Build an iOS Shortcut You and Your Friends Actually Use
Maps to: Automation Engineer · AI Application Builder, Operations Analyst, Productivity Designer, Knowledge Worker
You're going to build an iOS Shortcut that does one annoying repetitive task for you, with AI wired in, and get a few friends to actually install and run it. The skill is the instinct for what's worth automating: spotting a thing you do over and over and going 'I could make that disappear.' That's how automation engineers think, seeing workflows where other people see chores, and doing one tells you fast whether that instinct is yours.
The plan
0/3 doneYou're 25% in just for starting, the hardest part. Mark your first step done to keep the momentum.
Pick a task you do repeatedly, then build the bare-bones Shortcut that does the simple part and runs once, before wiring in any AI. Seeing it actually run is the hook; the smart part comes next.
Objective: A chosen recurring task + a bare Shortcut that runs.
- 1
Pick the task: voice-memo → task / summarize-what-I'm-reading / a morning-prep digest / capture-an-idea-anywhere.
- 2
Build the bare Shortcut (no AI yet) and run it once, so you've felt it work.
Tool: Apple Shortcuts
Your call
Choose the recurring task worth automating, yourself.
The recurring task, and why it's worth removing.
What good looks like: A bare Shortcut runs once and does the simple part, so you've felt it work before any AI.
- Get it running first, even doing something trivial. Momentum beats a perfect plan.
- 1
The bar to look back against
A Shortcut that does one useful AI-backed thing, that 3+ friends actually installed and ran, cut to the one reliable action worth keeping. The distribution is the work: not 'it ran once for me,' but 'other people actually use it.'
Finish the final step, then submit what you built. Your progress is saved.
Tools you'll use
Step 1 · Pick a recurring task + get a bare Shortcut running
Step 2 · Wire in the AI step
How this shows up on a resume or college app
I built an iOS Shortcut used by [N] friends, wiring AI into a recurring task and cutting it to the one reliable action. I learned how thinking in workflows beats one-off tools: see a repetitive task, automate it away.