AI Glue Guy
Every great team needs a great "glue guy": help me help you help us make AI accessible and actionable.
You've probably heard of The Man in the Arena. But what about The Glue Guy on the Bench? That's the gritty role player who keeps things running — refilling Gatorade bottles, hyping up the starters, and making sure the team's ready to go. That's me: cheering you on and making sure you've got what you need to build with AI.
Build
Jump in and start building.
Both Builders and a Soon-To-Be-Builders get stuck, but the best Builders stay come and iterate until they find a way.
Check out the Builds tab where I log how and what I'm working on. Each project is saga. I aim to document the details to help you learn how to get started and to avoid my mistakes.
Learn
Learn the AI concepts that make you a better builder.
You can't spell fundamentals without "fun"! As you learn from experience, learn the fundamentals that will help you learn even more from your experience.
Go to the Basics tab for AI concepts explained in plain English. If you don't understand, it's on me to explain it better.
Iterate
Nothing works perfectly the first time. Get better by iterating, troubleshooting, and learning from what doesn't work.
I share practical guides to capture what I've learned from iteration, at the end of the day only you can get better at building -- my hope is that these guides will help you build the confidence to get started.
More on "Glue Guys" from Fellow Duke Alum Shane Battier
In basketball, a "glue guy" is the player who makes everyone around them better. They don't always have the flashiest stats, but they do the little things that help the team win - setting screens, diving for loose balls, making the extra pass, playing defense, and lifting up their teammates.
Fellow Duke alum Shane Battier embodied this role throughout his NBA career. As he wrote in his article "Elite Glue Guys 101":
"Elite glue guys have an uncanny ability to make the right play at the right time. They understand the game, they understand their teammates, and they're willing to sacrifice personal glory for team success."
That's what I want to be for people building with AI - someone who helps you succeed by sharing the small details that matter, the troubleshooting tips, the practical guidance, and the encouragement that makes the difference between projects that work and ones that don't. Not the star player, but the teammate who helps you become one.