Robots, project management, and time to sip Tinto de Verano<

I’ve just got home from Aranjuez – a beautiful small city nestled at the heart of Spain.

Some friends tied the knot out there, so we were mainly out there for the wedding and those sizzling celebrations. But there was also outstanding historic architecture, tantalising tapas, family time, and a fair share of Tinto de Verano. It was lovely to be out there for Father’s Day too.

Forget two birds one stone… this trip knocked out countless.

Despite the sweat – and there was plenty of it – it felt like, for a good few days, I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Present. Relaxed. Not staring at spreadsheets, sitting in meetings, or scrutinising the finer points of a new spec document on its eighteenth version.

It’s interesting isn’t it – the idea of needing to be places and not needing to be others. I suppose that’s a debate that will only intensify as tech takes on more tasks.

I’m not just coming at this from the perspective of post-holiday blues either. I’m mulling it over because we’ve been trialling something at Smoke Screen… and so it was an interesting time for me to step away for a Spanish soiree.

We’ve been experimenting with letting AI manage a project. And let me clarify from the jump – we’ve not handed over the reins. It’s not making decisions, replacing anybody, or running the company.

But it is managing this one project.

I won’t get into the weeds of it too much, but we’re currently building a lead nurture campaign around a database of installers, locksmiths, and security businesses. Some already know us well. Others know security fog but perhaps not Smoke Screen specifically. We’d like more people to feel confident specifying, installing, and talking about our products.

Fairly straightforward objective, right? So the interesting bit is how we’re delivering it.

Each week we hold a project meeting. The AI records it, summarises it, identifies actions, allocates ownership, builds timelines, tracks progress, and then politely nags us when we’ve inevitably become distracted by something else.

And in fairness, we’re all very capable of becoming distracted. The bulk of the folks involved in this project are creative thinkers. Which is wonderful right up until something shiny wanders past and everyone disappears down an entirely different rabbit hole.

The AI doesn’t do that. The AI simply goes: ‘You said you’d do this. Have you done it? No? Right then.’

There’s something almost irritatingly effective about it.

We’re now well into a thirty-day programme and, hand on heart, it’s saving us a meaningful amount of time and mental energy.

The important thing is that it’s not replacing judgement. We’re still deciding what matters, determining what good looks like, and calling the shots on where we’re headed with the project. The robot, as it were, is just helping us stay on the road once we’ve picked the destination.

I know this all sounds like a world away from sitting in the Spanish sunshine with family and friends. But that’s actually the point.

If AI can effectively handle some of the administrative friction that clogs up modern working life, that creates space for the things that matter far more.

As a business leader, relinquishing control doesn’t always come naturally. But sometimes the smarter move is allowing a system to keep you accountable while you focus on the bits only humans can do. So while I was away, the team cracked on with the project (and plenty of others). The AI did its thing and nudged them along.

Now look… the trial hasn’t been perfect. There have been a few bumps and a few moments where human intervention was very obviously required. But overall it’s worked remarkably well, and we’ll keep refining it as we go.

Anyway, I’m back in Britain now and the temperature has apparently decided to settle somewhere around 37 degrees. Talk about taking the weather with you.

My body is now fighting to regulate itself in Costa del Lincolnshire.

Perhaps that’s the next challenge for AI: project managing the weather.

Good luck to it.