still needs review.
Explore the Concierge direction