Huertanomics started as a bit of a vibe coding experiment.

A place to test a thesis I couldn’t shake:

That AI wasn’t just another HR tech wave… it was a structural shift in how work gets done.

Over Q4 last year, Field Notes became something more than I expected.

✔️ The interviews resonated.
✔️ The AMAs created real engagement.
✔️ The personal essays - where I connected research to what operators were actually struggling with - consistently performed best.

As 2025 came to a close, I made a deliberate decision to pause — I also had a forced pause with the birth of my son, Joaquin. 👶🏻

Not because momentum was fading - but because it was growing.

Between life compression, MPL accelerating, and the speed of AI discourse, I didn’t want this to turn into reactive commentary.

So I stepped back.

I relistened to my favorite pods from the last five or six months (what a great dataset to have ).

Not casually - but with a specific focus on what operators are actually struggling with as they roll up their sleeves and do the work.

And what I heard reframed my perspective completely.

At the time of that reflection (December 2025), I had no idea how quickly AI advancement was about to catapult into a new phase - with the release of tools like Claude Code, Manus, and the rise of MCP-based systems.

Then, coming back from paternity leave, I stepped into a new role at MPL - CTO / Chief Product / AI Transformation Officer.

In just a few weeks working hands-on with the latest tech stack, building workflows, testing agent coordination - I’ve become even more convinced:

The conversation is not about tools.

It’s about operating models.

This issue walks through that reset — and what you can expect from Field Notes in 2026.

Let’s get into it.

I’m honestly blessed to get a front-row seat to these conversations.

Through MPL and the broader community, I get to chat with operators who are actively redesigning how work gets done - not theorizing, actually building.

There’s so much gold in these discussions.

My mission with Field Notes is simple:

To make it easy for you to keep up with what matters most without having to sift through the noise.

If that sounds helpful, make it easy on yourself and if you haven’t already - subscribe to Huertanomics. Or help out a colleague and forward this email to them.

I promise I’ll bring some gold to you.

Across dozens of conversations with senior operators late last year, one pattern stood out:

🚨 The pressure leaders feel right now isn’t about tools.

It’s about design.

Not:
“What AI tool should we adopt?”

But:

AI is accelerating everything.

And candidly - when I paused in December - I hadn’t fully realized how fast the next wave was about to hit.

But acceleration without architecture creates chaos.

The organizations that win in 2026 won’t be the fastest adopters.

They’ll be the best designers of operating systems.

After relistening to the strongest MPL AI conversations over the last few months, a clear synthesis emerged:

The AI revolution isn’t about tools.

It’s about who designs the operating systems that shape work next.

Two design challenges will define this year:

As individuals gain leverage through AI and async workflows, alignment becomes harder - not easier.

Leaders now have to orchestrate delegation across people and AI systems simultaneously.

AI isn’t exposing technical gaps.

It’s exposing system gaps.

And that’s where Field Notes is doubling down this year.

Here are the four conversations (links to recordings below) that most shaped this reset:

🎙 Chase Warrington
Async velocity. Embarrassing V1. Independent execution.
A masterclass in designing for speed without losing coherence.

🎙 Diane Sadowski-Joseph
Behavioral AI adoption gaps.
The real friction isn’t tooling - it’s mindset, incentives, and structure.

🎙 Jani Sanguino
Structured AI enablement done right.
Adoption doesn’t happen accidentally - it’s architected.

🎙 Jon Couture
Culture durability under acceleration.
Modernization doesn’t require losing institutional DNA - but it does require intentional design.

Each reinforced the same idea:

Systems > tools
Architecture > adoption
Design > reaction

If you haven’t listened to these yet, I highly recommend starting there.

The pillars of my AI thesis aren’t changing.

In fact, I’m doubling down.

Field Notes will continue to explore:

🧱 People Ops as Product
🧠 Org Brain as Infrastructure
🤝 Human + Agent Systems
⚙️ AI-First Org Design

But they now sit under one clearer umbrella:

💡 Designing durable operating systems for the AI-accelerated company.

What that means for you this year:

Each month you can expect:

• A Builder Story Newsletter
Real operators designing systems that increase autonomy without losing alignment. I’m looking to feature the most cutting edge people in this space.

• A Clutch-City AMA
Each Newsletter feature will join me for an AMA focused on getting answers to the toughest questions HR leaders are facing.

• A Huertanomics POV Essay
Research-backed synthesis built to outlast tool cycles. I will also share my learnings transforming MPL into an AI-native, media and content business.

Less buzzy topics.
More architecture.
Less hype and FUD.
More durability.

The biggest shift I’m seeing right now:

AI is compressing time in a massive way.

Here’s a real example…

When I started AI coding last August (2025), I could spend up to 2–3 full days getting a Notion database set up, tested, connected to Zapier, and working end-to-end.

Last week, I replicated that same process in 2–3 hours.

And honestly, the thing that slowed me down most wasn’t the integration - it was wrapping my head around Manus and how quickly MCP-based tools are evolving.

That’s the compression.

What used to take days now takes hours.
What used to take hours will soon take minutes.

And compression reveals weaknesses in operating systems very quickly.

Weak delegation.
Unclear decision rights.
Fragmented knowledge.
Reactive culture.

AI didn’t create these issues.

It’s accelerating them.

If your systems are clear, AI becomes leverage.

If they aren’t, AI becomes chaos - just faster.

The leaders who step back and design deliberately will be the ones who scale sustainably.

That’s where I want Field Notes to live this year.

Strategic.
Measured.
Architectural.

🚀 March: The first Builder Story under this new focus
will feature my good friend Vanessa Monsequiera - and how she’s thinking about system design in an AI-accelerated environment with AMA coming shortly after.

🎙 Recommended Listening (Start Here):

If you’re designing for autonomy, delegation, or alignment right now, these conversations will sharpen your thinking.

And if this reset resonates, forward this issue to someone building the next operating model inside their company. I seriously want to talk to them and share notes.

Keep building!

Until next time,
Stephen