It’s been a whirlwind of a week, jumping between projects. I finally wrapped up the 5S form automation, but there was no time to rest—a couple of new, interesting challenges immediately landed on my plate. It feels like I’m living and breathing in the Google ecosystem lately, with AI as my constant co-pilot for everything from coding to brainstorming architectural solutions.

It’s been a mix of satisfying wins and head-scratching problems. Here are a few highlights from the trenches:

  • Wrestling with legacy tech. Finished the 5S form automation, but a last-minute request to change a graph type sent me down a rabbit hole. The main culprit? Old Outlook, which uses Word’s ancient rendering engine. It was a pain, but I insisted on a solution that worked everywhere. It’s a good reminder: if you’re going to build something, build it right. The result is a solid, reusable script.
  • AI-generated UIs are a game-changer. A friend suggested I try building a new multi-language “improvement suggestion” form entirely with Google Apps Script. I was skeptical, but with some help from AI, I generated the whole thing—complex branching logic and all—in a fraction of the time it would’ve taken manually. It felt like a superpower.
  • Thinking in streams, not files. On my video analysis project, I hit a wall with handling large uploads. Instead of getting bogged down with splitting files using FFMPEG, I realized I could just use an API to point to specific timestamps. This lets me process massive videos in chunks without ever actually modifying the source file. A simple idea that solves a huge headache.
  • The “is it production-ready?” reality check. My new manager is a software engineer, and he’s pushing me to think more about scale and robustness. It’s a little intimidating, and the imposter syndrome is real. But he’s right. It’s a good push to level up my thinking from “make it work” to “make it last,” especially on a project I’ve led from scratch.

This period has been a mix of deep technical dives and high-level strategy. Leaning on AI is really accelerating things, but the real growth comes from these tough challenges—whether it’s a stubborn piece of legacy software or a manager pushing me to be better. It’s a lot to juggle, but I’m learning a ton and making connections with smart people that make it all worthwhile.

Next: Building out the automated dashboard for the new improvement-suggestion form.

Tags: Google Apps Script, AI, Automation, Imposter Syndrome, Video Processing, Legacy Code