The Proofing Room Issue #13

Tuesday Edition - Warning: Contains both apologies and automation

Note: Today we're diving into the evolution of our development workflow from v1.0 to v2.0. If you thought last issue was technical, buckle up—we're about to show you how Claude Code Hooks turned our 80% satisfaction into 95% automation bliss.

Fair warning: This issue is our most technical yet. If you're non-technical, you might find yourself skimming some sections—and that's totally fine. We promise less technical content is coming that will let EVERYONE unlock workflows like this, regardless of coding ability. Consider this issue a peek behind the curtain at where we're headed.

First, the elephant in the room: Yes, we ghosted you for two weeks.

But here's what we were doing instead of writing clever newsletters:

The irony? We've been so busy making development easier that we forgot to tell anyone about it.

But that viral moment two weeks ago revealed something we couldn't ignore: The gap between what's possible and what people are actually doing is massive. So we went heads down to bridge it.

Today, I'm showing you exactly how we evolved our workflow from "sophisticated but occasionally unreliable" to "deterministically delightful."

After that 43k-view post, our DMs split into two camps:

Camp 1: "This is incredible! How do I implement it?" Camp 2: "I tried it, but Linear sync keeps failing..."

Both were right. V1.0 was sophisticated—80+ utility functions, anti-hallucination metadata systems, the works. But it relied on AI to remember to sync with Linear.

That's exactly what was happening. Claude would brilliantly implement features, then occasionally forget to tell Linear about it. Or worse, mark tasks as "done" in Taskmaster BEFORE adding completion details, locking the task forever.

80% satisfaction sounds good until you realize that missing 20% is always the critical stuff—like your team not knowing what's actually done.

Here's what changed everything: Claude Code Hooks.

Think of hooks as guardrails for your AI workforce. They trigger automatically based on specific actions, ensuring critical operations ALWAYS happen.

Now EVERY status change triggers Linear sync. Not "when Claude remembers." Every. Single. Time.

The key insight: We enhanced V1.0 with deterministic triggers. All those sophisticated utilities, the anti-hallucination system—still there, now with guaranteed execution for critical operations.

V1.0 required navigating 6 interactive gates. V2.0? Three commands:

All the V1.0 sophistication runs underneath. We just removed the decision fatigue.

The hooks ensure completion details save before marking "done", team updates batch intelligently, and session validation catches gaps automatically. Same power, now it Just Works™.

Here's an admission: We loved going viral, but we weren't prepared for it.

41K views, 1.2K bookmarks, hundreds of DMs—and what did we do? Celebrated for about five minutes, then went back to building. We grew our network, had fascinating conversations, and yes, grew this newsletter. But we didn't leverage those impressions strategically.

No lead magnets. No immediate course launch. No "book a call" CTAs.

Instead, we went heads down building and open-sourcing tools. Which brings us to our two-pronged approach:

We're not building these tools in a vacuum. Every client project, every internal build, every late-night hack session teaches us something. Those learnings get encoded into:

Here's the thing—giving away your best tools seems counterintuitive. But we've learned something:

People who use our workflows eventually want our help with harder problems. The tools are the appetizer. The transformation is the meal.

This is our way of actually leveraging that viral moment, just delayed. Instead of quick-hit monetization, we're building lasting value. Every person who implements our workflow becomes familiar with how we think, how we solve problems, how we build.

Figtree CLI (Alan's new baby) is a perfect example. It scratches our own itch for rapid prototyping, but it also shows potential clients exactly how we think about development efficiency.

When we first saw Claude Code Hooks, the team reaction was mixed:

Turns out, we were all right. Hooks provide deterministic execution WITHOUT limiting flexibility. And yes, David, the output is beautiful.

The revelation: Hooks aren't constraints. They're workflow functions you don't have to call manually.

Example: Our batch-progress.sh hook:

No more Linear comment spam. No more wondering what changed. Just intelligent, batched updates that actually help the team.

Check out github.com/tortastudios/public-resources:

The Complete V1.0 → V2.0 Evolution:

Why give this away?

Because the gap between "AI can do this" and "here's HOW to make AI do this" is killing productivity across the industry.

We'd rather have thousands of teams building efficiently than keep these patterns locked up. Plus, selfishly, we want to see what you build with them. The best improvements to our workflow come from users pushing boundaries we hadn't considered.

Before V2.0:

After V2.0:

But the real metric? We've stopped thinking about the workflow. It just works.

While you were reading this, our workflow probably synced a dozen updates to Linear. That's the beauty of automation—it compounds while you focus on what matters.

Speaking of compounding, we're exploring something new: Component-based development workflows.

Imagine if every component you built became a reusable piece. Not just in your current project, but across ALL projects. Your second app would be 50% faster. Your third, 75% faster.

We're testing this approach with a component library system that:

Early results? Promising. But that's a story for next issue.

Also coming soon: Workflow tools for non-technical folks. Because the principles behind these automations—removing friction, ensuring consistency, batching intelligently—apply to WAY more than just code. Design workflows, content workflows, project management workflows. The patterns are universal; we just need to build the bridges.

We shared our journey from copy-paste to orchestrated automation. From 80% satisfaction to 95% reliability. From closed patterns to open resources.

Now we want to hear yours:

Hit reply and tell us. Brutal honesty preferred. Workflow theater is exhausting—let's talk about what actually works.

Also: If you implement any part of this and hit snags, join our Discord or open an issue on GitHub. We're building this in public for a reason.

Here's something we weren't expecting: After the viral post, we've been asked repeatedly if we can implement this workflow at other companies.

The answer is yes—but in a very limited way.

We're opening up 5 consultation spots to work directly with companies who want to transform their development workflows. This isn't a course or generic training. It's us, working with your team, implementing these exact patterns in your environment.

What you get:

The catch: This is an experiment. We're testing if our internal workflows translate to other teams. So these 5 spots are free consultations—if we decide to work together, we'll figure out fair pricing based on your needs.

(And yes, non-technical workflow automation is on our roadmap. If you're drowning in manual processes outside of development, mention that too.)

That's the whole point, isn't it?

Two weeks ago, we were excited about our sophisticated workflow. Today, we barely think about it. It just handles things while we build.

The best tools are invisible. They do their job so well that you forget they exist. You just notice that everything flows better.

That's what V2.0 achieved. Not through revolutionary new ideas, but through evolutionary refinement. Through hooks that ensure the important stuff always happens. Through simplification that preserves sophistication.

Through actually using our own tools and fixing what frustrated us.

Next issue: Component libraries, compound interest in development, and why your second product should take 50% less time than your first.

Keep building,

Colin, Alan, David & the Torta team

P.S. – Yes, we're back to regular weekly issues. Turns out workflow automation gives you time to actually write newsletters. Who knew?