Skip to the deck
Handworks Download PDF

What each person leaves with

AI for your team

A working automation they can run and stop, the ability to build the next one, and a one-page brief for their own work project.

01

A working automation you can run and stop

Built on your own laptop from approved sources, on a schedule you control.

02

The ability to build the next one

A repeatable way to build, and enough of what is underneath to trust it.

03

A one-page brief for your own work project

The starting point for two months of one-on-one work.

Handworks01 / 13

How we work together

Three clearly defined offers

01

The course

4 weeks
Group learning

Eight live sessions for five people, with guided practice after each one.

Build and operate your first automation.

02

Your project

2 months
One-on-one

Twice a week with a builder, on one real workflow from your own work.

A workflow in use, owned by the person who built it.

03

Build and care

Scoped separately
Specialist delivery & care

Dedicated development, integrations, security work, and ongoing maintenance.

Scope and terms agreed separately.

Handworks02 / 13

Personalized to your company

Your work is the curriculum

The projects come from your work. The examples in the room are your workflows.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES / REPLACED WITH YOUR OWN AFTER DISCOVERY
01

Weekly account review

Read the account notes and last week’s email, draft the review summary, and leave the account owner to check it before the meeting.

02

Supplier invoice triage

Match incoming invoices to their orders, flag the exceptions, and leave every approval with the person who owns it.

03

An onboarding checklist that checks itself

Read the systems a new starter touches and report which steps are done and which are waiting on whom.

In the course everyone builds the same first pattern on their own sources. In the project phase each person builds one workflow like these from their own work.

Handworks03 / 13
01 / The course / 4 weeks

01 / The course / Week 1

Build something that works

Set up your own laptop with us, then build a briefing from one approved source. You leave with something that runs.

  1. 1A

    Set up together, then build

    Set up your own laptop with us. Build a first working automation: a briefing that reads one approved source.

    Practice Run it again tomorrow and check it against the source.

  2. 1B

    Change it, break it, fix it

    A repeatable way to build: brainstorm, plan, build, verify. Make a change on purpose and recover from it.

    Practice Add one thing you want and keep the version that works.

You learn what you need when you need it, on something you actually want to work.

A risograph workbench with an open construction book and hand plane beside a small timber house frame
Handworks04 / 13
01 / The course / 4 weeks

01 / The course / Weeks 2 to 4

Connect it. Run it. Share it.

WEEK 2Connect real sources

  1. 2A

    Calendar and selected email

    Add your calendar and selected email. Check the output against the source.

    Practice Verify each item in tomorrow’s briefing against where it came from.

  2. 2B

    Keys, data, and rules

    Where the keys live, what is saved, and what the access rules allow.

    Practice Write down what your tool can and cannot touch.

WEEK 3Make it run itself, and keep it safe

  1. 3A

    Make the briefing run itself

    Schedule it, inspect a run, recover from a failure, and stop it.

    Practice Let it run for a week and check its runs.

  2. 3B

    History, undo, and sharing your work

    Keep a history of changes, undo a bad one, and share work with a partner. This is Git, once you have something worth protecting.

    Practice Recover an earlier version on purpose.

WEEK 4Work together and plan what is next

  1. 4A

    Partner review and operating notes

    Review a partner’s tool and have yours reviewed. Write the notes someone else would need to run it.

    Practice Apply one change from the review.

  2. 4B

    Plan what is next

    Present your tool and a one-page brief for a real workflow from your own work.

    Practice Operate and improve it over the next week.

Two 75-minute sessions each week. Each session has its own 45–60-minute guided practice.

Handworks05 / 13
01 / The course / 4 weeks

01 / The course / The session rhythm

Guided work, then your own

60 minEssential work

  1. 01

    Review

    Look at the previous practice.

  2. 02

    Demonstrate

    Explain and show the next move.

  3. 03

    Build together

    Participants do the work with help.

  4. 04

    Check and save

    Try the result and keep the work.

15 minHelp buffer

Questions, delays, and individual support.

After the session: 45–60 minutes of guided practice

Repeat the same skills with less help. Record the result and bring it to the next session.

Handworks06 / 13
01 / The course / 4 weeks

01 / The course / The commitment

Five people. Close support.

5

participants

One builder leads. A co-host helps anyone who gets stuck.

2 × 75 minLive sessions each week
2 × 45–60 minGuided practice each week
1 hourGuided setup on your own laptop, in the first session

About four to five hours a week during the course. About ninety minutes a week in the project phase.

Handworks07 / 13
01 / The course / 4 weeks

01 / The course / Where it runs and what it can touch

Your company sets the boundaries

Company approval comes first

Agree the tools, the permitted sources, and where information can be stored before anything is connected.

Runs on their own laptop

Each participant works on their own machine, set up with us in the first hour. Nothing is installed on company servers during the course.

Read-only, approved sources only

The course reads information from sources IT approves. It does not send replies or change company records.

Keys and saved data stay where you say

Credentials, saved summaries, and run records live only where the company approves. Participants see their own information within that boundary.

A named owner and a stop control

Every scheduled tool has an owner who can inspect a run, change it, and stop it.

Handworks08 / 13
01 / The course / 4 weeks

01 / The course / What each person demonstrates

A working tool. A capable owner.

01

Useful

The briefing contains information its owner needs.

02

Accurate

Dates, claims, and tasks match the sources.

03

Reliable

The owner can verify a run and recover from a problem.

04

Under control

The owner can change the instructions and stop the schedule.

READY FOR YOUR PROJECT

Your one-page brief

We review the tool, its operating notes, and the project brief. The owner makes the checks. The bar is demonstrated capability, not attendance.

Handworks09 / 13
02 / Your project / 2 months

02 / Your project

Two months. Your workflow.

Twice a week, one-on-one with a builder, working from the brief you wrote in the course until the workflow is in use.

2 × 45 min a week

One-on-one sessions for each participant, with a builder.

2 months to start

Continuation can be agreed as needed.

Start from your brief

One workflow, its users, and the approved sources it needs.

Build, test at work, bring back what broke

Parts that need a dedicated developer are scoped as Build and care.

The pattern from the course, read approved sources, summarize, schedule, verify, stop, is the skeleton of every workflow you build here.

Two architect lamps focused on one miniature bridge at a shared studio table
Handworks10 / 13
03 / Build and care / Scoped separately

03 / Build and care

The parts that need a builder

Dedicated development and ongoing care, agreed apart from the course and the project sessions.

THE WHOLE AUTOMATIONBuilder-led delivery

Ask us to deliver an agreed workflow, with clear checks and an owner who knows how to use it.

SELECTED COMPONENTSBuild alongside your team

Your people build with help in their sessions. We take the parts that need a dedicated developer.

CONNECTIONSBuild and maintain the plumbing

Access controls, credential handling, and connections to company systems.

ONGOING CAREKeep it running

Audits, security hardening, and fixes for the code and connections we own.

Agree which parts we own, the checks required, and the maintenance terms. Every project uses company-approved access.

An open specialist toolbox with precision instruments and a small mechanical assembly
Handworks11 / 13

Who we are

Builders who teach

Xiao is a Delaware public benefit corporation building an institution for builders.

01

Teachers are working builders

Every teacher is actively building: enterprise projects, fellowship projects, their own. Not a training class reading slides.

02

Commercial work funds free education

Programs like this one pay for free education for young builders. We say so.

03

The bar is demonstrated capability

Not attendance. Each person shows a working tool they can run, change, and stop, and explains how it works.

Handworks12 / 13

The next step

A plan around your team

Confirm the people and the first projects. Agree approved access and dates.

01 / The course4 weeks
02 / Your project2 months
03 / Build and careScoped separately
01

The people

Five participants, a sponsor, and an IT contact.

02

The projects

A useful first result, its sources, and the people who will use it.

03

The support

One-on-one time, development work, and the parts we will maintain.

Who should be in the first five?