2016
Started working closely with the newly-formed data-science team at a prestigious scientific publisher. Back when "AI" still meant machine learning and the tooling was rough.
Most AI advice comes from people selling their own product.
Time to get some independent advice? I'm James, founder of Admin Agents. For 20+ years I've been the person inside businesses working out what tech is worth using and what isn't.
15 years optimising content and the platforms that serve it. 10 years creating products and software. 5 years leading and training product people. One thread through all of it: working out what to build, what to buy, and what to AI.
What technology belongs in a business, and what doesn't? That question has followed me since the 90s, managing IT ops for a global airline. It was asked by direct reports, product stakeholders and course attendees.
I've sat in most of the seats that ask the "Do I AI?" question: as the person who has to use it, the person who has to buy it, and the person who has to justify it to the board. Commercial and non-profit. Engineers and data scientists. CFOs and CEOs.
Admin Agents is where I share that experience to managers and directors who don't have time to do the studying themselves. I've been building with AI for long enough to know what actually works and what's hype — and I'm honest enough to say which is which (em-dash intended).
Why I started this
Whatever your position on AI, one guarantee: your team and your bosses are already using it.
The copywriter who pushed AI-written content to a site that sells itself on human journalism. The PM whose bug report cites a tech stack that doesn't exist. The developer building with AI at home, while hand-coding at work, because Claude isn't approved. Whispers of "AI slop" in the corridors. The leadership too: AI-generated performance appraisals. Generic ChatGPT advice to qualified marketing professionals!
Good judgement about "When to AI" is now a critical management skill.
The advice out there comes from two camps: vendors selling a product, or consultants selling a six-figure transformation. Neither helps the marketing manager whose CEO just said, "use AI!", or the director with a board paper due Friday and one analyst stretched too thin to help.
That's who Admin Agents is here for, people who want to unpick what's already happening in their team and work out if it should be done. Know how to do it better, make it safer, without it taking a whole week to research and define it.
Battle scars
A decade working with AI, before it was called AI.
Not everything on my CV is relevant here. These are the moments that shaped how I think about AI, governance, and what outputs to trust.
2018
Early AI integrations in staff workflows.
Nov 2022
Signed up to ChatGPT in launch week. Paid subscriber from April 2023 onwards. AI built into my day-to-day long before it became a household name.
2024
Built a framework for spot-checking AI decisions inside automated processes. This was before "AI governance" was a phrase anyone used.
Mid 2024
Built a spelling tutor for primary kids. An automated golf-sweepstake spreadsheet. Both taught me more about LLM limitations than any whitepaper.
Spring 2025
As the Head of Product for a world-renowned food and drink publisher and food market owner I initiated an AI programme with Google. This looked at content, translations, integrations and operational cost reduction.
Summer 2025
My team delivered a 45-point NPS improvement through a customer experience transformation unifying user journeys from media platform to loyalty programmes.
Autumn 2025
Shipped global GDPR / privacy rollout across all EU traffic,25% revenue recovery and improved legal compliance. Introduced the engineering team to Anthropic's Claude.
Spring 2026
Briefed C-suite on ways to improve margin through AI data analysis and agent deployments in teams. Lobbied for AI tool rollouts outside of engineering and coached teams on AI best practice.
Rebuilt the sweepstake sheet as a website over a weekend with Claude Code. The moment "prompts" became"agents" in my head.
Apr 2026
Admin Agents born.
Any challenges my experiences could help you with?
Start with a 30-minute AI Primer. No prep required, no sales pitch, no six-figure proposal at the end.