A developer I am not. 

I’ve met fantastic software professionals in my work. 

But a developer I am not. 

Definitely. Not. (One CS class at United States Military Academy at West Point?) 

About a month ago, we identified an acute need for a PSA app (project management+ for consulting) at Outsider Consulting. Many hours and a couple dozen candidates later…nothing. 

It’s 1,000% possible my expectations are too high. It’s possible our size, business model, and workflow are too niche. Either way – irrelevant, now. 

Because I’ve met vibe coding. And we’re compatible. 

I had been dialoguing with Claude via BoodleBox on my problem set. Those 2 dozen PSA solutions from earlier? They led to metaphorical head-pounding-on-desk, while not-so-metaphorically pondering God’s silence. Then I thought of Micah Gadoury, an early, highly successful adopter of AI for business. 

“I can’t find a PSA app that works for us…How do I learn from Micah? We live in an AI world. I could build it…” Claude had options.

So it began. Every spare moment. Dopamine flowing. Ideas expansive. Then…problems. Multiple prompts. Frustration. Roadblock. Gridlock. Foul thoughts.

Sometimes the first solution is just a step. 

Claude? Still there, ready to solutionize. He offered to fix the code, and highly recommended I switch to Lovable*. So I added a direct Claude subscription, and we iterated to dial-in the blueprint before I ever pressed a key in Lovable.

And now? It’s the 3 of us. Prompts from Claude into Lovable and results from Lovable back into Claude for review. Repeat.

Which brings us full circle: In West Point terms, I’m the guy doing the hashtag#Boodler‘s run during the group project. 

But I think we’re gonna get a good grade. 


*Many thanks to Michael Ross for not saying “I told you so,” since he showed me Lovable months ago. But I thought I’d found greener grass.