TEAM ATTENTION IS A STUDIO /// WE DROP · WE DOCUMENT · WE REPEAT /// NOTHING IS SACRED /// EVENTS / PROTOCOLS / ESSAYS / VIDEOS / PROGRAMS /// EST. 2024 · SEOUL ↔ SAN FRANCISCO /// NO VC · DROP = REVENUETEAM ATTENTION IS A STUDIO /// WE DROP · WE DOCUMENT · WE REPEAT /// NOTHING IS SACRED /// EVENTS / PROTOCOLS / ESSAYS / VIDEOS / PROGRAMS /// EST. 2024 · SEOUL ↔ SAN FRANCISCO /// NO VC · DROP = REVENUETEAM ATTENTION IS A STUDIO /// WE DROP · WE DOCUMENT · WE REPEAT /// NOTHING IS SACRED /// EVENTS / PROTOCOLS / ESSAYS / VIDEOS / PROGRAMS /// EST. 2024 · SEOUL ↔ SAN FRANCISCO /// NO VC · DROP = REVENUETEAM ATTENTION IS A STUDIO /// WE DROP · WE DOCUMENT · WE REPEAT /// NOTHING IS SACRED /// EVENTS / PROTOCOLS / ESSAYS / VIDEOS / PROGRAMS /// EST. 2024 · SEOUL ↔ SAN FRANCISCO /// NO VC · DROP = REVENUE
TEAMATTENTION/DROPS
← Back All Drops/Drop #009/ Content/APR 20 2026/Archived

Thin Harness / Fat Skills

Essay Drop — Manifesto
Manifesto

Interfaces change. Only context layer stays.

About

AI interfaces change fast. Only people and culture stay. Thin Harness is the generic LLM glue — 200 lines is enough. Fat Skills is the context layer on top, carrying the org's tacit knowledge. 90% of value lives in Skills. Software value has collapsed to zero. Durable revenue comes from open-source infra (IronClaw-style security) or people infra (Palantir-style FDE). AX isn't a product — it's the people and culture that accumulate Skills.

Highlights
  • 01Interfaces change fast. People and culture don't
  • 02Harness = 200-line glue: JSON in, text out
  • 0390% of value is in Skills
  • 04Software value has collapsed to zero
  • 05Moving tacit org knowledge into Skills doesn't automate away
  • 06Cognition's $10.2B is the FDE playbook, not Devin
  • 07Harnesses replicate. Skills are org-specific
  • 08Don't chase interfaces. Bet on people and culture that stack Skills
Key Concepts
Thin Harness

A generic LLM interface abstraction. JSON in, text out — thin enough to write in ~200 lines.

Fat Skills

The org-specific context layer on top of the harness. Domain knowledge, procedures, and judgment in markdown — where 90% of value lives.

FDE (Forward Deployed Engineer)

Palantir's model — engineers embedded in client orgs to convert tacit knowledge into Skills. Cognition applies it to AI.

AX (Agent Experience)

Not a product. The philosophy of helping orgs grow their own Skills — through people and culture.

Quotes

Interfaces change. People and culture are what stays

Goobong Jeong

Software replicates. Skills are org-specific

Goobong Jeong

Turning tacit org knowledge into Skills doesn't automate

Goobong Jeong
Previous Drop
#008 Hermes Agent
Next Drop
#010 Ralph Routine Pilot #1