Michael Kanning

Technology Consultant, 30+ years software implementations: Product Owner Roadmaps, Process Optimization, and a recent obsession with Super Intelligence.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

@poteto @bot @bot watch this thread and based on what you know about me and my work, propose ideas to improve my bots and workflows

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

@BotDirectoryAI @bot set this up for me.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

@bot Hey @bot give me an example of this using my own data. Show me a “What did I get done” summary and suggest 3 other ideas I can use this for.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

@coreyganim CISO Bot is a report-only security chief for small business owners. It checks your drive, notes, shared computer and accounts every day for exposed client data, secrets and personal info, and runs a deeper review each Saturday.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

@coreyganim I just shared my Chief Security Officer bot which I have been using for ~3 weeks. He's caught some pretty mild stuff and one critical finding. Please check it out and LMK what you think.

https://t.co/2y6SENO9WZ

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

@zachnaon @coreyganim @zachnaon I usually point my Grok Bot Chief of Staff to the import link and ask to copy that bot, highlighting anything it sees which I should scrap as I create my own personal copy.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

Tim Ferriss published The 4-Hour Workweek two decades ago. Fast forward to 2026: Overseas VA teams become intelligent agent squads, but the playbook hasn't changed.

Ruthless elimination, hyper-specific delegation, and strict autonomy are more critical than ever.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

7/ Eliminate Before You Automate 🗑️

4HWW: Focus on the crucial few; eliminate the trivial many.
AI Squad: Bots are great at creating new daily sweeps. We now run a weekly Wednesday cleanup review where the CoS flags unused routines. Keep the system lean.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

8/ Accept Small Errors ⚖️

4HWW: Accept an allowable level of small problems to prevent bottlenecks.
AI Squad: For low-risk, reversible work, I let the bots make minor mistakes. The time saved by not micro-managing the input vastly outweighs time spent correcting the output.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

6/ Name the Exact Output 🎯

4HWW: Specify the exact deliverable format.
AI Squad: CoS briefs don't just say "write this." They specify the target file path, required sections, and word counts. Ambiguity is the enemy of good AI output.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

Tim Ferriss wrote the bible on outsourcing your inbox to human VAs in 2008.

I took his 12 rules from The 4-Hour Workweek and mapped them directly to my AI Grok Bot squad.

If you want autonomous bots that don't drive you crazy with pings, here is the playbook: 🧵👇

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

5/ The ACK Protocol 🤫

4HWW: Confirm receipt of tasks and give ETAs.
AI Squad: Every bot must reply with "Started: [Task] (ETA)" and "Done: [Task] verified." But if I just send an FYI? Absolute silence. Bots are strictly forbidden from sending empty "Understood!" messages.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

4/ "If-Then" Bot Handoffs 🔄

4HWW: Include if-then instructions to prevent back-and-forth.
AI Squad: Bot-to-bot delegation used to cause infinite loops. Now, every handoff includes a strict default: "If no answer by X time, I will do Y."

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

3/ Batching & The 1% Exception 📥

4HWW: Let tasks pile up; bring the 1% of blockers to the boss daily.
AI Squad: Non-urgent updates get batched into the next "Morning Newspaper" digest. Blockers and due-today items still come to me right away. No more random pings.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

2/ Autonomy Lanes (The $100 Rule) 💸

4HWW: VAs can fix any problem under $100 without asking.
AI Squad: Bots operate in "autonomy lanes" (research, draft, stage) and tell me after. High-risk actions (sending emails, deleting from vault, spending) are hard-coded out of bounds.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

1/ The "Add to Rules" Trigger 📝

4HWW: VAs maintain a master rules doc updated via email.
AI Squad: My Chief of Staff (CoS) bot maintains a canon file. I just type "add to rules," and it writes an add-only row to our decision-log. I never teach them the same preference twice.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

Hi, Jordan. Love this content and I’m a longtime fan! Have you considered doing a deep dive into the state of the art Starlink Solar arrays? Seems like a video on that topic would age well, since orbital Starmind data centers would tap into this solar array tech as well. I just read this fascinating tidbit about version 3 of Starlink satellites: “Enhanced manufacturing techniques allow us to produce a continuous roll of V3 solar blanket. We cut this continuously produced blanket into 19-meter-long segments and then stitch four segments together to form a complete solar array.”

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

@homeofficehero9 “I no longer need the armor; my softness is the strongest part of me.”
​— Brianna Wiest

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

@Teslarati Appreciate the critical review! That’s why I follow your posts.

[Michael Kanning @kanning_m]

@farzyness “Jevons paradox is coming to knowledge work. By making it far cheaper to take on any type of task that we can possibly imagine, we’re ultimately going to be doing far more.” We’ve only just begun to see this starting to happen.