Digital Dame Systems

I build systems for my own problems, then write them down carefully enough that somebody else can use them.

I have spent several decades building systems and documenting them. I ran secondary marketing for a good-sized mortgage company, where I wrote and negotiated the framework for multi-million dollar forward commitments. I spent the better part of a decade as an independent consultant advising mortgage bankers and brokers on risk, pipeline and workflow — and a great deal of that work was writing the manuals, specifications and training that let other people run the business after I was gone. Later I was a vice president at Bank of the West. My degree is in political science and economics, from Vassar.

I have also run my own businesses, including a passion project I named Whole Dog Barkery & Paw Spa, a retail pet grooming and treat company. I raised the capital to start it, and ran everything in it — inventory, payroll, staff, and the formulas for the pet treats themselves. Since 2009 I have owned and operated an insurance agency in Oakland, California, where I am a licensed agent.

I brought an arbitration claim against a company without a lawyer. A lawyer would have cost more than an eventual award. I had no clear picture of what arbitration was when I filed. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. What I found out is that it is every bit as rigorous as a court case: deadlines that do not move, procedural rules I had to learn and briefs I had to write. The other side had experienced counsel representing them – they did this for a living. I am not a lawyer. I organize things for a living. After a rough start to the proceedings, I turned to AI and realized I should have done so much sooner — and what came out of that was a method. That method became these guides, and the Claude skill that runs it.

What I publish

The Pro Se Skillset

Free guides · $49 · $199 · $100

How to run a legal matter you are handling yourself: how to organize it, how to check what you rely on before you rely on it, and how to keep a record that holds. Free guides, a playbook, a tutorial with a Claude skill, and a live setup hour.

See the Skillset