Ted Smoot

tedsmoot.com · a working record

Showing my work.

Fifteen years helping organizations get real value from complex software, now as a Sr. Technical Account Manager at Illumio. On my own time I build personal AI infrastructure and write about using AI at work.

This site is the evidence: what I decided, what I tested, and what I got wrong.

How much time do you have?

The short version: three lines and a way to reach me.Plus what I am working on, decisions I have made, and tests that failed.Everything: rejected options, what would change my mind, and how to check each claim.

The short version

Day job
Sr. Technical Account Manager at Illumio, since September 2026. Before that, Staff TAM at Twilio.
Checked 2026-10-15Source: LinkedIn
Building
A two-tier AI stack: frontier models like Claude where they are strongest, local models on hardware I own where the data should stay on my machines, and a harness that checks the work of both.
Checked 2026-10-15Source: The Falsified section below
Writing
Consulting The Machine, a newsletter on AI for the work you actually do. Paused since May 2026; the reason is in the decision log.
PausedSource: Archive
Reach me
ted@tedsmoot.com. I read everything; I answer what I can be useful on.

Now

October 2026 · rewritten monthly
01

Six weeks into a new role.

Most of my learning this month happens at Illumio, and most of it stays there. That is the job.

02

Testing which local models can be trusted to check work.

The bar: every claim backed by a tool call, and scored by a script rather than by another model.

03

Outlining a book.

On mid-career leverage: build the working life you would want even if AI did not exist.

Decisions

3 entries · newest first

Dated, with the reasoning and the conditions that would reverse them. Outcomes get filled in later, including the bad ones.

2026-10-12closed

Leave a working server alone.

I could rebuild my always-on server on the operating system my day job runs on: more practice, one distro everywhere.

Chose
Stay put. No rebuild.
Why
Nothing was broken. A rebuild would deliver the same machine with its confidence reset to zero, and the practice already happens on a lab box built to be broken.
Rejected
Rebuild on my day job's OS.
Reverse if
The next planned OS upgrade, or a failure a different OS would actually fix. Not curiosity.
Outcome
No action taken. Sometimes the best action is no action.
Read the full record
2026-05-19closed

Take the site down rather than leave the wrong one up.

The old site described a version of my work I had moved past. The newsletter it promoted was going on pause.

Chose
A blank page, and a pause on the newsletter.
Why
A blank page says less than the wrong page, and nothing on it is false.
Rejected
Keep the old site up during the rework. Redirect the domain to LinkedIn.
Outcome
You are reading the replacement.
Read the full record
2026-04-13open

Write the book that builds, not the one that warns.

I am writing a book on mid-career viability. Two framings surfaced, and the choice shapes everything downstream: the opening chapter, the title, the cover, the marketing, and whether the book is still selling in 2036. I had to commit before the outline could go further.

Chose
Build. Roughly 15% diagnosis, 85% prescription.
Why
Fear-based books age into embarrassment. Generative ones age into wisdom.
Rejected
Survive the next ten years.
Reverse if
If newsletter data shows generative framing does not convert, I would sharpen the opening, not flip the argument. The stronger signal: a trusted reader inside the target audience telling me this reads as distant from real career fear. Then the diagnosis section grows. The argument stays.
Outcome
Pending.
Read the full record

Falsified

Kept here on purpose

Things I tested and was wrong about. Anyone can list wins. The losses show how I check.

Falsified2026-10-05
Tested

Qwen 3.8 27B can serve as a trusted local auditor.

It ran 39 searches and still named none of the files it was asked to find. Scored by a script, no model in the loop.

Lesson Activity is not evidence. A claim counts only if a tool call backs it.

Falsified2026-09-17
Tested

Top-ranked momentum picks outperform.

41 days, 2,192 assets in a speculative market. The higher the rank, the worse the return. Then the inverted signal failed too. Shut down.

Lesson The score rewarded moves that had already happened. Ranking on them bought the top.

Falsified2026-06-07
Tested

Gemma 4 12B can run a multi-step audit on its own.

It reasoned out the right method, then talked itself in circles and returned an empty answer.

Lesson A capable model is not a capable agent. Evaluate the model and its harness together.

Personal infrastructure

What I own, and what I choose to rent

The argument of the book, in practice: career leverage has moved from institutions to individuals, and the people who keep it own their tools.

Memory

Notes and context that outlive any job or vendor.

Models

Frontier models for the hardest work, local models for private work. Each is used where it is the better tool.

Harness

Scripts that check model output. Claims without evidence fail.

Decision log

The entries above, and the private ones.

Network

A firewall and lab I configured and maintain.

Hostnames, addresses and configurations are deliberately not published.

Work in the world

Status shown honestly
Paused

Consulting The Machine

A weekly newsletter for professionals who want AI to help with their work without becoming tech people. Co-founded with Josh Vehovic.

Offline

Prompt Improver

Scored prompts on clarity, specificity, context, structure and examples, then showed how to fix them. Currently offline.

Outlining

The book

Mid-career leverage for people who never planned to become technologists.

How to check me

For hiring managers, customers and the careful

Accounts

Changelog

  • 2026-10-15 Rebuilt as a working record.
  • 2026-05-19 Old site taken down.

Colophon

Designed and built with Claude, and checked by a script before every publish. No trackers, no cookies, no AI-generated images. Every dated claim is re-checked before its date changes. Views here are mine, not my employer's.

Contact

ted@tedsmoot.com
© 2026 Ted Smoot · Every dated claim was checked on the date shown.