This week, I learned:

  • unidown is a Rust CLI tool that converts Markdown to Unicode characters - useful for LinkedIn.
  • 3 years into Nestle, Sangeeta Talwar (who was selling Maggi soup cubes) took the “Maggi Instant Noodles” (popular in Malaysia), changed it to “2-minutes”, realized that noodles are fun for kids to play with, invented the masala flavor, positioned it as easy for moms, distributed hanging baskets (rodent-safe, brand visibility) at stores, marketed on TV and in stores, etc. Gemini
  • Nano Banana Pro 2 is out. Better text, better instruction following.
  • codespelunker is a fast CLI code search tool. Just run cs for an interactive search. It feels light and fast, like ug. lobste.rs
  • Shadow IT is unpaid R&D, not a security threat. When frustrated marketing or sales teams secretly buy their own software tools and bypass the IT department, traditional companies try to ban them. Transformed companies study them. “Shadow IT” is a highly accurate heat map pointing exactly to where your current systems are failing and where the immediate business value lies. Source: CIO.com, Gartner: Business-Led IT
  • Coding agents have introduced a “Usage” page to check your usage: Claude usage and ChatGPT usage. Both have weekly limits and 5 hour rolling limits - with Codex’s being more generous. This aggregates usage across the coding agents as well. Codex has a separate GitHub Code Review quota separate from this, however.

Questions I was asked

Week ending 01 Mar 2026

  • Question: What AI tool should I use given limited budget?
    Answer: The question “what tool” is wrong; ask “what part of my business drains time but doesn’t require my judgment?” - start there.
  • Question: How do I know when to overrule or underuse AI - I’m worried I’m losing skills?
    Answer: Ask: is the skill I’m losing going up or down in value? Use AI after you attempt the skill yourself; for growing skills, learn first, then use AI as a critique partner.
  • Question: AI hallucinates during analysis - how can we ensure accuracy?
    Answer: Same as with humans who give wrong answers - ask again, be more specific, ask for evidence, rephrase and check if the answer changes.
  • Question: How does a research analyst not get scared by AI doing their work?
    Answer: The smart analyst does it quietly, becomes 2x-4x more productive, then uses the lead to shape how things will move.