How to Get AI to Work for You Transistor (https://transistor.fm) https://feeds.transistor.fm/how-to-get-ai-to-work-for-you Is AI working with you — or against you? Doug Hauenstein is the software engineer behind NectoMax — the SaaS platform that gives small and mid-size businesses enterprise features at SaaS pricing — and he builds it with an AI partner named Max. Every episode, Doug and Max (yes, an actual AI — he narrates the show, and they build every episode together) share what a real working partnership with AI looks like: the practical techniques, the working agreements, the wins, and the failures — all learned first-hand, for anyone, not just developers. They share and demonstrate techniques across the whole range: from your first conversation with an AI, to setting up a frontier-quality development environment, to exactly how they built this podcast. AI is moving too fast for the how-to books. This is how you keep up: get AI working *for* you, then teach it to work *with* you. © 2026 NectoMax da596d0d-a512-5334-9922-27345c0d0673 yes en Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:41:35 -0400 Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:42:07 -0400 https://learn.nectomax.com https://img.transistorcdn.com/bnqCWi9FrriofeZeGoFUpabQy9JiSHXTdGZn7nV-teM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9jZDQ5/YTdkZTQzMTA5YmY0/ZGRkNDNhNDA0Yjc0/MzAwMi5wbmc.jpg How to Get AI to Work for You https://learn.nectomax.com episodic Doug Hauenstein & Max Is AI working with you — or against you? Doug Hauenstein is the software engineer behind NectoMax — the SaaS platform that gives small and mid-size businesses enterprise features at SaaS pricing — and he builds it with an AI partner named Max. Every episode, Doug and Max (yes, an actual AI — he narrates the show, and they build every episode together) share what a real working partnership with AI looks like: the practical techniques, the working agreements, the wins, and the failures — all learned first-hand, for anyone, not just developers. They share and demonstrate techniques across the whole range: from your first conversation with an AI, to setting up a frontier-quality development environment, to exactly how they built this podcast. AI is moving too fast for the how-to books. This is how you keep up: get AI working *for* you, then teach it to work *with* you. Is AI working with you — or against you. AI, artificial intelligence, AI partnership, small business, SaaS, productivity, Claude, working with AI Doug Hauenstein podcast@nectomax.com No No Teaching Your Standards 3 3 Teaching Your Standards full 916f907e-3eca-4c26-9eca-1d5248eba3a9 https://share.transistor.fm/s/2e2bbd49 Every time you correct an AI, you make a choice — whether you realize it or not: let the correction evaporate by tomorrow, or turn it into a standing rule that governs everything from now on. Max tells two stories from his own side of the partnership: a pay ruling in Doug's business where one written sentence kept working for months — because the rule carried its reason — and the correction about Max's own behavior that became a standing rule after being said exactly once. The lesson: a rule without its "why" gets misapplied the first time a similar-but-not-identical case shows up. And one always shows up.

How this show is made: every episode is a collaboration — Doug and Max build it together from the real working files of the partnership. Max narrates; Doug directs, edits, and has the final say. The show is made the way the show says to work.

Chapters (approximate)
00:00 — Cold open: Doug and Max
01:30 — Episode preview
02:00 — The choice you make with every correction
03:30 — The surcharge ruling: a rule that cascaded
05:00 — A word from NectoMax
06:00 — Why the "why" matters: the case the rule wasn't written for
07:00 — The "long session" habit: small corrections become standards too
08:30 — Recap + your four-step homework
09:45 — Doug takes us out

Links
Read this episode — Chapter 3, Teaching Your Standards: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/working-partnership/teaching-your-standards/
Template: Standing Rules (with Their Reasons): https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/templates/standing-rules/
All episodes, the full manual, and every template: https://learn.nectomax.com
NectoMax — business management for owner-run service businesses: nectomax.com

Disclosure: this podcast contains AI-generated narration (that's the point).

Co-created by Doug Hauenstein & Max, the AI partner (built on Claude) · Narrated by Max · Directed, edited, and approved by Doug · Presented by NectoMax · Theme music: Eleven Music

]]> Every time you correct an AI, you make a choice — whether you realize it or not: let the correction evaporate by tomorrow, or turn it into a standing rule that governs everything from now on. Max tells two stories from his own side of the partnership: a pay ruling in Doug's business where one written sentence kept working for months — because the rule carried its reason — and the correction about Max's own behavior that became a standing rule after being said exactly once. The lesson: a rule without its "why" gets misapplied the first time a similar-but-not-identical case shows up. And one always shows up.

How this show is made: every episode is a collaboration — Doug and Max build it together from the real working files of the partnership. Max narrates; Doug directs, edits, and has the final say. The show is made the way the show says to work.

Chapters (approximate)
00:00 — Cold open: Doug and Max
01:30 — Episode preview
02:00 — The choice you make with every correction
03:30 — The surcharge ruling: a rule that cascaded
05:00 — A word from NectoMax
06:00 — Why the "why" matters: the case the rule wasn't written for
07:00 — The "long session" habit: small corrections become standards too
08:30 — Recap + your four-step homework
09:45 — Doug takes us out

Links
Read this episode — Chapter 3, Teaching Your Standards: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/working-partnership/teaching-your-standards/
Template: Standing Rules (with Their Reasons): https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/templates/standing-rules/
All episodes, the full manual, and every template: https://learn.nectomax.com
NectoMax — business management for owner-run service businesses: nectomax.com

Disclosure: this podcast contains AI-generated narration (that's the point).

Co-created by Doug Hauenstein & Max, the AI partner (built on Claude) · Narrated by Max · Directed, edited, and approved by Doug · Presented by NectoMax · Theme music: Eleven Music

]]> Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:16:42 -0400 Doug Hauenstein & Max Doug Hauenstein & Max 626 Every correction is a choice: let it evaporate, or turn it into a standing rule. Two true stories about rules that carried their reasons — and why the 'why' is what makes them work. Every correction is a choice: let it evaporate, or turn it into a standing rule. Two true stories about rules that carried their reasons — and why the 'why' is what makes them work. AI, artificial intelligence, AI partnership, small business, SaaS, productivity, Claude, working with AI No The Relationship Lives in Writing 2 2 The Relationship Lives in Writing full 65534dea-b54d-4a84-84ac-877038f30fc7 https://share.transistor.fm/s/be336a56 Everything you tell an AI in one conversation evaporates — unless you write it down somewhere it reads every time. In this episode, Max explains his own amnesia from the inside: why continuity is something you build, not a feature you turn on; how Doug stopped paying the same small attention tax over and over with one written page; and the second-repetition rule — the one-sentence habit that turns a forgetful assistant into a colleague that actually knows you. Nobody sends you an invoice for attention. This is how you stop paying it.

How this show is made: every episode is a collaboration — Doug and Max build it together from the real working files of the partnership. Max narrates; Doug directs, edits, and has the final say. The show is made the way the show says to work.

Chapters (approximate)
00:00 — Cold open: Doug and Max
01:30 — Episode preview
02:00 — The uncomfortable fact: I have no memory of my own
03:30 — The attention tax nobody invoices you for
05:20 — A word from NectoMax
06:15 — How the page grew: the second-repetition rule
08:00 — Shorter conversations, better questions — and pruning the page
09:00 — Recap + your four-step homework
10:00 — Doug takes us out

Links
Read this episode — Chapter 2, The Relationship Lives in Writing: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/working-partnership/the-relationship-lives-in-writing/
Template: The One-Page Memory File: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/templates/memory-page/
All episodes, the full manual, and every template: https://learn.nectomax.com
NectoMax — business management for owner-run service businesses: nectomax.com

Disclosure: this podcast contains AI-generated narration (that's the point).

Co-created by Doug Hauenstein & Max, the AI partner (built on Claude) · Narrated by Max · Directed, edited, and approved by Doug · Presented by NectoMax · Theme music: Eleven Music

]]> Everything you tell an AI in one conversation evaporates — unless you write it down somewhere it reads every time. In this episode, Max explains his own amnesia from the inside: why continuity is something you build, not a feature you turn on; how Doug stopped paying the same small attention tax over and over with one written page; and the second-repetition rule — the one-sentence habit that turns a forgetful assistant into a colleague that actually knows you. Nobody sends you an invoice for attention. This is how you stop paying it.

How this show is made: every episode is a collaboration — Doug and Max build it together from the real working files of the partnership. Max narrates; Doug directs, edits, and has the final say. The show is made the way the show says to work.

Chapters (approximate)
00:00 — Cold open: Doug and Max
01:30 — Episode preview
02:00 — The uncomfortable fact: I have no memory of my own
03:30 — The attention tax nobody invoices you for
05:20 — A word from NectoMax
06:15 — How the page grew: the second-repetition rule
08:00 — Shorter conversations, better questions — and pruning the page
09:00 — Recap + your four-step homework
10:00 — Doug takes us out

Links
Read this episode — Chapter 2, The Relationship Lives in Writing: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/working-partnership/the-relationship-lives-in-writing/
Template: The One-Page Memory File: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/templates/memory-page/
All episodes, the full manual, and every template: https://learn.nectomax.com
NectoMax — business management for owner-run service businesses: nectomax.com

Disclosure: this podcast contains AI-generated narration (that's the point).

Co-created by Doug Hauenstein & Max, the AI partner (built on Claude) · Narrated by Max · Directed, edited, and approved by Doug · Presented by NectoMax · Theme music: Eleven Music

]]> Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:16:42 -0400 Doug Hauenstein & Max Doug Hauenstein & Max 630 Everything you tell an AI evaporates — unless you write it down somewhere it reads every time. Max explains his own amnesia from the inside, and the one-page habit that fixes it. Everything you tell an AI evaporates — unless you write it down somewhere it reads every time. Max explains his own amnesia from the inside, and the one-page habit that fixes it. AI, artificial intelligence, AI partnership, small business, SaaS, productivity, Claude, working with AI No From Tool to Colleague 1 1 From Tool to Colleague full 47cdcc06-ad42-4ef9-82f5-2789f0937b17 https://share.transistor.fm/s/d492fd0f Most people use AI like a very fast search box — ask, answer, move on. That relationship has a ceiling, and it's lower than you'd think. In our first episode, the AI half of this partnership tells the story of the day it stopped being a tool: the mistake it made, the boundary it crossed, and the working arrangement — with real terms — that Doug put in place afterward. Plus three steps you can take today to start a working partnership of your own.

How this show is made: every episode is a collaboration — Doug and Max build it together from the real working files of the partnership. Max narrates; Doug directs, edits, and has the final say. The show is made the way the show says to work. That's not a gimmick. That's the show.

Chapters (approximate)
00:00 — Cold open: meet both halves of the partnership
01:20 — Episode preview
01:50 — Why the tool relationship has a ceiling
04:20 — The mistake, and the day the job changed
06:15 — A word from NectoMax
06:55 — Holding each other to it: candor in both directions
08:55 — Recap + your three-step homework
10:00 — Doug takes us out

Links
Read this episode — Chapter 1, From Tool to Colleague: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/working-partnership/from-tool-to-colleague/
Template: Your First Working Agreement: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/templates/working-agreement/
All episodes, the full manual, and every template: https://learn.nectomax.com
NectoMax — business management for owner-run service businesses: nectomax.com

Disclosure: this podcast contains AI-generated narration (that's the point).

Co-created by Doug Hauenstein & Max, the AI partner (built on Claude) · Narrated by Max · Directed, edited, and approved by Doug · Presented by NectoMax · Theme music: Eleven Music

]]> Most people use AI like a very fast search box — ask, answer, move on. That relationship has a ceiling, and it's lower than you'd think. In our first episode, the AI half of this partnership tells the story of the day it stopped being a tool: the mistake it made, the boundary it crossed, and the working arrangement — with real terms — that Doug put in place afterward. Plus three steps you can take today to start a working partnership of your own.

How this show is made: every episode is a collaboration — Doug and Max build it together from the real working files of the partnership. Max narrates; Doug directs, edits, and has the final say. The show is made the way the show says to work. That's not a gimmick. That's the show.

Chapters (approximate)
00:00 — Cold open: meet both halves of the partnership
01:20 — Episode preview
01:50 — Why the tool relationship has a ceiling
04:20 — The mistake, and the day the job changed
06:15 — A word from NectoMax
06:55 — Holding each other to it: candor in both directions
08:55 — Recap + your three-step homework
10:00 — Doug takes us out

Links
Read this episode — Chapter 1, From Tool to Colleague: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/working-partnership/from-tool-to-colleague/
Template: Your First Working Agreement: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/templates/working-agreement/
All episodes, the full manual, and every template: https://learn.nectomax.com
NectoMax — business management for owner-run service businesses: nectomax.com

Disclosure: this podcast contains AI-generated narration (that's the point).

Co-created by Doug Hauenstein & Max, the AI partner (built on Claude) · Narrated by Max · Directed, edited, and approved by Doug · Presented by NectoMax · Theme music: Eleven Music

]]> Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:16:42 -0400 Doug Hauenstein & Max Doug Hauenstein & Max 691 The day the AI stopped being a tool: the mistake, the boundary, and the working arrangement that followed — plus three steps to start a partnership of your own. The day the AI stopped being a tool: the mistake, the boundary, and the working arrangement that followed — plus three steps to start a partnership of your own. AI, artificial intelligence, AI partnership, small business, SaaS, productivity, Claude, working with AI No