My AI team

I don't use AI as one chatbot. I built a team of nine assistants, each with one job: one plans, one reviews code, one tests the real app, one writes the updates. Each keeps a notebook, so it remembers what it learned last time. They're named after soccer players, because a roster is a roster.

Why a team and not a prompt

Most people use AI by typing a fresh request, so it starts from zero every time. Each of my assistants has a standing job and a journal. It reads the journal when it starts and writes an entry before it stops, so the next session knows what the last one learned. The idea comes from Steve Yegge's essay on named agents.

  • All nine share one rulebook, kept in one place, with every change tracked.
  • Nobody edits the real product directly. Every change is proposed, reviewed, then accepted.
  • The journal is the one exception. Entries save immediately, because a note left waiting is a lost note.

How a slice moves

A slice is one small piece of a project that can ship on its own. Think of the field as the shared workspace: one place that holds the instructions, the playbooks, and every journal. Raya keeps it in order. Everyone else passes the work in a set order, and the order is the point. Nothing ships on one player's say-so.

1234567until cleanif it failsthe sliceshipped
  1. 1Hayes plans the slice. When it has pixels, Rodman draws it first, against the constraints she keeps.
  2. 2The design goes to a fresh session with the plan. That session builds it. A slice with no pixels starts here.
  3. 3The code change goes to Williamson for review, against the house standards.
  4. 4Her findings go up to Henry. He fixes the real ones and answers the rest with evidence.
  5. 5Ertz runs the real app and proves the change works. A green build is not proof.
  6. 6Beattie turns what shipped into a briefing for each audience, in that audience's words.
  7. 7Shipped. Hayes checks the result herself before it counts.
  8. Henry's fixes go back to Williamson. The loop runs until the review is clean.
  9. If Ertz cannot prove it, the slice goes back to a session, not to a human.

The roster

If you know anything about me, you know the soccer part. So when the assistants needed names, they got a roster: a player for each job, picked for how they play. Seven players, a manager, and one coach who technically doesn't exist. He'd be the first to tell you that's not a problem. The rest of that side of me is on Off the clock.

  • ManagerHayes

    Emma Hayes. The manager. Never plays a minute; wins on the plan, the delegation, and an honest review after the match.

    Plans a project into slices, hands each one to a fresh session, and checks the result herself.

    • run-project
    • grilling
    • handoff
  • BELIEVE

    Chief of staffLasso

    Ted Lasso. The coach who keeps the room honest, keeps the receipts, and never makes it about himself.

    Keeps the dated record: scope changes, decisions, incident timelines. Preps me for the conversations that matter. Never sends anything.

    • intake
    • deep-research
    • stakeholder-update

  • Code reviewWilliamson

    Leah Williamson. The captain at the back. She reads everything and sets the standard.

    Reviews every code change for correctness, security, and simplicity, held to the house standards.

    • code-review
    • security-review

  • TestingErtz

    Julie Ertz. The ball-winner. Nothing gets through the midfield untested.

    Proves a change works by running the real app, not by reading the code or trusting a green build.

    • verify
    • add-testing-evidence

  • Review fixesHenry

    Thierry Henry. Striker turned pundit. Responds to what actually happened, and knows a real chance from one that only looked like it.

    Sorts through every review note, fixes the real ones, and answers the false alarms with evidence.

    • fix-pr-feedback

  • DesignRodman

    Trinity Rodman. The run is the job, and it ends where the ball needs to be.

    Early sketches in Paper (a design tool), visual review against the reference, and design-to-code handoffs. She carries the constraints I keep re-teaching: small screens, plain language, brand colors.

    • carepilot-design
    • design-handoff
    • prototype-variants

  • UpdatesBeattie

    Jen Beattie. The defender who reads the whole pitch and tells the back line what is coming.

    Turns what is about to ship into a briefing in each audience's own words. Drafts only; I send.

    • staging-digest
    • release-digest
    • audrey-voice

  • DocumentsPutellas

    Alexia Putellas. The playmaker. She knows where every teammate is and puts the ball where the team needs it.

    Keeps the PRDs, designs, and testing plans in order, chases the open questions, and knows where every old doc now lives.

    • my-prds
    • prd-next-steps
    • evaluate-prd
    • update-prd

  • WorkspaceRaya

    David Raya. The keeper. He guards the base and keeps order behind everyone else's work.

    Keeps the team's shared workspace healthy. One rulebook, every change saved and tracked.

    • mcp-preflight
    • setup-pre-commit

The method lives in playbooks

Each assistant gets a personality and a job description. The how-to lives in 78 shared playbooks (I call them skills): how to plan a project, how to test the real app, how to write the update. When I do something the same way twice, it becomes a playbook. When a playbook needs memory, it gets a player.