Build your smallest useful unit

Build the smallest useful unit for your project, on dummy data.

Leave with something that runs. Or a clear spec of what would.

1. 5min1 · Form
2. 5min2 · Dummies
3. 10min3 · IDEA pass
4. 20min4 · AI writes the script. You read it, run it.
5. 5min5 · Traps

• Dummy data only. Every sandbox file is fake.
• Client data goes only in tools approved for it, like U-M GPT and Maizey. Today, none of it.
• Your project's smallest useful unit is a starting point to argue with, not an assignment.

Tell it where your copy of the repo is, your tool and your project. It writes your terminal commands and a starting prompt you can edit.

Find your project. Start with its file. All fake, made for today.

Also in the folder: team_members.csv (a roster, one document or email per row) and yelp_sample_20.csv (reviews: rating, main issue, needs a reply?, draft reply).

1. Build the Google Form 5 min

   • New Google Form. Question titles = the CSV header. The header is the form.
   • Pick short answer, checkbox or dropdown to match the data.
   • Link a responses Sheet: Responses tab → Sheets icon.
   • Submit two or three responses by hand. Watch one land.

2. Fill it with dummies 5 min

   • Fast: import the ready-made CSV. On the responses Sheet: File → Import → Append to current sheet.
   • Or make your own with U-M GPT. Paste this, then paste your CSV header row after it.
   U-M GPT: generate dummy responsesCopy

   I am building a test copy of an intake form so I can develop an automation without touching real data. Here are the form's questions, as a CSV header. Generate 15 realistic fake responses as CSV rows with the same columns. Use fake names and @example.edu addresses. Make them varied and messy the way real submissions are: include one duplicate submission from the same person, one response with a required field left blank, one that answers two questions in one box, and one that is clearly outside what the form is for. Do not use any real person or organisation.

   Imported rows don't fire the form-submit trigger. That's fine. Step 4 handles it.

3. IDEA pass on your sandbox 10 min

   IIdentify

   What does "done" look like for one submission?

   DDocument

   Source: the responses Sheet. Transformation: which fields become which output. Output: a doc, an email, a status column, a row in another sheet. What's fixed? What varies?

   EExperiment

   The smallest version.

   AAdjust

   What breaks?

4. Have AI write the Apps Script 20 min

   Ask for two shapes

   Trigger on submit

   onFormSubmit: one new response, one output.

   Test it: submit a response by hand.

   Process the backlog

   Walks every row with an empty Status. Does the work. Writes "done" and a timestamp.

   You need this one: imported rows never fire the trigger.

   The prompt shape

   • Describe the columns.
   • Paste three sample rows.
   • Say what output you want.
   • Ask for the code and a plain-English explanation of each section.
   Prompt skeleton: fill in the bracketsCopy

   I have a Google Sheet of form responses (fake test data).
   The columns are: [list each column and what it holds].
   
   Here are three sample rows:
   [paste three rows]
   
   For each row I want: [the output: a status column, a doc, an email draft, a row in another sheet].
   
   Write a Google Apps Script with two functions:
   1. One that runs on form submit and handles the new response.
   2. One that processes the backlog: every row whose Status column is empty. It does the work, then writes "done" and a timestamp.
   
   Give me the code and a plain-English explanation of each section.

   Before you run it, three checks

   1. What is the loop?
   2. Where would a new field go?
   3. What tools and permissions does it need?
   Then run it. Paste it into Extensions → Apps Script and run. Authorize when asked. That screen is the permissions lesson, live. Read it: it lists every key you hand over.
   Speaker notes

   The authorization prompt is the payoff of the permissions talk at 2:30. "It acts as you." Ask a team to read their consent screen aloud.

5. Hit the planted problems 5 min

   The duplicate The blank field Two answers in one box

   For each one, decide: a rule, or manual review?

   Add a needs review status, with a reason, rather than guessing.