INTENSEYE

THE BIGGEST SINGLE PIECE OF WORK CAME DURING A RESOURCE GAP. THE COMPANY NEEDED A COMPLEX USER-CONFIGURABLE DASHBOARD, THE KIND OF FEATURE THAT WOULD NORMALLY GET ITS OWN SMALL TEAM, AND THERE WAS NOBODY FREE TO BUILD IT. I TOOK IT ON.

THE BUILD ITSELF RAN ON REACT FLOW FOR NODE VISUALIZATION, KONVA FOR CANVAS RENDERING, AND THE AI SDK FOR THE LLM INTEGRATION. THE HARDER PART WAS THAT THREE TEAMS HAD A STAKE IN IT. RESEARCH, BACKEND, AND FRONTEND EACH HAD THEIR OWN IDEA OF WHAT THE DATA SHOULD LOOK LIKE, SO I SAT IN THE MIDDLE, WORKED OUT THE FEATURE SCOPE WITH THEM, AND FOUND THE DATA STRUCTURE COMPROMISES ALL THREE COULD LIVE WITH. THE FEATURE SHIPPED ON TIME.

A LOT OF THE VALUE I BROUGHT WAS NOT ONE FEATURE, IT WAS REMOVING DRAG FROM THE WHOLE TEAM. I KEPT RUNNING INTO DATA-FETCHING BUGS THAT NOBODY HAD TRACED BACK TO A ROOT CAUSE, SO I STARTED THE DISCUSSION, MADE THE CASE FOR REACT QUERY, AND LED THE ROLLOUT. PERCEIVED LOAD TIMES GOT BETTER AND A WHOLE CATEGORY OF DATA ISSUES WENT AWAY.

THE SAME INSTINCT PRODUCED INTERNAL CLI TOOLING THAT AUTOMATED THE REPETITIVE PARTS OF OUR WORKFLOW, TYPESCRIPT WORKSHOPS AFTER I WENT DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE OF ADVANCED TYPE PATTERNS, AND MENTORING FOR THE JUNIORS ON THE TEAM. IF THE TEAM KEEPS PAYING THE SAME TAX EVERY WEEK, I WOULD RATHER BUILD THE THING THAT REMOVES THE TAX.

IN MY FREE TIME I WAS EXPLORING AGENTIC WORKFLOWS BEFORE THAT WAS A NORMAL THING TO DO. I SHARED WHAT ACTUALLY WORKED, AND JUST AS IMPORTANTLY WHAT PRODUCED SLOP, WITH THE REST OF THE COMPANY.

THAT TURNED INTO COMPANY-WIDE ADOPTION OF AGENTIC TOOLS AND A REAL PRODUCTIVITY GAIN. NOT BECAUSE ANYONE MANDATED IT, BUT BECAUSE THE WORKFLOWS HELD UP WHEN OTHER PEOPLE TRIED THEM.