APPROACH
Build with AI
and hand over a system you can understand
I am Julien Mottet, an independent consultant. I use AI to build your systems around Airtable, involving the people who will use and develop them.
MY BACKGROUND
Six years of daily Airtable practice
I have worked with Airtable every day for six years. I have supported more than 50 companies across 200 projects. Databases, interfaces and automations are part of my daily work.
This is the experience I draw on when building with AI. It lets me explore more solutions and take implementation further, while retaining the ability to understand, test and correct what is built.
I know the technology your system is built on. I can therefore examine AI proposals, check that they align with your business rules and explain how they work to your team. The aim is to expand what we can achieve without losing control of the result.
ONE POINT OF CONTACT, FROM START TO EVERYDAY USE
Start by observing
a real case
I start with a real case, order or situation. I look at what teams do, where they hesitate and what they have to work around.
I distinguish between two uses of AI: helping me build and document the system, and then assisting with specific tasks in your operations. In both cases, the business rules and checks must remain understandable. AI-generated documentation is reviewed and checked against the actual system.
OBSERVE
Understand work as it actually happens.
Follow a real case, its exceptions and the tools used. Distinguish data issues, ambiguous rules, technical faults and usability difficulties.
BUILD
Put a solution in users’ hands.
Use AI to prepare the structure, formulas, useful scripts and their documentation. Keep the data and steps the team needs to consult in Airtable. Test each proposal before putting it into use.
MAKE RELIABLE
Check what the system actually produces.
Test common cases, exceptions and failures. Review the resulting data and documents, then make the limitations explicit.
HAND OVER
Enable the team to keep the system running and evolving.
Train an internal champion to read the base, follow an automation and modify a view, interface or simple rule. Practise on real cases. Clarify which routine changes they can handle and which require technical support.
WHAT PRACTICE HAS TAUGHT ME
Build less, hand over more
Two entrepreneurs I supported had very different backgrounds but the same requirement: keep tables and fields to a minimum and interfaces focused on the essentials. Expertise also means removing what is not useful.
I also look for an internal champion: someone who understands the business and is interested in the tools. Delivering a base is not enough if nobody knows how to maintain and develop it afterwards.
I explore these principles in my LinkedIn posts on system simplicity and the role of an internal champion.
WHAT YOU STAY IN CONTROL OF
Independence defined through concrete tasks
Finding data, understanding why an action was triggered, adapting a view or updating a form: these are skills to practise with your team. They do not require knowing how to build with AI.
Scripts, external connections and structural changes may require technical skills. I identify them and document their dependencies. Airtable makes part of the system visible; clarity also depends on how it is designed.
THE NEXT STEP
Let’s talk about your project
Tell me what is causing you problems
in your organisation or current tools.