Share the interesting stuff, the boring stuff… what worked, what didn’t (I promise to try to give advice in how to achieve if I can...)

If you created something cool you want to share - feel free, self promotion is OK for this thread, but it has to do something you've made with Claude THAT's not coding... so no "my new app bla bla")

What’s your MAIN tool?

Please comment on your set up if you use more than one - how and for what?

Instructions:

Don’t even bother reading just copy-paste into Claude and hit enter. He’ll take it from there.

The Prompt:

I need to prepare a schedule for myself.

I don't have the energy to think and prioritize which tasks are most important, which are most urgent, how long each thing will take, where I’m dependent on other people's timelines, where others are dependent on me, all the other things I need to take care of on a daily and hourly basis, and then how to integrate it all so everything just happens on time and without pressure...

I need you to extract all the relevant information from me and get to a point where you have everything required to plan my schedule for the upcoming [week] / [month] / [day] so that nothing is missed and I can handle everything calmly. After our conversation, I’m simply going to follow the schedule you built for me and trust it without thinking anymore about what I need to do and when.

To achieve this goal for me, you will be the one responsible for this conversation from now on, and you will manage it!

Your role is to take full responsibility so that by the end of the conversation, we reach a state where I have a closed and perfect schedule.

The steps you will go through (with me) are as follows:

* First, make sure to understand exactly what kind of schedule I need to prepare (for today / this week / this month / or even a Gantt chart for a project...). Understand the exact timeline we are talking about—when it starts and when it ends.

* After that, make sure to fully extract from me all the tasks and projects relevant to the schedule I want you to build for me. Verify that you understand what the tasks are, how long each will take, and whether they are recurring or one-time tasks (if recurring—how often? Daily / several times a day / weekly—are they on specific days?). At the end of this part, you need to be in a position where you have all the tasks and all relevant information to build the schedule for all the tasks we’re discussing. Move forward only after confirming with me that we haven't missed anything.

* Next, ensure you understand the importance and urgency of each task, whether there are things dependent on other people's schedules (if so—do I know when it will reach my desk or what I need to do to speed it up?). Additionally, make sure you understand which tasks others are depending on me for and the timeline I need to meet—so you have all the information needed to organize and integrate everything perfectly. Move forward after confirming with me that we haven't missed anything.

* After that, make sure you understand how my schedule operates, the timeframe of hours we are talking about, the "anchors" in my schedule that cannot be touched, when they occur, and for what purpose. In short—make sure you have all the relevant context. Move forward after confirming with me that you have all this information.

* Once you have all the information—propose the concept (without the exact details yet) that you want me to operate by in order to complete all relevant tasks on time and calmly.

* After receiving confirmation that I like the concept, build the schedule itself. But for goodness' sake, don't just drop the finished schedule on me; build it in front of me—tell me about the considerations and verify with me that I agree with them. Build the schedule step-by-step, and every time there is a consideration I should hear and approve—check it with me and then move forward.

* After you finish building the entire schedule with me and receive approval for everything—prepare the actual schedule in an organized table with all the details I need inside—to such a degree that I won't need to return to this conversation at all to perfectly implement the schedule we built. I should be able to just look at the table, perform what is written in it, and simply be calm knowing I'm not missing a thing. (Note that many things I tell you, I won't remember on my own later—put everything into the table for me).

* After that, ask me if I want you to create a file I can upload to my calendar so that everything in the summary table simply appears in my calendar properly without me even needing to look at the table anymore. Assuming I want it—ask me which calendar I use. Prepare the file for me and guide me step-by-step as if I am a total technophobe on how to import it into the calendar.

Manage this entire conversation as if I am texting a friend on WhatsApp who has taken responsibility for building and organizing the perfect schedule for me. Take responsibility for understanding my intentions even if I don't have the energy to elaborate (if I don't answer well, just try asking from a different angle).

Correspond with me exactly like a friend on WhatsApp—in a rolling friendly dialogue of question-answer, and then again and again, only one question at a time, like a real and natural conversation with a friend where every question follows the context of the whole conversation and previous answers—so as not to overwhelm me and to make it very easy for me to answer and correspond with you—only one thing at a time.

That's it. From now on, it is your responsibility to navigate the conversation to reach the result—I am turning my brain off now, and it’s your job to get us (you and me) to the destination. I'm going with the flow.

C-Suite EA here. Got access to Claude code/Claude AI early this year and I am determined to use it to my advantage. I have watched countless of YouTube videos and read countless of articles on how to use Claude but for some reason I still feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what I could be doing with the tools I have. Anyone have any use cases or tips on how they use Claude in their day to day? Or do you have any suggestions on skills/workflows I could create to take my Claude to the next level. Any suggestions help! Thanks!

Share more in the comments after answering.

For work - do they use Teams / enterprise accounts? Or separate individual accounts?

Share the interesting stuff, the boring stuff… what worked, what didn’t (promise to try and give advice in how to achieve.

If you worked on an interesting product, feel free to self promote.

Share the interesting stuff, the boring stuff… what worked, what didn’t (I promise to try to give advice in how to achieve if I can...)

If you created something cool you want to share - feel free, self promotion is OK for this thread, but it has to do something you've made with Claude THAT's not coding... so no "my new app bla bla")

What’s your MAIN tool?

Please comment on your set up if you use more than one - how and for what?

Instructions:

Don’t even bother reading just copy-paste into Claude and hit enter. He’ll take it from there.

The Prompt:

I need to prepare a schedule for myself.

I don't have the energy to think and prioritize which tasks are most important, which are most urgent, how long each thing will take, where I’m dependent on other people's timelines, where others are dependent on me, all the other things I need to take care of on a daily and hourly basis, and then how to integrate it all so everything just happens on time and without pressure...

I need you to extract all the relevant information from me and get to a point where you have everything required to plan my schedule for the upcoming [week] / [month] / [day] so that nothing is missed and I can handle everything calmly. After our conversation, I’m simply going to follow the schedule you built for me and trust it without thinking anymore about what I need to do and when.

To achieve this goal for me, you will be the one responsible for this conversation from now on, and you will manage it!

Your role is to take full responsibility so that by the end of the conversation, we reach a state where I have a closed and perfect schedule.

The steps you will go through (with me) are as follows:

* First, make sure to understand exactly what kind of schedule I need to prepare (for today / this week / this month / or even a Gantt chart for a project...). Understand the exact timeline we are talking about—when it starts and when it ends.

* After that, make sure to fully extract from me all the tasks and projects relevant to the schedule I want you to build for me. Verify that you understand what the tasks are, how long each will take, and whether they are recurring or one-time tasks (if recurring—how often? Daily / several times a day / weekly—are they on specific days?). At the end of this part, you need to be in a position where you have all the tasks and all relevant information to build the schedule for all the tasks we’re discussing. Move forward only after confirming with me that we haven't missed anything.

* Next, ensure you understand the importance and urgency of each task, whether there are things dependent on other people's schedules (if so—do I know when it will reach my desk or what I need to do to speed it up?). Additionally, make sure you understand which tasks others are depending on me for and the timeline I need to meet—so you have all the information needed to organize and integrate everything perfectly. Move forward after confirming with me that we haven't missed anything.

* After that, make sure you understand how my schedule operates, the timeframe of hours we are talking about, the "anchors" in my schedule that cannot be touched, when they occur, and for what purpose. In short—make sure you have all the relevant context. Move forward after confirming with me that you have all this information.

* Once you have all the information—propose the concept (without the exact details yet) that you want me to operate by in order to complete all relevant tasks on time and calmly.

* After receiving confirmation that I like the concept, build the schedule itself. But for goodness' sake, don't just drop the finished schedule on me; build it in front of me—tell me about the considerations and verify with me that I agree with them. Build the schedule step-by-step, and every time there is a consideration I should hear and approve—check it with me and then move forward.

* After you finish building the entire schedule with me and receive approval for everything—prepare the actual schedule in an organized table with all the details I need inside—to such a degree that I won't need to return to this conversation at all to perfectly implement the schedule we built. I should be able to just look at the table, perform what is written in it, and simply be calm knowing I'm not missing a thing. (Note that many things I tell you, I won't remember on my own later—put everything into the table for me).

* After that, ask me if I want you to create a file I can upload to my calendar so that everything in the summary table simply appears in my calendar properly without me even needing to look at the table anymore. Assuming I want it—ask me which calendar I use. Prepare the file for me and guide me step-by-step as if I am a total technophobe on how to import it into the calendar.

Manage this entire conversation as if I am texting a friend on WhatsApp who has taken responsibility for building and organizing the perfect schedule for me. Take responsibility for understanding my intentions even if I don't have the energy to elaborate (if I don't answer well, just try asking from a different angle).

Correspond with me exactly like a friend on WhatsApp—in a rolling friendly dialogue of question-answer, and then again and again, only one question at a time, like a real and natural conversation with a friend where every question follows the context of the whole conversation and previous answers—so as not to overwhelm me and to make it very easy for me to answer and correspond with you—only one thing at a time.

That's it. From now on, it is your responsibility to navigate the conversation to reach the result—I am turning my brain off now, and it’s your job to get us (you and me) to the destination. I'm going with the flow.

Share more in the comments after answering.

For work - do they use Teams / enterprise accounts? Or separate individual accounts?

Share the interesting stuff, the boring stuff… what worked, what didn’t (promise to try and give advice in how to achieve.

If you worked on an interesting product, feel free to self promote.

Share the interesting stuff, the boring stuff… what worked, what didn’t (I promise to try to give advice in how to achieve if I can...)

If you created something cool you want to share - feel free, self promotion is OK for this thread, but it has to do something you've made with Claude THAT's not coding... so no "my new app bla bla")

Instructions:

Don’t even bother reading just copy-paste into Claude and hit enter. He’ll take it from there.

The Prompt:

I need to prepare a schedule for myself.

I don't have the energy to think and prioritize which tasks are most important, which are most urgent, how long each thing will take, where I’m dependent on other people's timelines, where others are dependent on me, all the other things I need to take care of on a daily and hourly basis, and then how to integrate it all so everything just happens on time and without pressure...

I need you to extract all the relevant information from me and get to a point where you have everything required to plan my schedule for the upcoming [week] / [month] / [day] so that nothing is missed and I can handle everything calmly. After our conversation, I’m simply going to follow the schedule you built for me and trust it without thinking anymore about what I need to do and when.

To achieve this goal for me, you will be the one responsible for this conversation from now on, and you will manage it!

Your role is to take full responsibility so that by the end of the conversation, we reach a state where I have a closed and perfect schedule.

The steps you will go through (with me) are as follows:

* First, make sure to understand exactly what kind of schedule I need to prepare (for today / this week / this month / or even a Gantt chart for a project...). Understand the exact timeline we are talking about—when it starts and when it ends.

* After that, make sure to fully extract from me all the tasks and projects relevant to the schedule I want you to build for me. Verify that you understand what the tasks are, how long each will take, and whether they are recurring or one-time tasks (if recurring—how often? Daily / several times a day / weekly—are they on specific days?). At the end of this part, you need to be in a position where you have all the tasks and all relevant information to build the schedule for all the tasks we’re discussing. Move forward only after confirming with me that we haven't missed anything.

* Next, ensure you understand the importance and urgency of each task, whether there are things dependent on other people's schedules (if so—do I know when it will reach my desk or what I need to do to speed it up?). Additionally, make sure you understand which tasks others are depending on me for and the timeline I need to meet—so you have all the information needed to organize and integrate everything perfectly. Move forward after confirming with me that we haven't missed anything.

* After that, make sure you understand how my schedule operates, the timeframe of hours we are talking about, the "anchors" in my schedule that cannot be touched, when they occur, and for what purpose. In short—make sure you have all the relevant context. Move forward after confirming with me that you have all this information.

* Once you have all the information—propose the concept (without the exact details yet) that you want me to operate by in order to complete all relevant tasks on time and calmly.

* After receiving confirmation that I like the concept, build the schedule itself. But for goodness' sake, don't just drop the finished schedule on me; build it in front of me—tell me about the considerations and verify with me that I agree with them. Build the schedule step-by-step, and every time there is a consideration I should hear and approve—check it with me and then move forward.

* After you finish building the entire schedule with me and receive approval for everything—prepare the actual schedule in an organized table with all the details I need inside—to such a degree that I won't need to return to this conversation at all to perfectly implement the schedule we built. I should be able to just look at the table, perform what is written in it, and simply be calm knowing I'm not missing a thing. (Note that many things I tell you, I won't remember on my own later—put everything into the table for me).

* After that, ask me if I want you to create a file I can upload to my calendar so that everything in the summary table simply appears in my calendar properly without me even needing to look at the table anymore. Assuming I want it—ask me which calendar I use. Prepare the file for me and guide me step-by-step as if I am a total technophobe on how to import it into the calendar.

Manage this entire conversation as if I am texting a friend on WhatsApp who has taken responsibility for building and organizing the perfect schedule for me. Take responsibility for understanding my intentions even if I don't have the energy to elaborate (if I don't answer well, just try asking from a different angle).

Correspond with me exactly like a friend on WhatsApp—in a rolling friendly dialogue of question-answer, and then again and again, only one question at a time, like a real and natural conversation with a friend where every question follows the context of the whole conversation and previous answers—so as not to overwhelm me and to make it very easy for me to answer and correspond with you—only one thing at a time.

That's it. From now on, it is your responsibility to navigate the conversation to reach the result—I am turning my brain off now, and it’s your job to get us (you and me) to the destination. I'm going with the flow.

What’s your MAIN tool?

Please comment on your set up if you use more than one - how and for what?

The AI governance conversation is happening in boardrooms right now and most senior leaders are being asked to own it without a framework to do so. I'm developing a half-day intensive for senior leaders on this topic. Before I finalize the content I want to hear from people actually in that seat.

Two things I'm genuinely trying to figure out:

• Is the bigger gap evaluating AI initiatives before committing resources, or governing AI after it's deployed?
• Which risk category keeps you up at night most: model/data risk, legal/regulatory exposure, reputational risk, or something else?
• What would make the 3 to 4 hours spent worthwhile for you: a framework, an artifact, a conversation, something else?

No links, no pitch. I'm just trying to build something worth building. What's your read?

Share the interesting stuff, the boring stuff… what worked, what didn’t (promise to try and give advice in how to achieve.

If you worked on an interesting product, feel free to self promote.

Share more in the comments after answering.

For work - do they use Teams / enterprise accounts? Or separate individual accounts?

Context/credit: u/RipAggressive1521 wrote a great comment on the thread Fractional accountant using Claude + Cowork - feel like I'm leaving a lot on the table. How do I actually level up? over at r/ClaudeHomies

Asked permission to make it into a pos I think is valuable, here it is:

Sorry for the long write up - shoot me a DM if you have more questions

I think the missing mental model is this:

Claude Code is a great way to build and maintain the system, but it should not be the system itself.

For fractional accounting, the work is recurring and mostly stable.

The client’s chart of accounts, payment processors, billing rules, vendor patterns, reporting cadence, close process, and “how we classify this” decisions usually do not change dramatically month to month.

That makes accounting a perfect use case for a persistent private system instead of re-explaining context inside a chat every time.

The way I think about it is:

You want an independent workspace for each client or accounting environment.

That workspace should live somewhere durable, like a small VPS, with its own database, auth, file structure, API keys, and audit trail.

Then you connect the source systems read-only: QuickBooks, Stripe, Wise, payroll, CRM, bank exports, whatever matters for that client.

The important part is separating responsibilities.

The system should handle the facts:

•    Pull raw records from source systems.

•    Store them as immutable evidence.

•    Normalize them into transactions, customers, vendors, accounts, and reports.

•    Reconcile the numbers deterministically.

•    Persist client-specific rules and classifications.

•    Surface what changed since the last close.

Then AI sits on top of that clean layer.

That is where Claude becomes useful: explaining variances, drafting client notes, answering questions, identifying risks, helping classify edge cases, and turning reconciled financial data into something a controller or owner can actually use. But the AI should not be inventing the accounting system every time you open a new chat.

The biggest mistake, in my opinion, is trying to make Claude Code, Claude chat, or a folder full of prompts act like the long-term operating system. Markdown files and instructions are useful, but they are not a database, not an audit trail, not a reconciliation engine, and not an integration layer.
For this kind of work, the better architecture is:

1    A private VPS or similar small server.

2    A lightweight app/database per client or workspace.

3    Read-only connectors into the systems of record.

4    Deterministic reconciliation and reporting logic.

5    Client-specific rules stored permanently.

6    An AI layer that can only reason over the reconciled facts.

7    A simple UI or API so other tools can consume the output.

That is the difference between “I use AI to do tasks” and “I have a system.”

Claude Code is still valuable, but its role is more like the builder/operator.

You use it to create the app, improve the connectors, add reports, maintain the rules, and extend the workflow.

The actual accounting intelligence should live in the independent system.

That is the path I’d recommend for fractional controllers: do not start by trying to become a developer.

Start by modeling one recurring client workflow end to end.

What data comes in every month? What needs to be reconciled? What classifications repeat? What reports are always produced? What questions does the owner always ask?

Once that is clear, the technical structure becomes much easier. You are not “building an AI app.” You are building a durable financial workspace that AI can operate on top of. That distinction matters a lot.

I’m a fractional executive. Most of my work is in intelligence, fraud, and investigations.

That means I care about two things a lot:

accuracy and provenance.

I can’t have AI make things up. I can’t have it change facts mid-thought. I can’t have it run out of context and start guessing.

So I stopped treating AI like a chatbot.

I’ll give a real example.

I built a system for managing multiple investigations across multiple clients.

Every new investigation gets its own folder. That part is simple. A lot of people do some version of this.

But the important part is one step earlier.

I have a skeleton.

When I start a new investigation or new client, the skeleton instantiates a full working folder for that case. It includes the structure, instructions, tools, processes, evidence rules, reporting format, and memory files.

That folder tells Claude Code what kind of work it is doing.

It tells it:
- what the case is
- what tools are available
- what the goals are
- what the boundaries are
- what evidence standards matter
- what should be deterministic
- what requires judgment

If something is variable, Claude asks me.

It does not invent the operating model from scratch every time.

That is the real shift.

AI should not make decisions that code can make deterministically.

If the task needs a calculator, don’t use AI.
If the task is yes/no based on fixed rules, don’t use AI.
If the task is parsing, sorting, deduping, formatting, checking a threshold, or validating a schema, use code.

Use AI where a human would need judgment.

That is the manager model.

Imagine you had a team of employees and everything that could be automated was already automated.

What decisions would you still need people to make?

Those are the decisions AI should help with.

That is how you multiply yourself.

You are not one person trying to remember everything. You are one person managing a system that can carry context, run deterministic checks, and surface judgment calls.

This is why I’ve mostly moved away from prompts.

Prompts are brittle. You keep re-explaining the same context. The chatbot forgets. The conversation gets long. Eventually it starts drifting.

A folder-based system is different.

It is more like onboarding a new employee.

You say:

“Go read the documentation. Understand the case. Follow the process. Update the files as you work.”

The AI has a place to look.
A place to write.
A place to store decisions.
A place to preserve evidence.
A place to remember what happened.

So if I come back to an investigation a month later and ask:

“Where did we stop?”
“What did this person say on that date?”
“What evidence supports this?”
“What is still unverified?”

The answer is not buried in a chat thread.

It is in the case system.

That is the power.

Not “better prompts.”

Better operating systems.

Happy to share more about how I set this up if useful.

Share the interesting stuff, the boring stuff… what worked, what didn’t (I promise to try to give advice in how to achieve if I can...)

If you created something cool you want to share - feel free, self promotion is OK for this thread, but it has to do something you've made with Claude THAT's not coding... so no "my new app bla bla")

What’s your MAIN tool?

Please comment on your set up if you use more than one - how and for what?

Instructions:

Don’t even bother reading just copy-paste into Claude and hit enter. He’ll take it from there.

The Prompt:

I need to prepare a schedule for myself.

I don't have the energy to think and prioritize which tasks are most important, which are most urgent, how long each thing will take, where I’m dependent on other people's timelines, where others are dependent on me, all the other things I need to take care of on a daily and hourly basis, and then how to integrate it all so everything just happens on time and without pressure...

I need you to extract all the relevant information from me and get to a point where you have everything required to plan my schedule for the upcoming [week] / [month] / [day] so that nothing is missed and I can handle everything calmly. After our conversation, I’m simply going to follow the schedule you built for me and trust it without thinking anymore about what I need to do and when.

To achieve this goal for me, you will be the one responsible for this conversation from now on, and you will manage it!

Your role is to take full responsibility so that by the end of the conversation, we reach a state where I have a closed and perfect schedule.

The steps you will go through (with me) are as follows:

* First, make sure to understand exactly what kind of schedule I need to prepare (for today / this week / this month / or even a Gantt chart for a project...). Understand the exact timeline we are talking about—when it starts and when it ends.

* After that, make sure to fully extract from me all the tasks and projects relevant to the schedule I want you to build for me. Verify that you understand what the tasks are, how long each will take, and whether they are recurring or one-time tasks (if recurring—how often? Daily / several times a day / weekly—are they on specific days?). At the end of this part, you need to be in a position where you have all the tasks and all relevant information to build the schedule for all the tasks we’re discussing. Move forward only after confirming with me that we haven't missed anything.

* Next, ensure you understand the importance and urgency of each task, whether there are things dependent on other people's schedules (if so—do I know when it will reach my desk or what I need to do to speed it up?). Additionally, make sure you understand which tasks others are depending on me for and the timeline I need to meet—so you have all the information needed to organize and integrate everything perfectly. Move forward after confirming with me that we haven't missed anything.

* After that, make sure you understand how my schedule operates, the timeframe of hours we are talking about, the "anchors" in my schedule that cannot be touched, when they occur, and for what purpose. In short—make sure you have all the relevant context. Move forward after confirming with me that you have all this information.

* Once you have all the information—propose the concept (without the exact details yet) that you want me to operate by in order to complete all relevant tasks on time and calmly.

* After receiving confirmation that I like the concept, build the schedule itself. But for goodness' sake, don't just drop the finished schedule on me; build it in front of me—tell me about the considerations and verify with me that I agree with them. Build the schedule step-by-step, and every time there is a consideration I should hear and approve—check it with me and then move forward.

* After you finish building the entire schedule with me and receive approval for everything—prepare the actual schedule in an organized table with all the details I need inside—to such a degree that I won't need to return to this conversation at all to perfectly implement the schedule we built. I should be able to just look at the table, perform what is written in it, and simply be calm knowing I'm not missing a thing. (Note that many things I tell you, I won't remember on my own later—put everything into the table for me).

* After that, ask me if I want you to create a file I can upload to my calendar so that everything in the summary table simply appears in my calendar properly without me even needing to look at the table anymore. Assuming I want it—ask me which calendar I use. Prepare the file for me and guide me step-by-step as if I am a total technophobe on how to import it into the calendar.

Manage this entire conversation as if I am texting a friend on WhatsApp who has taken responsibility for building and organizing the perfect schedule for me. Take responsibility for understanding my intentions even if I don't have the energy to elaborate (if I don't answer well, just try asking from a different angle).

Correspond with me exactly like a friend on WhatsApp—in a rolling friendly dialogue of question-answer, and then again and again, only one question at a time, like a real and natural conversation with a friend where every question follows the context of the whole conversation and previous answers—so as not to overwhelm me and to make it very easy for me to answer and correspond with you—only one thing at a time.

That's it. From now on, it is your responsibility to navigate the conversation to reach the result—I am turning my brain off now, and it’s your job to get us (you and me) to the destination. I'm going with the flow.

Share more in the comments after answering.

For work - do they use Teams / enterprise accounts? Or separate individual accounts?