The Missing Manual Show

Two Brand Voices, One Show: How We Train AI to Speak for Both of Us

Two Brand Voices, One Show: How We Train AI to Speak for Both of Us When two distinct creators collaborate, how do you ensure the content speaks with a unified voice—without losing the hard-earned, earned beliefs of either host? In this episode of The Missing Manual, Julia Levy and Jenny Cotie Kangas dive deep into the mechanics of operationalizing their show using AI. This isn't about quick hacks or shortcuts; it's a strategic, behind-the-scenes look at how to merge individual "Brand Voice Bibles" into a singular, cohesive AI grounding document. Tune in as we discuss how we are training our AI to step into the role of our virtual Production Assistant and Chief of Staff. You’ll learn how to establish unified guardrails (like our shared, yet distinct, hatred of the em-dash), how to handle stylistic friction, and why the secret to scaling your workflow lies in defining a clear "blueprint for good." Key Takeaways for Your Work: * Don't get stuck on the tool: The foundational strategy applies whether you are using Claude Projects, Gemini Gems, or Custom GPTs. * Why your AI needs to know what "bad" looks like just as much as it knows what "good" looks like. * The workflow pipeline: How to collaborate with the tool to get a draft 85% of the way there, and how to feed your final 100% version back in to train it for the future. Have you built a grounding document for your own business operations yet? Let us know your thoughts on LinkedIn at The Missing Manual page!

How to Build an AI Workflow for Any Repetitive Task

In this episode of The Missing Manual, Julia Levy and Jenny Cotie Kangas teach you how to build an AI workflow for any repetitive task by working through a real example in real time. They use their own podcast production process as the case study, but the framework they walk through applies to almost anything clunky and manual that drains hours from your week. The three moves are simple: follow the friction, map the process, reverse engineer it with AI and automation. Julia and JCK make the case that the real skill in working with AI is not picking one perfect tool, it's knowing when to use best-in-class for a specific gap and when good-enough all-in-one is the smarter call. Julia brings the operator's lens from her work in talent acquisition leadership, where she's evaluated this exact tradeoff with talent technology. JCK reframes the conversation around systems thinking, pushing listeners to zoom out from the specific use case and look at the underlying pattern they can copy. A through-line of the episode is keeping the human in the loop on purpose. AI tools still produce odd outputs, hands with extra fingers, faces that drift across ethnicities, so the hosts are designing their workflow to let AI generate a slate of options while a human makes the final call. It's a practical model for anyone who wants to use AI without handing over judgment. This is the kickoff of a multi-part series on The Missing Manual where Julia and JCK build the workflow live, including the stumbles. If you have a repetitive task at work or at home that is ripe for automation, this episode gives you the framework to start on it today. Find The Missing Manual wherever you listen to podcasts.

Mowing the Digital Grass: Taming Your Downloads Folder with Claude Co-work

"Hope is not a strategy." If your desktop is a sea of icons and your Downloads folder is a graveyard of unnamed PDFs, this episode is for you. Julia and JCK dive into a practical, day-to-day use case for AI that goes beyond the hype: digital organization. In this episode, we document the process of turning digital chaos into a streamlined system. We discuss the shift from "manual" organization to "agentic" workflows, where the AI doesn't just give you a template, it co-creates a methodology with you. In this episode, you’ll learn: * Why "mowing the grass" is the best metaphor for digital maintenance. * How to use Claude Co-work to audit your hard drive and flag duplicates. * The difference between "chasing best practices" and building a system that fits your specific brain (The "One Size Fits One" approach). * How to stop wasting mental calories on file management and start "capacity enabling" your work week. Resources Mentioned: * Claude Co-work * The "Grass Mowing" Prompt (Check our YouTube for the screen share!) Connect with us: Follow Julia Levy and Jenny Cotie Kangas on LinkedIn for more "Strategy, Not Hacks" and AI-driven insights. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Missing Manual on YouTube to see the live demos!

Stop Building Better Bad Processes: The Missing Manual for AI Troubleshooting

In this episode of The Missing Manual, JCK and Julia Levy go "under the hood" of their own AI experiments to discuss what happens when the tech fails to meet your standards. From Julia’s frustrating experience cloning her voice to JCK’s "agentic design" approach, they break down why AI is a "one-size-fits-one" solution. They explore the "Step Zero" of process mapping, the power of handoff documents, and why you should treat different LLMs (Claude vs. ChatGPT vs. Gemini) like specialized team members rather than a single source of truth. THE BREAKDOWN: [00:00] Intro: The Missing Manual for TA leaders and practitioners. [01:06] Julia’s Use Case: Building a Talent Intelligence web app and the frustration of "bad" AI voice clones. [02:15] Defining "Good": Why AI reverse-engineers the wrong results without established guardrails. [03:15] The Golden Rule: Don’t use AI to automate a broken process (Stop making "better bad processes"). [04:36] Model Switching: When to use Gemini vs. Claude vs. ChatGPT for specific tasks. [09:31] The "Learning Out Loud" Community: Curating your own AI news pulse. [11:18] Beyond Business: How Julia used AI to plan a multi-generational family trip to Moab, Utah. [15:54] The "Challenge Me" Prompt: How to stop your AI from being a "Yes-Man." [19:39] Final Summary: The critical role of Handoff Documents in grounding your AI.

Stop AI Hallucinations: The Handoff Secret for Claude & ChatGPT

Tired of your AI losing the plot mid-conversation? Learn why Agentic AI requires Handoff Documents to prevent hallucinations and maximize your token usage in Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT. As we move further into the era of Agentic AI, the biggest hurdle isn't the AI's capability, it's its memory. In this episode of The Missing Manual, Julia Levy and JCK (Jenny Cotie Kangas) break down the "handoff" workflow. We explore how AI weights the end of long conversations more heavily than the initial guardrails, often leading to "side quests" and errors. Whether you are building custom agents for home improvement or managing complex HTML coding projects, a Handoff Document acts as a strategic SOP for AI. It captures model numbers, root causes, and version history, allowing you to "collect the dots" and restart fresh without losing progress. What you’ll learn in this episode: * The technical "hockey stick" effect of AI credit usage. * How to force an AI to generate its own version-controlled handoff. * The difference between a "Calibration" and a standard audit. * Real-world demo: Troubleshooting a gas fireplace using a specialized GPT. ⏳ Timestamps (For SEO Chapters) 00:00 Intro: The Missing Manual Part 3 01:15 What is a Handoff Document in Agentic AI? 02:30 Why Claude and GPT-4o "forget" your instructions 04:00 Julia’s secret to stopping Gemini hallucinations 06:15 LIVE DEMO: Building a Handoff Doc for home repairs 09:45 The "How would you improve this?" power-prompt 12:30 Organizing your AI Handoffs: Folders vs. Trackers 15:00 Why your business needs AI SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) 20:00 How to share AI context with your team 21:00 Final Tips: When to hit the "restart" button