Hey Clief Notes fam! 👋 I'm Ali, been here for some time, read the ICM paper, watched Jake's videos and I love them. But I have yet to get it. I feel that for many use cases we don't need an agent whether using ICM methodology or any other way to build agents. ICM seems to be a simple idea but is hard to explain and everyone is trying to explain it (like monad tutorials). I guess I am not getting it because as Jake often says in his shorts and videos "You don't need all of that", I haven't tried that "that" that I am still unable to get it.

📣 Update (8/15/26): Comp 11 Rules Added --- What this thread is: I’ve seen a number of people either not know competitions are going on or know how to find them so here is a quick single source thread where you can get to them all. I’ll keep this updated as new challenges are released. See the current challenge as well as all past challenges below! Format for community challenges: https://www.skool.com/cliefnotes/how-competitions-work-from-now-on?p=84912d60 Weekly leaderboard competition: Alongside the biweekly challenges, there is a weekly leaderboard challenge where the member at the top of the 7 day rolling leaderboard wins a free upgrade to their membership. This winner is announced on Mondays typically. @Joshua Hubbard has gone another step further and created a thread linking to all competition entries. Link here: https://www.skool.com/cliefnotes/the-competition-archive-every-entry-every-week-every-link?p=bd752987 --- Current Challenge: Competition 11 The Challenge 💪 - Build a workflow that walks a system and leaves behind a map for those that follow. Rules & submissions 🗒️ - https://www.skool.com/cliefnotes/weekly-comp-11-the-cartographer?p=48566e59 Good luck everyone! --- Past Challenges Competition 1 The Challenge 💪 - Build a brand voice document for a pet grooming business Rules & submissions 🗒️ - https://www.skool.com/cliefnotes/first-ever-weekly-competition-is-live?p=90f50bf9 Results🏆 - https://www.skool.com/cliefnotes/weekly-comp-1-winner-ian-barriopedro?p=0501b57e Competition 2

I'm currently using AI. Can you please make posting optional. I have read these topics before but I am reading them again while using the new community AI agent.

Hi everyone! Finally, I feel like I can share what I’ve been building behind the scenes. AND I AM FUCKING PROUD OF THIS ONE! 🔥 What do you think something like this is worth? I’ve built an end-to-end contract automation pipeline that runs 100% inside the Microsoft ecosystem. The best part? There is ZERO AI in this flow. Just pure, deterministic, enterprise-grade automation that works flawlessly every single time—and costs next to nothing to run! ⚙️ How the Flow Works: Drop & Trigger: You drop a .pdf file into a specific SharePoint folder. This instantly triggers a Power Automate flow that extracts the data and generates a draft contract. Interactive Teams Approval: The person who uploaded the file receives an automated notification in Microsoft Teams. Right inside Teams, they can: - View the uploaded source file. - Review the generated draft contract. - Approve or deny the contract. - Edit key values directly (edits apply to the final executed contract). E-Signing (No Third-Party Fees): Once approved, the contract is automatically emailed to the customer with a unique link to review and e-sign. - Customers can sign using a mouse, touch screen, stylus, or by uploading a signature image. - Note: You can plug in Adobe Sign or DocuSign, but why pay per signature during testing when you can build it yourself? 😉 Legally Sound Audit Trail: The system captures and logs full verification parameters: [Signed By], [Signed At], [Signer Email], [Signer IP], [Signer Device], [Signature Method], [Document Hash], [Reference], [Approved By], [Approved At]. Final Delivery & Auto-Cleanup: Once signed, the finalized contract is emailed to both parties. The flow then automatically deletes all temporary input and output files, leaving a clean footprint where only the two emailed contracts exist. 🛡️ Built for Enterprise & Clients Bulletproof Reliability: Built-in safety features prevent duplicate entries, invalid file formats, or missing data fields.

Most of the time, plain old programming is the better tool. 1. The rules are clear If every step can be written as a rule, AI is not needed. Use: Code 2. The answer must be exact Math, totals, taxes, and dates should always come out right. Use: Code 3. The same input needs the same result Some jobs should work the same way every single time. Use: Code 4. The answer is already in the data If the system already knows the answer, just ask the system. Use: Query/Database 5. You are moving data around Sending data from one system to another usually does not need AI. Use: APIs 6. Only a few cases are unusual Let code handle the normal work and send the odd cases to a person. Use: Human review 7. A mistake could be costly If getting it wrong matters a lot, keep the risky step under tight control. Use: Human approval 8. No real thinking is needed If the job is just following steps, ICM probably adds very little. Use: Code 9. Your software already does it If the feature already exists and works, adding AI just adds another layer. Use: Existing software 10. You just want to use AI Sometimes the new tool is more exciting than the right tool. Use: Ask why When would you choose NOT to use ICM or AI at all?