Making complex systems more human.

Field notes on IT leadership, AI automation, systems, travel, and the road.

I'm Rico Tan, an IT and operations leader based in San Francisco. This is my public notebook for what I'm learning, building, breaking, fixing, cooking, riding, photographing, and thinking through.

Some notes are technical.
Some are personal.
Some are experiments in progress.

The common thread: making complex systems more understandable, useful, and human.

CURRENT SIGNAL
Mode Building
Location San Francisco
Focus Practical AI automation, IT operations, and systems thinking
Question How do we reduce context switching without creating another dashboard?
Exploring AI agents, human approval gates, audit trails, motorcycle routes, and better coffee.
SECTIONS
/field-notes Practical lessons from IT leadership, automation, security, governance, and operations. /builder-log Experiments, workflows, broken things, rebuilds, AI agents, home lab systems, and lessons learned. /road-notes Motorcycle trips, travel reflections, food, photography, and places worth remembering. /photo-notes Visual field notes from travel, food, motorcycles, and photography. /now What I'm currently exploring, building, reading, and learning.
LATEST NOTES all notes →
Builder Log Aug 13, 2026 5 min read
I Built a Cinematic Ride Video With AI — Here’s the Actual Workflow, and Where It Broke
I ran a 60-second motorcycle ride video through a full AI production pipeline recently — not a single…
I Built a Cinematic Ride Video With AI — Here’s the Actual Workflow, and Where It Broke
Builder Log Aug 13, 2026 3 min read
An AI Video Editor Where the Agent Actually Drives the Timeline — What Vyra Gets Right
A new video editing tool crossed my radar this week called Vyra, and it’s a good example of…
An AI Video Editor Where the Agent Actually Drives the Timeline — What Vyra Gets Right
Field Notes Jul 30, 2026 4 min read
Last Week I Asked Who Your Computer Trusts. This Week, Someone Tried to Answer.
Last week I watched a demo of ChatGPT’s voice mode renaming files on a desktop computer from across…
Last Week I Asked Who Your Computer Trusts. This Week, Someone Tried to Answer.
Field Notes Jul 26, 2026 6 min read
Your Phone Just Became a Remote Control for Everything You Own
I watched a walkthrough this week of ChatGPT’s new voice mode — Brock Mesarich demoing it live —…
Your Phone Just Became a Remote Control for Everything You Own
Field Notes Jun 14, 2026 12 min read
I Used AI as My Research Layer Traveling Southeast Asia — Here’s What It Got Right and Wrong
I Used AI as My Research Layer Traveling Southeast Asia — Here’s What It Got Right and Wrong…
Builder Log Mar 22, 2026 7 min read
What Background Jobs Taught Me About Reliable AI Agents
Moving 18 scheduled AI jobs from cloud to local looks like a cost exercise. It is really a…
What Background Jobs Taught Me About Reliable AI Agents
VISUAL LOG
Hinodeya Ramen in Campbell: The 141-Year-Old Family Recipe Behind the South Bay’s Best Bowl of Dashi I Built a Cinematic Ride Video With AI — Here’s the Actual Workflow, and Where It Broke An AI Video Editor Where the Agent Actually Drives the Timeline — What Vyra Gets Right Claude Cowork Now Lives in Your Chrome Sidebar — Here’s the Governance Question That Actually Matters Last Week I Asked Who Your Computer Trusts. This Week, Someone Tried to Answer. Your Phone Just Became a Remote Control for Everything You Own An OpenAI Engineer Just Described My Job — And Gave It a Better Name Bandung’s Café Culture, Dago, and Braga at Night: What’s Behind the Hype