Steve Endow's Business Central Podcast

Hosted by Steve Endow

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114

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May 2026

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EN-US

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I talk about Dynamics 365 Business Central! More resources at https://links.steveendow.com

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May 22, 2026Episode 20953 min

I Need Coffee - Episode 209 - Weekly BC Review!

I Need Coffee - Episode 209 - Weekly BC Review! (April 24, 2026)1. Weekend ActivitiesVibe-coded a full new website in ~4–6 hours (Astro + Cloudflare).Learned a lot, but decided to scrap the complex architecture.Planning a simpler vanilla HTML + CSS version (cleaner, no heavy frameworks).Attended a Chinese dance performance and did amateur photography (technically challenging low-light conditions).Sniped a Canon R7 mirrorless camera on eBay (~$980) to upgrade photography gear.2. Marketing & Business DevelopmentReceived a $7,000 quote for a new website → decided to vibe code it instead.Vibe-coded a 35-page marketing plan for ~$4.35 in tokens (emails, blogs, webinars, conferences, brochures, etc.).Acknowledges marketing is outside his comfort zone but sees value in letting AI generate ideas and plans.3. AI Tooling & ExperimentationOpus 4.7 released (goodbye 4.6).GitHub Copilot / Pro subscriptions paused due to major changes in pricing model.FFmpeg mastery via AI: Compressed large Teams recordings (285 MB → ~150 MB), trimmed dead space using VTT transcripts, GPU acceleration (very fast).Training Session Analysis Prompt (based on Dimitri + Jeremy’s work):Fed 1-hour Teams video + VTT transcript.Produced a 32-page metric-based report with educational, psychological, and communication metrics.Examples: Words per minute (135.5, optimal range), filler words, speech clarity, jargon density, pause timing, CFU (Check for Understanding) rate, participant talk ratio, etc.Detected privacy issues (visible Outlook inbox, sensitive PDFs on screen).Recommended improvements (define terms upfront, presentation mode, remove distractions).4. Business Central / Development WinsGL Account Filter foresight by AI saved a project: Predicted and solved 1 MB JSON payload limit in Flowcast integration.Complex support fire drill (issue since April 6th):Recorded troubleshooting call with customer.AI analyzed video/transcript → narrowed down root cause.Built and deployed a diagnostic PTE → fixed the edge-case data issue same day.Lesson: Record calls, narrate clearly for AI analysis — massive time saver on complex bugs.5. Challenges & ObservationsCustomer mindset frustration: Customer with 11-year-old shadow lot tracking PTE only wants one lot fixed, not the root bug or full cleanup.GitHub issues: Merge queue commits randomly reverting previous merges.AI font rendering bug in Perplexity (bad dollar sign font confused PowerShell $PSVersionTable).WordPress still hated (security vulnerabilities, complexity).6. Upcoming EventsDirections NA – Next week (prepare & pack).Dynamics Con – May 12–15.Directions Asia – May 13–15 (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).DUG Meetup El Salvador (likely in Spanish).Dynamics Minds – May 25–27 (Slovenia).Vibe Partner Conference 2.0 – Sept 21–23, Provo, UT (Call for Speakers open until June 15).7. Team UpdatesJoselyn & David: Continuing MB-800 study + config packages.Ronald: Document Capture training & implementation; guinea pig for training analysis.Franklin: Debugging + new PTE work.Fatima: PMP study + experimenting with Page Scripting + AI.

May 21, 2026Episode 20859 min

I Need Coffee - Episode 208 - Weekly BC Review!

I Need Coffee - Episode 208 - Weekly BC Review! (April 17, 2026)1. Weekend – World of Coffee Conference (San Diego)Attended with friend Gabe from San Salvador (his coffee business ranked #69 in North & Central America – huge achievement).Massive event: thousands of hardcore coffee nerds, huge convention center, top roasters (Onyx, Weber, Probat, etc.).Highlights: premium packaging, wild processing methods (double fermented, anaerobic, nitrogen infused, co-fermented lychee, etc.), latte art competition, high-end light roasts.Bought premium specialty coffee (~$30 per small box).2. Customer AI Stories & WarningsCustomer used ChatGPT to justify reusing check numbers in BC → team had to intervene with real risks.AI responses should be taken with a grain of salt — especially for ERP/accounting decisions.3. Legacy PTE Nightmares (Inherited Lot Tracking)11-year-old PTE (from ~2015, migrated from C/NAV) that bypasses all native BC lot tracking.Automatically assigns lot numbers to everything while keeping items as non-tracked.Causes quantity discrepancies and breaks standard inventory adjustments.Decision: Do not try to fully fix/migrate — just patch bugs. Classic “shadow system” horror story.4. Hardware UpgradesOrdered Mac Mini (M4 base) for heavier AI workloads (replacing eBay tiny PCs).Used OpenClaw + custom “lobster shopper” script to monitor Apple refurbished store every 30 mins.New Human Scale G5 keyboard tray (Rolls-Royce of trays) — tilt/height adjustable, very happy.5. AI Tooling & Vibe Coding InsightsStefan Moron’s AL Symbols/Dependency MCP + Jeremy’s BC Code Intelligence MCP installed but inconsistent tool usage in agents.Improving AI-generated user guides/documentation — Joselyn’s brutal (and valuable) feedback led to much better prompts.New strict grounding rules: no hallucination, tie everything to actual code/pages/fields.Corto vs Pandoc: Corto is mostly a wrapper; sticking with custom Pandoc + Word template workflow.AI is terrible at time/duration estimates — completely hallucinates. Added custom hooks for real timestamps.Claude Code + Tmux on Linux for running multiple agents efficiently.6. Major AI Disruption Example (Survival Mode)Friend’s company: 2.5-year, multi-million dollar custom .NET project with 8 developers.Customer vibe-coded the entire system in 12 days (including missing features + improvements).Result: Laying off 6 developers, major contract renegotiation.Steve’s warning: Everyone should be in survival mode in 2026. The world is changing extremely fast.7. Microsoft Account & Access FrustrationsMicrosoft login dialog hell (no account specified) → accidentally created personal account conflict with M365 business account.VPN/Conditional Access blocks for international team members (geolocation + other policies).8. Open Source Contribution FunHelped Stefan with ALRunner project (super-fast AL unit testing, no Docker/container).Ran multiple Claude agents via Tmux on Linux box → 100+ commits/PRs.Cleared 1,100+ issues with several people contributing agents.9. Model & Tooling UpdatesOpus 4.7 released — even better, but very expensive on GitHub Copilot (7.5x → 15x multiplier).Local models (LM Studio, Qwen, etc.) tested on RTX 3080 → disappointing for BC work.Overlay VPN experiments (UniFi Teleport = garbage, Tailscale = okay but slow).10. Team & Other UpdatesTeam studying MB-800, working on Document Capture, PMP, weather cam project.Upcoming events: Directions NA, Dynamics Con, Dynamics Minds, Vibe 2.0 Partner Conference (Provo, UT – Sept 21-23).

May 20, 2026Episode 2071 hr 14 min

I Need Coffee - Episode 207 - Weekly BC Review!

I Need Coffee - Episode 207 - Weekly BC Review! (April 10, 2026)1. Keyboard Tray & Personal LifeOld Human Scale ergonomic keyboard tray (27–28 years old) broke → ordered Gen 5 replacement.Paper usage metric: 500 sheets lasted almost exactly 1 year.2. AI & Vibe Coding BreakthroughsReproduced a complex Dynamics GP partner application (17 years of work) in 12 hours with a partner using AI (3 phone calls + cleanup).New version is better and features are now trivial to add.Bitter Lesson Engineering (Daniel Mistler essay) – Highly recommended.Stop micromanaging models with detailed instructions/frameworks.Describe desired outcome + constraints (or remove constraints for creativity).Let emergent behavior shine.Preference for minimal abstractions: Direct LLM interaction over complex agents, MCPs, custom prompts, etc. (to better observe model behavior/changes).Emergent behavior examples in Business Central apps (clever implementations he wouldn’t have thought of).3. Claude & Tooling WinsUploaded Teams video transcript (VTT) → Claude generated perfect PRD/FRD.OpenClaw fixed OAuth issue with OpenAI.OpenClaw transcribed 83MB Teams video using FFmpeg → then analyzed with Claude.Considering upgrading OpenClaw hardware (Mac Mini).4. Business Central Development NotesConsistent AI struggles:File/object naming.Number Series setup.Factbox refresh issues (needed full page reload initially).Stefan Moron’s AL Dependency MCP Server – Excellent for schema understanding (set up via Copilot).Central Gauge (Torben Leth) – Great AL benchmarking site.Check layouts: Finally delivered after weeks (now building AppSource app for common formats to avoid per-customer PTEs).In-flight / halfway-done transactions design flaw (discovered twice) – Important to anticipate in new apps.Lot tracking shadow system horror story (2015 PTE) – Wild independent lot system on non-lot-tracked items.5. GitHub / DevOps MigrationTransitioning from Azure DevOps to GitHub + ALGO.Massive speed gains (scaffolding in minutes vs. 30+ mins).6. Tools & ProductivityPandoc + Word template workflow for beautiful MD → DOC conversion (via Copilot scripts).Windows + H for voice typing (excellent in VS Code).Logan Legacy MCP for legacy code analysis.GitHub Copilot iOS app praised for full agentic capabilities (issue → PR without cloning).7. AI Hype vs RealityWarning on performative engagement bait and hard-to-benchmark “tips.”Claude Mythos hype largely overblown (context-heavy benchmarks).Models change daily; stay humble and test.8. Team & Company UpdatesJoselyn: MB-800 studying + painful config package / 1099 work.David: MB-800 + report layouts.Ronald: Document Capture implementation + Berlin English Academy (intermediate/advanced).Franklin: Released 2nd AppSource app; learning in-flight issues.Fatima: PMP studying + partner dashboard.9. Upcoming EventsWorld of Coffee Conference (San Diego) – This weekend.Directions (Orlando) – Soon.Dynamics Con (Las Vegas) May 12–15.Dynamics Minds (Slovenia) May 25–27.Vibe 2.0 Partner Conference (Provo, UT) – Call for speakers open.Various SummitNA Roadshows.10. Fun / MemorableCollege photo shoot (dresses + cowboy boots in flower field).Unpredictable users as perfect (unintentional) QA.Mila Jovovich doing open-source AI work (Claude memory system) → “Best timeline.”

May 20, 2026Episode 2061 hr 3 min

I Need Coffee - Episode 206 - Weekly BC Review!

I Need Coffee - Episode 206 - BC Weekly Review! (April 3, 2026)1. MVP Summit Reflections - Microsoft product managers are exceptionally sharp and operate 6–18 months ahead; they run circles around most technical discussions - Microsoft is uniquely positioned for comprehensive end-to-end AI (Office, Teams, Excel, BC, GitHub, etc.) - Even PMs and MVPs struggle to keep up with the pace of AI changes - Strong emphasis that Microsoft is investing heavily in making AI actionable and integrated across the entire stack2. Prompting Philosophy Shift - Key realization: **Less is more** — heavy guardrails and overly constrained prompts often produce worse, lazier results - Removing excessive constraints allowed Opus 4.6 to “spread its legs” and deliver far better outputs (e.g., numbered wireframes with referenced requirements and user stories) - Coincidentally reinforced by a tweet from Jonathan Smith (Microsoft) about reducing constraints to let the model use its full intelligence3. AI Tooling & Workflow Updates - Defaulting back to GitHub Copilot in VS Code for coding tasks (Opus models were extremely slow this week) - Added GitHub Copilot event hooks (PowerShell) to automatically timestamp prompts (start time, end time, duration) — very useful for tracking performance - Claude still preferred for high-quality Word documentation - Experimenting with Playwright for automated BC UI screenshots (for user guides) — generated 21 screenshots with inline references; created full 35–40 page documentation of the setup4. Marketplace (AppSource) Progress - Published **two apps** to Microsoft Marketplace this week - Created detailed 20–30 page step-by-step procedures so any of the three devs (Steve, senior dev, Franklin) can reliably publish - Now treating Marketplace publishing as a repeatable, low-overhead process5. Networking / Infrastructure - Ordered UniFi Cloud Gateway Max to test as potential replacement for SonicWall (focus on Teleport VPN for better customer conditional access compatibility) - Goal: create clean exit nodes (Los Angeles + Utah) to avoid IP-hopping alerts and commercial VPN blocks from customer tenants6. Team & Operational Notes - Franklin & Steve published Marketplace apps - Joselyn & David continuing MB-800 studies - Ronald on Continia + iSolutions implementations - Fatima reviewing the 500-page Prospect Discovery Questionnaire - 1099 procedures for BC v27 still painful and complex7. Upcoming Events - Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29 (preparing presentations with Brad) - Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15 (3 sessions) - Directions Asia – Ho Chi Minh City, May 13–15 - DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27 - Partner Vibe 2.0 – Provo, Utah, September 21–23 (submissions due June 15) - Summit NA – Nashville, October 11–158. Fun / Personal Note - Weekend: washed garage door and daughter’s car, cleaned sunroom to resurrect home theater (now shared with pottery wheel and a cat using the center channel as a perch) - Watched *Shallow Hal* with wife (laughed a lot) - Forgot laptop on flight day → wife delivered it to the airport - Biohacking note: decaf experiment showed no noticeable difference in sleep/energy

April 27, 2026Episode 20543 min

I Need Coffee - Episode 205 - BC Weekly Review!

I Need Coffee - Episode 205 - BC Weekly Review! (March 27, 2026)1. MVP Summit 2026 Recap (Seattle) - Attended via Southwest flight (felt luxurious compared to Avianca) - Highlighted how smart Microsoft product managers are; they operate months/years ahead and run circles around most people in technical depth - Key insight: Microsoft is uniquely positioned for comprehensive AI across its ecosystem (Office, Teams, Excel, BC, GitHub, etc.) - Strong impression that Microsoft is investing heavily in making AI actionable and integrated, not just chat-based - Noted that even hardcore MVPs and PMs struggle to keep up with the pace of AI changes2. AI Experimentation Highlights - OpenClaw nightly self-improvement**: Prompt “scan yourself and suggest top two improvements” — running every night - Claude still dominant** for professional Word documentation and large structured outputs - Playwright automation project**: Built a system inside an AppSource app to automatically log into BC, navigate, prepare screens, and take named screenshots for user guides (21 screenshots generated with inline references) - Created 35–40 page documentation of the entire setup, lessons learned, troubleshooting, and scripts so the team can replicate - Next step: test Chrome MCP as alternative for BC UI automation - AI Project Management**: Continuing to use OpenClaw + Teams Planner for task analysis, risk assessment, daily top-5 reports, etc.3. AppSource & DevOps Migration - Actively packaging multiple apps for AppSource (registration, licensing, pipelines, testing) - Decision to migrate from Azure DevOps to GitHub (Microsoft’s clear direction; DevOps pipelines have become too painful with 32+ pages of procedures) - Expect GitHub to have its own pains but better AI integration (Copilot CLI, agentic PRs, code review from mobile, etc.)4. Microsoft Ecosystem Observations - Hopeful for better model selection and harness control in M365 Copilot, Teams, and Office tools - Wants true agentic behavior (e.g., meeting summary → auto-create & prioritize tasks in Planner, not just show to-dos) - GitHub Copilot now model-agnostic in VS Code → should be competitive with Claude Code / Cursor5. Team & Operational Notes - 1099 procedures for BC v27 still causing pain (complex setup, poor usability) - Franklin publishing first AppSource app - Joselyn advancing MB-800 practice exams + financial reports - Ronald on Continia + iSolutions - Prospect discovery questionnaire (500+ pages) now under review by Fatima for project use6. Upcoming Events - Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29 (preparing presentations with Brad) - Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15 (3 sessions) - Directions Asia – Ho Chi Minh City, May 13–15 - DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27 7. Fun / Personal Note - Weekend chores: washed garage door and daughter’s car, cleaned sunroom to resurrect home theater (shared with pottery wheel) - Forgot laptop at home on flight day → wife delivered it to airport - St. Patrick’s Day dinner: Korean soon tofu + galbi + ice cream (traditional Irish meal) - Watched classic movies (Days of Thunder, What Women Want)

April 23, 2026Episode 20444 min

I Need Coffee - Episode 204 - Weekly BC Review!

I Need Coffee - Episode 204 - Weekly BC Review! (March 20, 2026)1. AI Mindset & Experimentation - Strong bullish stance: AI makes previously impossible projects feasible; the real challenge is thinking big enough to use it effectively - OpenClaw nightly self-improvement prompt: “Every night, scan yourself and suggest the top two improvements” (meta configuration suggestions) - Using prospect discovery questionnaire (500+ pages) and new project risk assessment framework as test beds for large-context prompting2. Claude Dominance in Documentation - Claude (Opus 4.6 Extended via web/app) remains the undisputed champion for professional Word documents - Created full **Prospect Discovery Questionnaire**: 500 pages, 35 documents, “choose-your-own-adventure” structure with gating questions + deep-dive sections (GL, AP/AR, inventory, manufacturing, warehouse, integrations, compliance, etc.) - Value estimate: equivalent to $500k+ enterprise consulting work that no small team would normally attempt - Fatima (PMP) now reviewing it for learning ERP features and project management3. AI Project Management Breakthrough - Hypothesis: most project management drudgery (task updates, risk assessment, follow-ups, documentation) can be handled by AI agents - OpenClaw now fully connected to Teams Planner via custom MCP server (built by OpenClaw itself in minutes) - Capabilities demonstrated: upload Excel → create plan, recategorize tasks, assess risk, apply labels, generate daily top-5 reports, analyze delays/high-risk items - Can be used from phone during morning walk for instant project status4. AppSource Preparation Realities - Actively packaging multiple PTE prototypes into proper AppSource apps - Emphasis: “It is a lot of work to do it properly” — registration, licensing, telemetry, pipelines, dependencies, testing, object ID management - Created detailed procedures/checklists with AI assistance - Object ID overlaps previously discovered; now systematically fixing5. Mundane vs. Magical Contrast - AI creates “impossible” things quickly, but everyday tasks remain painful (Western Digital RMA still delayed, WordPress website redesign frustration, Microsoft Defender spam rules that reject subdomains) - Compared Claude vs. M365 Copilot for change request document: Claude produced professional, detailed output in 5 minutes; Copilot was basic GPT-4 level at best6. Development & Team Updates - Franklin working on first AppSource publish + PTE change request (AI-generated from email thread in minutes) - Ronald handling 1099 procedures for BC v27 (new design is complex and user-unfriendly) - Joselyn studying MB-800 practice exams + financial reports - David on vacation during Berlin’s month-long fiesta patronales - New Salvadoran furball update (the “runt” kitten living the good life)7. Upcoming Events - MVP Summit – next week in Seattle - Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29 (preparing presentations) - Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15 (3 sessions: 2 BC + 1 cybersecurity) - Directions Asia – Ho Chi Minh City, May 13–15 - DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27 - Partner Vibe 2.0 – Provo, Utah, September 21–23 (submissions due June 15) - Summit NA – Nashville, October 11–15 (submissions due March 31)

April 22, 2026Episode 20342 min

I Need Coffee - Episode 203 - Weekly BC Review!

I Need Coffee - Episode 203 - Weekly BC Review! (March 13, 2026)1. AI Experimentation & Large Projects - Finished the **Prospect Discovery Questionnaire** project: 500+ pages total across 35 documents (main 40-page questionnaire + topical sections + 24 detailed questionnaires) - Designed as a “choose-your-own-adventure” style tool with yes/no gating questions to determine which deep-dive sections are relevant (company overview, GL, AP/AR, inventory, manufacturing, warehouse, integrations, compliance, etc.) - Created using Claude.ai (web) over several days and many tokens — estimated value equivalent to $500k+ enterprise consulting work - Now building a **Project Risk Assessment Framework** based on the same approach (using PMP/ISO 31000 principles) - Using these massive documents as test beds to push context windows and prompting strategies2. Claude Projects Feature - Discovered and started using Claude.ai “Projects” — allows uploading dozens of files (35 docs used only 15% capacity) for persistent context - Successfully used to deduplicate questions across all documents (found only 4 true duplicates via Jaccard index) - Enables better multi-document analysis and consolidation than single long chats3. AI Efficiency vs. Mundane Reality - Coined theme: “Creating the Impossible yet Fighting the Mundane” - AI enables building things previously unthinkable, but real life still involves slogging through broken RMA processes, website redesigns, spam filters, etc. - Western Digital drive RMA saga: submitted Jan 8, still waiting after 2+ months due to repeated system failures - Microsoft Defender anti-spam rules cannot whitelist subdomains (e.g., Anthropic magic-link emails from mail.anthropic.com) → ongoing login frustration4. Website Redesign Struggle - Tanya and Steve both hate working on the company website - Using Perplexity to critique and guide WordPress + Elementor cleanup - Frustration with WordPress base product, themes, and plugin ecosystem (constant upsells and vulnerabilities)5. Business Central / Development Updates - Object ID range overlaps discovered in AppSource apps (due to manual tracking instead of spreadsheet or AL Object ID Ninja) — only two actual duplicate IDs - Preparing three prototype PTE apps for conversion to AppSource (created checklist via AI) - AI (Perplexity) instantly found mapping errors in RDL/Word report layouts (e.g., Payment Terms wrongly bound to Shipping Terms; spelling error “Bacid” instead of “Batch ID”) - Franklin becoming unintentional approval workflow expert after multiple AI-assisted refactors6. Team & Nearshore Updates - Joselyn & David continuing MB-800 study - Ronald implementing Continia Document Capture - Fatima reviewing prospect questionnaire and resuming PMP studies - Franklin prepping apps for AppSource + handling approval workflow issues - Two Salvadoran furballs (kittens) update — one looks like a Maine Coon, the other is the “runt” with big personality7. Upcoming Events - Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29 - Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15 (hotel prices insane; Steve flying in same-day for some nights) - Directions Asia – Ho Chi Minh City, May 13–15 - DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27

April 21, 2026Episode 20246 min

I Need Coffee - Episode 202 - DOUBLE FEATURE BC Review!

I Need Coffee - Episode 202 - double feature BC Review! (march 6, 2026)1. OpenClaw & AI Tooling Updates - Upgraded second iteration of OpenClaw (broke after Linux update); fixed with heavy AI assistance - Created automated backup routine for OpenClaw configuration, scheduled jobs, etc. - Connected OpenClaw to Discord (new server with topic-specific channels that preserve context) - Created “momento.md” file so OpenClaw can refresh its own memory of skills, emails, Nextcloud access, etc. - Installed OpenAI CodeEx (requires WSL on Windows) – found setup too cumbersome for daily use 2. Claude Projects Feature - Discovered Claude.ai “Projects” – allows uploading many files (used 15% capacity for 35 docs) - Enables better context retention across sessions than single chats - Successfully used to deduplicate questions across documents (found only 4 true duplicates using Jaccard index) - Allows creating consolidated versions (50-page, 100-page summaries, etc.)3. AI Efficiency & Mindset - Reiterated “AI Efficiency Paradox” – more productive but busier than ever - Personal philosophy: “If you don’t have a Plan B and Plan C, you don’t have a Plan” (heavily influenced by El Salvador experience) - Applied to software: endless edge cases possible, but practical approach is to ship, test, and iterate rather than over-engineer upfront4. Travel & El Salvador Trip (March 2026) - Flew to El Salvador, met Ronald at airport, stayed overnight at hotel near airport - Morning app review session with Ronald at hotel restaurant - Picked up “hitchhiker” Brad (another BC MVP) who arrived with no hotel or plan - 3-hour drive to Berlin with Brad riding in the back of the pickup truck (authentic Salvadoran experience) - Hosted team dinner at the compound (boneless beef ribs, banana bodín, etc.)5. Berlin Activities & Team - Presented at Kenya DUG meetup (via Teams) on “Leverage AI to be the best Dynamics consultants in the world” - Private tour of government animal sanctuary (monkeys, wild cats, owls, etc.) - Visited geothermal power plant (“volcano energy”) - Hiked volcano La Cruz with Brad and team (pickup truck adventure + sulfur smells) - Visited active coffee farm (raised beds for natural-processed coffee) – met twin girls starting English scholarship - Team cooked breakfast (frijoles, fried plantains, fresh pan francés) - Birthday surprise sabero at Tacos Hermanos6. Team Excellence Updates - Continued MB-800 prep (Joselyn & David) - App development and testing ongoing - English scholarship program expanded (twins at coffee farm now enrolled) - Berlin English Academy students/graduates joined team dinner7. Upcoming Events - Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29 (Steve presenting with Brad) - Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15 - Directions Asia – Ho Chi Minh City, May 13–15 - DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27 8. Random / Fun Notes - Watched classic movies on YouTube (Rudy, Good Will Hunting) - Gas station dinner near airport (typical Salvadoran experience) - Formula 1 weekend upon return – planning to relax

April 9, 2026Episode 2011 hr 2 min

I Need Coffee - Episode 201 - Weekly BC Review!

I Need Coffee - Episode 201 - Weekly BC Review! (february 20, 2026)1. OpenClaw Update - Reinstalled with its own domain, email, and Nextcloud server - Connected to Telegram (main interface), WhatsApp (flaky), and a dedicated M365 Business Basic tenant - Peter Steinberger / OpenClaw now sponsored by OpenAI; project heading toward open-source foundation (Anthropic relationship described as unpleasant)2. Claude Opus 4.6 Dominance - Generated 700+ pages of professional Word documents this week - Clear winner for complex, consistent, beautifully formatted business documents (templates, checklists, prospect discovery questionnaires, etc.) - Native real-time SVG diagram generation with instant editing (e.g., change arrow colors on the fly) - Context window issues: hit hard limit after ~300 pages → had to restart chats and re-upload documents to maintain formatting3. AI Efficiency Paradox (Steve-coined) - Massive time savings (weeks → hours) → marginal cost of new code/features approaches zero - Result: accepting more work, building apps for free or low cost, converting one-offs into potential AppSource products - Paradox: to-do list longer than ever, working 14-hour days, but having more fun than ever (risk of burnout acknowledged)4. Advanced Vibe-Coding & Debugging Techniques - **Agentic diagnostics**: AI generates its own 10-page diagnostic queries on GL accounts, enums, and database values when stuck - Detailed activity logging with FactBox showing every API payload and response - Auto-added “Enable Detailed Diagnostics” toggle on setup page (unprompted by Steve) - Built full preview pane page for GL extraction → JSON assembly → API submission → logging5. **Brilliant BC UI Workaround (JSON Viewer) - Needed tall, searchable, scrollable JSON display - Standard multi-line text box in BC has severe line limits - AI solution: parse JSON → store each line as record in temporary table → expose as standard List Page - Bonus: built-in BC search box instantly searches the entire JSON payload6. Diagramming Experiments - Draw.io MCP server tested – useful for validation but weak for initial creation; requires manual fixes for arrows/spacing - Lesson: complex diagrams must be broken into smaller ones or they become unreadable spaghetti - Claude web/app SVG output currently best – generates and redraws in real time7. Tool Landscape - Using mix: Perplexity (Q&A), Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code (terminal), Claude.ai web/desktop (documents + SVG) - Cursor now has marketplace for plugins/MCP/skills - Warning: red “context window of doom” dot in VS Code with Opus 4.6 – stop immediately8. Team & Nearshore Updates - First **Dynamics User Group (DUG) meetup in El Salvador** held yesterday – conducted in Spanish, first in all of Latin America (Argentina & Costa Rica followed) - Fatima organized and ran the meeting; team presented their work - Joselyn & David advancing in MB-800 (now on sample questions) - Ronald: iSolutions collections training + ongoing implementations - Franklin: new app + custom check report (moving toward AppSource) - Fatima: using AI for project plans, ISO 31000 risk assessment, task allocation

February 28, 2026Episode 2001 hr 1 min

I Need Coffee - EPISODE 200 - Weekly BC Review!

I Need Coffee - Episode 200 - Weekly BC Review! (February 13, 2026)1. Vibe Coding / Agentic Engineering Mania - Steve stayed up past 10 p.m. multiple nights vibe coding with Claude + GitHub Copilot - Customer (inspired by previous stream) published a full custom API in one evening - New internal app idea → started and largely completed in ~8 hours total (vs estimated 100–120 hours manually) - GitHub Copilot suggested complete redesign of Sales Hold app → **80 % complexity reduction**, better UX, aligns with standard BC workflow - Franklin (junior dev, <1 year experience) fully refactored the app and is now vibe-coding automated approval-workflow pre-configuration on install 2. Claude Code (new tool) & PRD Explosion - Installed Claude Code (Opus 4.6) – called “more developer-friendly, empathetic, no noise” - Generated 71-page PRD (started at 28 pages) with ultra-detailed acceptance criteria, API call validation, error handling for every HTTP response, etc. - Agentic debugging innovation: added “Run Diagnostics” button to setup page so the AI can query BC data itself and self-diagnose (solved account classification bug in 3 rounds) 3. Diagramming & Tools Quest - Exploring Draw.io MCP server for fully agentic business-process / wireframe diagrams - Still evaluating PlantUML vs Mermaid vs Draw.io for “agentic diagramming” inside PRDs/SOWs 4. Business & Operations Highlights - iSolutions training completed (payments + tokenization); internal implementation started - Partner Dashboard live in production; registration dashboard next - Mysterious production environment deletion in demo tenant → treated as breach, full lockdown performed (passwords, 2FA, app registrations reset) - Fixed **13-year-old Dynamics GP 1099 bug** (partial payments/credit memos) - MEM Aged AR report extension broken when using “Print to Excel” (bypasses report extensions) - DevOps project creation automated via vibe-coded script (was 28-page manual nightmare) 5. Team Excellence Updates (Berlin, El Salvador) - Joselyn & David studying for MB-800 - David → Simple Object Designer wizard - Ronald → leading Partner Dashboard + iSolutions + Continia - Franklin → vibe-coding Sales Hold + auto-approval setup - Fatima → PMP + vibe-coding full Greenfield BC project plan (stakeholders, risks, steering committee, etc.) - First El Salvador Dynamics User Group meetup confirmed: **Thursday, February 19, 2026** (in Spanish) 6. Personal / Weekend Notes - Packing 3 suitcases as “mule” for El Salvador trip (soccer balls, backpacks, luggage rack, mattress pad) - Received free Apple Watch Ultra 2 via insurance claim - Achieved Avianca Elite Gold status for 2026 - Air-fryer ribeye + veggies dinner story 7. Upcoming Events - Directions NA – Orlando, April 27–29, 2026 → Steve + Brad presenting “Vibe Coding the Entire Partner Process” (phone call → PRD → wireframes → full app) - Dynamics Con – Las Vegas, May 12–15, 2026 - Directions Asia (HCMC) – May 13–15, 2026 (Tanya attending) - DynamicsMinds – Slovenia, May 25–27, 2026 - Summit NA roadshows starting Feb 19 (Tampa) - Dynamics Con regionals: Denver (April 9), etc.