Human in the Loop
Smarter thinking for the AI-powered people
A growing library of ideas, essays, and field notes from NowComms on using AI well, with judgement, not just speed.
Written for the founders, marketers, and operators figuring this out in real time, mostly on the fly, often with a coffee going cold next to them.
Honest thinking. Useful frameworks. The occasional strong opinion.
Featured reading
Start with this one
A useful place to start, whether you are writing, leading a team or questioning what the tools give you.
I hope this email finds you well. It never did, really.
Open your sent folder and count them. Why the most common opening line in email stopped being harmless, what to write instead, and the banned-openers list we use ourselves.
Read the essayThe library
A shelf worth coming back to
Essays, field notes and practical frameworks. Pick the question that has been on your mind.
8 pieces to read
Click a book to read it. Hover for a quick preview.
I hope this email finds you well. It never did, really.
Open your sent folder and count them. Why the most common opening line in email stopped being harmless, what to write instead, and the banned-openers list we use ourselves.
Read the essayEveryone's AI sounds the same. Sounding like yourself is the edge.
Open five competitor websites and try to tell them apart. You can't, and neither can Google. Why the great sameness costs you twice, what AI genuinely cannot fake, and how to sound like yourself again.
Read the essayHow much will your AI really cost you?
Uber burned a year's AI budget in four months. Then a government switched two models off on a Friday. The tool everyone's building on is harder to price, and harder to keep, than the pitch admits.
Read the essaySEO didn't die. It got a $320,000 job offer.
The AI companies supposedly killing search are quietly hiring search experts at founder-level salaries. Where your next customer actually finds you now.
Read the essayYour AI Thinks You're a Genius. That's the Problem.
Every major AI agrees with you more than a human would, even when you're wrong. Why that's a problem for anyone making real decisions.
Read the essayBrilliant at the Boring Stuff
The unglamorous, useful things AI quietly does for our B2B marketing team. The specific tasks, the real time saved, no hype.
Read the field noteThe one-page AI policy template for UK small teams
Five questions every growing business should answer before AI causes a problem you didn't see coming. Editable template included.
Read the frameworkThe Pause Between Prompt & Publish
A founder's guide to AI adoption: why the smartest teams are slowing down just enough to stay in the loop.
Read the essayNo pieces match. Try another word or choose All.
Useful tools
A second pair of eyes.
Small tools for thinking more carefully about the work in front of you.
The Second Pair of Eyes
A practical checker for reviewing the structure and signals on a page. Use its evidence to inform your judgement, not replace it.
Open the checker“Met with Now team briefly online and everything is now just tickety boo!”
Sunamp
Keep a place on the shelf.
Get the next essay, field note or framework when it lands. Useful thinking, with a person behind it.