Is the allure of AI agents leading us into a costly trap, or are we simply discovering a powerful new tool for unpredictable challenges?

The recent surge in AI agent adoption sparks a debate: when should you choose an agent over traditional code? While AI offers speed and accessibility, we explore the "agent trap" where predictable tasks are over-engineered with expensive, token-wasting AI loops. Lisa discusses the benefits of agents for handling exceptions and experimental workflows, contrasting this with code's reliability for deterministic, repetitive processes. The conversation also touches on the cost of maintenance, the need for business context, and the critical role of human ingenuity in a technology-first world.

• AI agents excel at handling exceptions, ambiguous situations, and experimental workflows where predictability isn't guaranteed.
• Traditional code remains the most efficient and cost-effective solution for deterministic, repetitive tasks and predictable outcomes.
• Business owners should prioritize identifying specific problems to solve and choose the "right tool for the job" rather than blindly adopting the latest AI trends.

Links & Resources Mentioned

• Book a Chat: https://tideslot.com/team/tech-log/tech-log-chat
• Learn more about Port & Starboard: https://portstbd.com/
• Follow Rollins.io

Fueled by Coffee

We don't just talk tech; we roast, brew, and drink coffee 24/7. This episode was fueled by Fathom Coffee. Get your fix at: fathomcoffee.com

Follow Tech Log: Subscribe to stay ahead of the curve as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, data, and business technology.

Links & Resources Mentioned

Book a Chat: https://tideslot.com/team/tech-log/tech-log-chat

Learn more about Port & Starboard: https://portstbd.com/

Fueled by Coffee

We don't just talk tech; we roast, brew, and drink coffee 24/7. This episode was fueled by Fathom Coffee. Get your fix at: fathomcoffee.com

Follow Tech Log: Subscribe to stay ahead of the curve as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, data, and business technology.

• How is taste defined beyond dictionaries, specifically in the context of technology solutions and AI development?
• The tension between a designer's "gut feeling" and AI's data-driven, regenerative processes in creating truly innovative products.
• Does AI's output leads to a dilution of unique design or if humans retain the responsibility to foster discernment and originality in technology.

Links & Resources Mentioned

Book a Chat: https://tideslot.com/team/tech-log/tech-log-chat

Learn more about Port & Starboard: https://portstbd.com/

Fueled by Coffee

We don't just talk tech; we roast, brew, and drink coffee 24/7. This episode was fueled by Fathom Coffee. Get your fix at: fathomcoffee.com

Follow Tech Log

Subscribe to stay ahead of the curve as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, data, and business technology.

Spoiler alert: Statistically, your next tech project has a 70% chance of running aground—but before you go blaming the software, let's look at the humans steering the ship.

In Episode #6, Alexandra sits down with Brittany Browning and Lisa DeNoia to discuss why technology implementations routinely disintegrate halfway through the timeline. They look past the software glitches to expose the real culprits: communication breakdowns, rushed requirements, and the fatigue of the "messy middle." Tune in to find out how to salvage a drifting project before it completely drains your budget and your sanity.

• The Requirements Trap: Why rushing through the sign-off phase just to "get it built" ensures your data metrics will be completely useless months down the road.
• The Stealth Value of Shadowing: Why watching an end-user click 20 times to complete a basic task reveals the operational pain points that corporate leadership completely misses.
• Stripping It Back to Basics: How using simple, black-and-white wireframes forces teams to bridge the massive gap between what they said and what they actually meant.
• The 4-Slide Rescue Deck: A logical, no-nonsense framework to confidently raise the red flag to stakeholders when a project timeline begins to warp.

Links & Resources Mentioned

• Book a Chat: https://tideslot.com/team/tech-log/tech-log-chat
• Learn more about Port & Starboard: https://portstbd.com/

Fueled by Coffee

We don't just talk tech; we roast, brew, and drink coffee 24/7. This episode was fueled by Fathom Coffee. Get your fix at: fathomcoffee.com

Follow Tech Log: Subscribe to stay ahead of the curve as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, data, and business technology.

If you think spinning up a prototype in fifteen minutes flat means smooth sailing ahead, you might want to check for structural leaks before your entire data model sinks into the ocean.

In this episode, Alexandra sits down with Lisa DeNoia and Jeffrey Werby to navigate the turbulent waters between instant AI experimentation and foundational planning. They dive into why the traditional whiteboard design process is being declared "dead" by industry insiders, how to avoid the siren song of polished but ultimately useless prototypes, and the exact moment you need to drop the keyboard and pull out a pen and paper.

What You'll Learn in This Podcast

• The Intoxication of the 15-Minute Prototype: Why skipping wireframes and PRDs feels like a superpower but might actually be the most expensive shortcut your business takes this year.
• The Curse of Reactive Cognition: How seeing a beautifully rendered AI mockup too early forces your brain to settle for what's in front of you instead of what you actually meant to build.
• Grok, Obsidian, and Leaked Pickleballs: A look into the hosts' personal workflows, including a cautionary tale of how an LLM allegedly handed a million-dollar cucumber idea straight over to Vlasic.
• The Restaurant Analogy for Software Development: Why eating at a hundred restaurants doesn't make you a Michelin-star chef, and why using Instagram doesn't mean you're ready to architect an enterprise CRM.
• Steering Without a Chart: Why you don't always have to wait for a perfect plan in a rapidly shifting AI landscape—and how to develop your own personal style through disciplined play.

Links & Resources Mentioned

• Book a Chat with us.
• Learn more about Port & Starboard
• Industry Reference: Jenny Wen (Head of Design at Claude) on the evolution of the modern design process.

Fueled by Coffee We don't just talk tech; we roast, brew, and drink coffee 24/7. This episode was fueled by Fathom Coffee. Get your fix at: fathomcoffee.com

Follow Tech Log: Subscribe to stay ahead of the curve as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, data, and business technology.

The tools building our products are the same tools being used to attack them. Not glamorous — but necessary.

In episode four, Alexandra Craig sits down with Jeff Werby and Lisa DeNoia of Port & Starboard to break down two recent high-profile security incidents and what they mean for anyone building with AI right now.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• What Happened at GitHub & Lovable: A poisoned VS Code extension, 3,800 breached repositories, and $6.6B platform with a very bad couple of months — here's the breakdown.
• Same Problem, Bigger Scale: Why the security threats of today aren't new — they're just faster, wider, and harder to recover from.
• The Abandoned App Problem: Thousands of vibe-coded apps sitting on the internet with corporate data, hospital PII, and stealth startup strategies just... publicly accessible.
• YOLO Is Not a Security Strategy: What happens when well-meaning employees click "allow" on everything without understanding what they're actually granting.
• The Third Wave: Lisa's take on where we are in software development history — and why, like ska music and craft coffee, there's no putting this one back.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Book a Chat: Schedule a time with the Tech Log team.
• The Agency: Learn more about Port & Starboard.

Fueled by Caffeine ☕ We don't just talk tech; we roast, brew, and drink coffee 24/7. This episode was fueled by Fathom Coffee. Get your fix at: fathomcoffee.com

Follow Tech Log: Subscribe to stay ahead of the curve as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, data, and business technology.

"When everyone can build without effort, the value of building also decreases." Is that true? Alexandra, Jeff, and Lisa dig in.

In episode three, Alexandra Craig sits back down with Jeff Werby and Lisa DeNoia of Port & Starboard to challenge the hype around vibe coding — and make the case for something more intentional: AI accelerated development.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Vibe Coding vs. AI Accelerated Development: Why the distinction matters — and why one of them still requires a serious brain behind the keyboard.
• The Stack: The real tools, frameworks, and practices Jeff is using to build production-ready applications (hint: it's not Lovable).
• The Generism Trap: What Michael Malewicz's viral article gets right about a world full of flat, soulless products — and what the IKEA furniture hackers teach us about craft.
• Bridging the Gap: Practical advice for the founder who's 85% done with a vibe-coded prototype and staring at the finish line.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Read the Article: Vibe Coding Is Over by Michal Malewicz.
• Book a Chat: Schedule a time with the Tech Log team.
• The Agency: Learn more about Port & Starboard.

Fueled by Caffeine ☕ We don't just talk tech; we roast, brew, and drink coffee 24/7. This episode was fueled by Fathom Coffee. 👉 Get your fix at: fathomcoffee.com

Follow Tech Log: Subscribe to stay ahead of the curve as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, data, and business technology.

There's a good chance you've already spent money trying to get your data AI-ready — or you're about to. Before you flip the switch, this episode is your reality check.

In episode two, Alexandra Craig sits down with Lisa DeNoia and Brittany Browning of Port & Starboard to wade through the data swamp: the messy, often overlooked foundation that determines whether your AI investments pay off or simply amplify the chaos you already have.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Synthetic Certainty: Why AI is designed to give you confident answers — and why that's dangerous when your data isn't clean or well-defined.
• Garbage In, Garbage Out (2026 Edition): How AI doesn't fix bad data — it scales it. And what happens when agentic workflows are let loose on poorly structured systems.
• Data Governance Before You Automate: The permissions, backups, audit trails, and governance frameworks Lisa and Brittany say every business needs before agents touch their data.
• Human Problem or Technical Problem? Spoiler: it starts as a human problem — and you can define your way out of it.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Book a Chat: Have questions about your data or AI readiness? Schedule a time with the Tech Log team.
• The Agency: Learn more about Port & Starboard.

Fueled by Caffeine ☕ We don't just talk tech; we roast, brew, and drink coffee 24/7. This episode was fueled by Fathom Coffee. 👉 Get your fix at: fathomcoffee.com

Follow Tech Log: Subscribe to stay ahead of the curve as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, data, and business technology.

The conversation has officially moved past simple chatbots. We are entering the era of AI Agents—systems that don’t just talk, but actually execute. With reports predicting a 90% adoption rate for agentic work this year, the frontier of productivity is shifting from "talking to AI" to "delegating to AI."

In this inaugural episode, Alexandra Craig sits down with Jeff Werby and Lisa DeNoia of Port & Starboard to tear down the mystery of agentic workflows and explore how businesses are actually using them to transform daily operations.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• The Psychological Shift: Why the workforce is moving from "searching" to "delegating" and the hurdles of letting go of the wheel.
• The Virtual Workforce: Jeff shares his experience building a team of agents to handle everything from messy file directories to complex, multi-step payroll automation.
• BYOA (Bring Your Own Agent): The rise of "Shadow IT" 2.0 and the implications of employees bringing their own personalized AI "brains" to work.
• Refinement & Taste: Why "hallucinations" are often just a lack of clarity, and how to use human judgment to refine AI outputs.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Book a Chat: Have questions about implementing agents in your business? Schedule a time with the Tech Log team.
• Read the Article: Vibe Coding vs. AI-Enabled Development by Lisa DeNoia.
• The Agency: Learn more about Port & Starboard.

Fueled by Caffeine ☕

We don’t just talk tech; we roast, brew, and drink coffee 24/7. This episode was fueled by Fathom Coffee.

👉 Get your fix at: fathomcoffee.com

Follow Tech Log: Subscribe to stay ahead of the curve as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, data, and business technology.