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Manual Work is a Bug

Manual Work is a Bug

Written by: Matthew Black and Hillary Black | Mav
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We believe that Manual Work is a Bug. This is a podcast about the future of work and life with artificial intelligence. Hosted by Matthew Black and Hillary Black. A Mav Automation Ventures production.106556
Episodes
  • How to Send Texts Your Customers Will Reply To: Conversation Design 101

    How to Send Texts Your Customers Will Reply To: Conversation Design 101
    Oct 15 2026

    This week, it's a solo episode. Mav Head of Brand and Conversation Design Hillary Black takes the mic to share what eight years of writing for bots has taught her about one thing: getting people to actually text you back.


    On the table: what a conversation designer really does, why ChatGPT made your customers harder to impress, the texting mistake she sees brands make constantly, and her top three fixes you can use today, no matter which AI you run.


    Chapters

    00:00 — Intro

    00:15 — A solo episode

    01:21 — What is conversation design?

    02:05 — Why the good bots are good

    02:43 — From writing bot scripts to writing system prompts

    03:48 — Why conversation design matters more than ever

    05:40 — When AI support chat goes off the rails

    06:46 — If you're texting your leads

    08:02 — Top three ways to improve your conversations

    08:31 — Tip 1: Make it a two-way conversation

    09:56 — Tip 2: Ask one thing per message

    11:24 — Tell people how to respond

    12:22 — Close the loop

    13:23 — Tip 3: Test it yourself as a user

    14:57 — What to look for in your conversation logs

    16:07 — Close


    Host

    Hillary Black — Head of Brand and Conversation Design, Mav


    Links and Resources

    ChatGPT, OpenAI's assistant and the reason your customers expect more from every chat

    Claude, Anthropic's assistant, home of the Opus and Sonnet models Hillary mentions

    SmarterChild, the AIM chatbot that couldn't answer much of anything


    Follow the show

    Manual Work is a Bug is Mav's podcast, now on video. Watch on YouTube and follow wherever you listen, so you don't wait another six years for the next episode. Mav helps insurance agencies grow their book with AI: hiremav.com.


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    Amazon Music

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    17 mins
  • How Insurance Agencies Are Using AI, Live From ITC Vegas 2026

    How Insurance Agencies Are Using AI, Live From ITC Vegas 2026
    Oct 8 2026

    This week we have a special episode - Live from the ITC 2026 expo floor. Mav Founder + CEO Matthew Black and Head of Brand Hillary Black grab ten minutes in the official podcast studio between booth shifts to report on what actually changed in insurance this year.


    Every vendor is still pitching their version of AI for insurance. But what’s changed this year is the agency owners.


    On the table: why GPT helped the first five minutes of every sales conversation finally disappear for companies in AI, the commercial agency strategy for quickly moving into personal lines without hiring, evidence that Mav has the coolest booth in the tradeshow circuit, and Matthew's prediction for where the insurance product itself is headed in the next year.


    Chapters

    00:00 — Intro

    00:16 — Live from the ITC 2026 expo floor

    01:17 — The coolest booth on the circuit

    02:45 — "X for AI," three years later

    03:40 — The agency owner has changed

    05:07 — The old guys in the back

    06:19 — From "I don't text" to "how do I grow?"

    07:04 — Commercial agencies moving into personal lines

    08:28 — A prediction for next year

    09:37 — Why doesn't insurance just come with the car?

    10:05 — Insurance like shipping on Amazon

    10:44 — Close: see you at ITC 2027


    Hosts

    Matthew Black — Founder + CEO, Mav

    Hillary Black — Head of Brand and Conversation Design, Mav


    Links and Resources

    ITC Vegas (InsureTech Connect), the world's largest insurance innovation event

    Toyota Insurance, the automaker-owned agency selling coverage alongside the car


    Follow the show

    Manual Work is a Bug is Mav's podcast, now on video. Watch on YouTube and follow wherever you listen, so you don't wait another six years for the next episode. Mav helps insurance agencies grow their book with AI: hiremav.com.


    Spotify

    Amazon Music

    Show More Show Less
    11 mins
  • How We Rebuilt Our Entire Website in Two Weeks with Claude Code (and Actually Made it Look Good)

    How We Rebuilt Our Entire Website in Two Weeks with Claude Code (and Actually Made it Look Good)
    Oct 2 2026
    This week we're walking through the entire process of rebuilding and redesigning the ⁠hiremav.com⁠ website using Claude Code, the Figma MCP, and two humans. ⁠Mav⁠ Founder + CEO ⁠Matthew Black⁠ and Head of Brand ⁠Hillary Black⁠ walk through the exact process from ideas to setup, iterating, and launching, plus where humans stepped in to make it not look like every other AI-generated website. We think it's looks pretty cool. Hillary, a non-engineer, was able to build the website of her dreams the exact way she wanted without waiting weeks to fit it into a sprint cycle, and the Claude Code "other tab" even convinced Matthew to use the Claude App instead of terminal for his work. On the table: why buying a hundred old insurance agencies and trying to AI-enable them doesn't work, the one rule that kept the site from looking AI generated, the tells that give an AI website away, a dev setup that went from four hours to thirty minutes, whether a website should even be the same for every visitor, and an Easter egg worth a free year of Mav.🥚 There's an Easter egg hidden on the new ⁠hiremav.com⁠. Find it, screenshot it, and DM Matthew on LinkedIn. First one gets a free year of Mav.Chapters⁠00:00⁠ — Intro⁠00:15⁠ — Cold open: we're live⁠01:01⁠ — The TV nobody could find⁠04:21⁠ — Too many humans in the way⁠04:49⁠ — Why the AI roll-up doesn't work⁠06:29⁠ — Buying the business for parts⁠07:11⁠ — Today: replacing ⁠hiremav.com⁠⁠08:08⁠ — Twenty new pages, two people⁠09:35⁠ — No staging server, no CMS⁠10:45⁠ — AI started, human finished⁠11:28⁠ — "I'm not a designer"⁠13:04⁠ — Was the wireframe holding it back?⁠14:17⁠ — The tells of an AI website⁠15:43⁠ — A four-hour setup in thirty minutes⁠16:57⁠ — Claude Code in the app⁠18:28⁠ — Every page, tracked⁠20:42⁠ — What even is a website anymore?⁠22:01⁠ — The new AI use case: create constraints⁠25:08⁠ — Using humans where it counts⁠26:01⁠ — One button and it's live⁠27:06⁠ — The Easter eggHosts⁠Matthew Black⁠ — Founder + CEO, Mav ⁠Hillary Black⁠ — Head of Brand and Conversation Design, MavLinks and ResourcesThe new ⁠hiremav.com⁠ ⁠Claude Code⁠, what Matthew pointed at the README and what built the pages ⁠Claude Code and Figma⁠: setting up the MCP server, the connection that let Claude read the actual design file ⁠Guide to the Figma MCP server⁠ ⁠Model Context Protocol⁠, the open standard behind the Figma connection ⁠ngrok⁠, how Hillary's local build gets shared with anyone ⁠Docker⁠, the self-contained dev environments ⁠micro1⁠, the AI training-data company Matthew mentions Follow the showManual Work is a Bug is Mav's podcast, now on video. Watch on YouTube and follow wherever you listen, so you don't wait another six years for the next episode. Mav helps insurance agencies grow their book with AI: ⁠hiremav.com⁠.⁠Spotify⁠ ⁠Amazon Music⁠
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    30 mins
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