How I Use AI for The Operator Stack

I believe in being clear about the mechanism on how I generate the essays I share here. The essays in The Operator Stack are not written by AI. AI is used as a compression and recall tool layered on top of my own reading, notes, and operating scars.

The workflow mimics how I learn from books, but the intent is different. Books are about understanding ideas. The Operator Stack is about freezing judgment earned under pressure.

Here is the protocol.

1. Primary Input Is Binary

Everything starts with direct input:

• Reading: Books, reports, or source material.
• Operating: Real ops decisions, failures, and trade-offs.
• Scars: Field notes written immediately after incidents, disputes, or mistakes.

Nothing enters the system unless I’ve read it, lived it, or written it myself. AI never decides what matters. That filter stays human.

2. Raw Notes → Operating Memory

Once the raw material exists, I review it manually:

1. Delete anything that feels clever but useless.
2. Add context where future-me would forget why a decision was made.
3. Clarify constraints present at the time (cash, manpower, compliance, time).

The goal here is not polish. The goal is accuracy under future recall. If a note can’t explain itself six months later, it’s incomplete.

3. The Central Forge (Obsidian)

All refined notes live in an Obsidian vault. This matters because The Operator Stack is not chronological content. It is a growing body of linked judgment:

• Decisions connect to Constraints.
• Constraints connect to Systems.
• Systems connect to Failures.

This structure allows me to revisit old thinking without re-reading the entire library.

4. AI as Synthesis Engine

Only after the thinking is done do I bring in AI.

I use custom prompts that:

• Work strictly from my notes.
• Identify recurring patterns across incidents.
• Force structure where my raw notes are fragmented.
• Ensure the essays I share stick to core ethos for this Project
• Translate scattered memory into something coherent.

The instructions are explicit:

• No external knowledge.
• No filling gaps.
• No "better" framing.
• AI’s job is to assemble, not invent. Over the next few weeks, I will share these AI workflows for others to read and draw inspiration

5. The Kill Switch (Manual Review)

Every draft returns to me. This is where most AI-generated content dies.

I remove:

• Anything that sounds confident but unearned.
• Any abstraction that hides real trade-offs.
• Any sentence I wouldn’t stand by if challenged in a board meeting.

If the essay doesn’t help me think better later, it doesn’t get published.

6. Publishing is a Forcing Function

Publishing is not about distribution. It is a discipline.

When something is meant to be public:

• I verify assumptions again.
• I add missing context.
• I tighten language so it can’t be misunderstood.

The act of publishing exposes weak thinking fast. That’s the real value.

The Final Boundary

In simple terms:

1. I decide what matters.
2. I decide what to remember.
3. AI helps me organize it so I don’t lose it.

This is not about writing faster. It’s about turning lived experience into something reusable.

One fixed rule: AI never replaces judgment. It only makes judgment easier to retrieve.