Products, ideas, and the work between.
Explore the workGive an idea
somewhere
to go.
I’m Shailin. I build products, help teams turn ideas into working things, and write about what changes along the way.
From the work
Open BrainA passage on its own
The Agentic Harness
The section was there. But on its own, it didn’t explain which larger idea it belonged to.
Words without their surroundings
Note title → heading path → passage
The same note, with a little more context.
I added the note title and its heading path to each passage before it became searchable.
The surrounding idea travels with the passage
A useful connection
Back to the thinking I’d already done.
A new session could retrieve the relevant passage, along with its source and section path.
Less re-explaining. More continuing.
The question
When should I use Claude Code versus Codex?
The words were there. The connection wasn’t.
My notes held the thinking. The tools I was using couldn’t reliably find the part I needed.
A small change to what the system could see.
The passage kept its place in the larger idea. Retrieval improved when I gave the words their context back.
A better place to begin again.
That is the idea behind Open Brain: making past thinking useful to whatever comes next.
A small study from Building an “Open Brain”.
Currently working on applied AI at Covetrus.
A little about meSelected work
All work-
Applied AI at Covetrus Practical product work, from tools for field teams to better decisions for leadership. 2023–present
I lead product work that brings AI into everyday workflows. That means working with field teams, engineers, and leaders to understand the decisions people need to make, build tools they can trust, and learn what it takes for those tools to become useful in practice.
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Building an Open Brain Personal knowledge retrieval that carries context between AI conversations. 2026
I built a way for AI tools to retrieve the relevant notes, decisions, and thinking from my Obsidian vault. Instead of starting every conversation from zero, the tools can work with context I have already developed and pick up where I left off.
Read the essay
Writing
All writingThe New Reader
The real cost of shipping fast with AI isn't technical debt. It's organizational amnesia. Teams that engineer legible context now compound; teams that don't, forget themselves.
Also on Substack (opens in new tab)Building an "Open Brain"
Every AI conversation starts from zero. None of last week's thinking exists to the model in front of you. This is what I built to close that gap.
Also on Substack (opens in new tab)
The person behind the work
Curiosity has
a way of
carrying over.
From the products I work on to the things I make for myself and my community, I keep coming back to the same question: what would make this a little more useful?
This is where I share what I’m building, what I’m learning, and the ideas I’m still working through.
More about meLatest
Conversations
BAPS Better Living
Product Innovation from Spiritual Roots
A conversation on faith, family, and why the most consequential career decisions were guided by spirituality. Reframing AI in patient care around what actually matters: time with patients.
Mind, Body, and Roots
Wisdom, Work & Winning: Shailin's Guide to Building with Purpose
Ninety minutes on how identity shapes execution — in product work, in marathons, in faith. The one-word intention guiding the work right now.