Blog on Butterswords | Where Words >= Swords

A Few Reflections as a Product Manager Building a Demo Using the Claude system

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:05:37 -0700

BLUF: Requirements engineering has increased in importance in challenging ways at the pace of AI. Learn from those who came before. Adapt what exists to your context and needs. It's on those of us who design and build products and systems to find the path forward. We must not pretend the use cases are so novel, or that we are so smart, as to be the only ones who can figure it out.

One company I interviewed for asked me to build a demo over the course of a week. They chose a problem space central to their mission, and which I knew very little about. They gave me the assignment on Monday morning, and wanted me to complete it within 5 business days. I gave myself the goal of getting it done by Friday night so I could enjoy Father’s Day with my son. This meant I had under 5 business days to research, design, and implement the demo. I then had to record a 10 minute demo and prepare for a follow up debrief. I decided to use the Claude systems to organize and execute the project because of a conversation with a friend about the usefulness of agents . It felt like a good, “core” use case to explore.

Starting to evaluate agent usefulness

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 09:54:49 -0700

I recently talked with a friend and collaborator about agents and the usefulness of products such as Anthropic’s Claude (incl. Cowork and Claude Code). We did not agree on much during the conversation, with me sounding very rigid and curmudgeonly and him taking on an optimistic view I did not expect. I respect this person a great deal, so as he continued to argue for the benefits and usefulness of these systems in his life I felt a desire to better understand where he was coming from. Towards the end of the conversation he gave me a blanket challenge:

Microsft Aegis Summit June 9, 2026

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 10:03:56 -0700

BLUF: Safety and Security share many things. It is not enough, however, to allude to the historical attributes of either when proposing "novel" approaches for AI.

A friend of mine shared a call for participants at the Microsoft Applied AI Safety & Security Summit. It felt like an excellent opportunity to see what the creators of PyRIT are up to in 2026. The agenda had a few interesting presentations. Their inclusion of a case study felt like it might be worth experiencing. I wanted see if their way of looking at risks differed from what I have done in the past.

The Butters Five Rules for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:36:27 -0700

BLUF: Teach your children to live by simple rules and watch how they adapt them to meet the needs of life.

Introduction

Over the fall of 2025 we exposed my son to the competitive side of of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. We did not know at the time if he would show any interest in moving from casual learning to performance-based mastery. After his first informal competition he told us he wanted to try real tournaments. I admired his bravery and realized he did not know enough about competitions to truly grasp how different it would be. So, I tried to to teach him.

Featured in the Co-Creating a Better Tech Future report released by All Tech Is Human

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 11:20:11 -0700

BLUF: A better future requires the creators of systems, tools, and technology to use their proximity to power. They must support the needs and desires of those in marginalized communities, especially the Global South, by partnering "with" them and not building "for" them.

Note: this content is ported from offline notes I kept after working on this project.

In 2022 I volunteered with All Tech is Human to help them shape the Better Tech Future report. The central question they wanted to answer is: how do we create a better future with technology? They recognized there’s no single answer to that question. So they brought together people from around the world and a myriad of disciplines. I appreciated their intention and so I invested several weeks reviewing materials along with many other volunteers to review submissions from hundreds of people.

CRAFT 61: Big Data and AI in the Global South

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I took notes for myself during the CRAFT session on June 21st and have since realized that these may be more useful if shared broadly. Any mistakes are my own. I have removed contact information from here because I do not intend to share it without their permission. I’m sharing their names and their work because it is present on the website for the workshop.

High Level Thoughts

I was honored to be able to listen, learn, and engage with the keynote speakers and presenters. They brought forth excellent and diverse points. As one of a few white people who attended the CRAFT session I have to acknowledge two things:

Picking a robot to teach my son to code

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

From the moment I knew we were going to have a kid, before we knew the gender, I’ve been thinking of ways to get them to engage with robots. I love robots. I want to share that love with those around me. This is not a new thing for me. Years ago I bought a Wonder Workshop Dash robot for my nephew. He didn’t get into it. It was likely not something him and his father wanted to invest the time in to figure out. I realize I gave them a gift that I would want more than something I knew they’d enjoy. Still, it looked like an amazing idea and one I have been carrying around as an idea for my own kids. I have watched that toy for years, looking to see if they made a version compatible with a younger age group. They have not. So, when my son was born I started looking for newer robots and wondered if I could justify getting one for him.