Tinker Time: build good AI habits

Become an expert in

Claude
ChatGPT
Microsoft Copilot
Gemini

Same coach, same program, in whichever AI tool you or your company use. When you personalize, you get the exact install steps for yours.

Why AI transformation is hard

It is not the technology. Every company can buy the same models this afternoon. The hard part is people: what each person reaches for every day, how the team divides and reviews the work, and what the company rewards. AI transformation gets sold as an IT project. It is an organizational one.

What it gets sold asWhat it actually takes

Licenses for everyoneGood AI habitsEach person reaching for AI by default, every week, and checking what it gives back.

A tool rollout run by ITA new operating modelWho owns each skill and agent, how work gets reviewed, and where a human stays on the loop.

A training dayA culture changePeople share what works, nothing ships unread, and progress is measured on evidence, not enthusiasm.

That is why Tinker Time is a coach, not a course. It changes what you do this week, then what your team does, then how the company works.

Where are you, honestly?

Pick the line that sounds most like you today. That is your level on the 0 to 5 AI maturity scale, and it is where the program starts. Each level has one next habit to build. The free AI Kickstart takes you from 0 to the top of level 2; Tinker Time carries on from 3 to 5. Already past 5? We build your next level with you.

Level0
I have used an AI chat tool once or twice, or not at all.
Your first real conversations
What to ask, how to check an answer before you trust it, and how to connect your email, calendar, and files safely.
Free AI Kickstart
Start
Level1
I use an AI chat tool most weeks: drafting, summarizing, answering questions, thinking out loud.
Better prompts, set once
Prompts that get it right the first time, personal instructions so your AI knows how you work, and a project for the work that matters most.
Free AI Kickstart
Start
Level2
I have set custom instructions, saved prompts I reuse, or built a project or workspace inside one.
Your first skills
Turn the thing you repeat every week into a skill your AI runs on demand, and put a morning briefing on a schedule.
Free AI Kickstart
Start
Level3
I use purpose-built AI tools for specific work: writing code, building decks, modelling numbers, researching.
Skills your team runs
Package your best skills so a colleague gets the same result without you, then measure and harden them across the team.
Tinker Time
Start
Level4
I have built something with AI that runs without me starting it each time.
Agents you can trust
Write a real agent definition, run it on a trigger against real work, review every output, and earn the trust to step back.
Tinker Time
Start
Level5
I run several agents on schedules, and my real problem is now managing them rather than building them.
A fleet, on the loop
Chain agents across a whole process, swap reviews for sampling and alerts, and keep a roster with owners and metrics.
Tinker Time
Start
Beyond∞
I already have fleets and swarms of agents running on a loop, and I want to see what comes next.
Your personalized, customized level-up experience
There is no off-the-shelf module for where you are. Tell us what you run today and we will design your next level with you.
Designed with you
Contact us

If you are between two, take the lower one. Your coach checks what is actually in your AI tool and places you on evidence, so nobody starts too high.

I am at 0, 1, or 2: start free Get Tinker Time · $499 one-time

One person

Start anywhere. Keep climbing.

Start at

Level 0

First real conversations

Responsible AI: Check before you trust. AI can be confidently wrong, so you verify every fact and number.

Your baseline · about 0 hours back a week (illustrative)

0 First real conversations

Where it goes from here

Once your foundations are in place, the habits turn into a ladder: four stages, three gates. Nobody skips a gate on enthusiasm; you clear each one on evidence, and the program records it. Every gate is a change in how you work, not a new tool. The AI Kickstart lands your first Codify win. Tinker Time takes you the rest of the way, to a fleet of agents you supervise on the loop.

1. Codify

One expert turns know-how into a skill

How it worksPick one task you repeat every week. Your coach helps you turn it into a skill that does it on demand.

Gate: works for someone else

2. Share

Teams run the skill and harden it

How it worksA colleague runs your skill on their own work. You add quality checks and fix what breaks.

Gate: stable, measured output

3. Delegate

An agent runs the skill; humans review

How it worksThe skill runs on a schedule or a trigger. You review every output before anything ships.

Gate: trust earned in production

4. Scale

Agents run the whole process end to end

How it worksAgents hand work to each other. You supervise with sampling, alerts, and metrics.

Human does the work, AI assistsHuman in the loopOn the loop, then out

Two Editions

Free

AI Kickstart

One to two weeks of light use. Foundations, start to finish.

Ten coached modules, one step at a time
Connectors, dossier, persona, project, tracker
A morning briefing on a schedule
Your first custom skill (Stage 1, Codify)
Your AI journey record, kept in memory
A weekly check-in with prompts for the week ahead

Personalize my free AI Kickstart

The full program

Tinker Time

Everything in the Kickstart, then the whole ladder.

$499 one-time. Pay once, keep it, no subscription.

Stage 2, Share: your skill in your team's hands, measured and hardened
Stage 3, Delegate: agents with real definitions, on real triggers, with review
Stage 4, Scale: whole processes end to end, human on the loop, then out
A full audit of every skill and plugin: what you built, what your team built, what you downloaded
Weekly check-ins for the whole journey
Your Kickstart record carries straight over

Get Tinker Time · $499 one-time

What You Build

Every module is built around one anchor workflow: the work you most want AI to keep track of. Deals for a seller, candidates for a recruiter, matters for a lawyer, assignments for a student. Nothing happens without your OK.

Module 00Kickoff and baseline
Where you are on the journey, measured from what is actually in your AI tool, not what you think is.
Module 01Connectors
Email, calendar, and files, tested live.
Module 02Discovery sweep
A dossier of your real work, built from your own inbox and drive.
Module 03Persona
Personal instructions that make your AI sound like it has worked with you for years.
Module 04Projects
A home base for the work you care about most.
Module 05The tracker
One source of truth your AI reads and updates.
Module 06A visual
Something you will actually use, made in your AI tool.
Module 07Scheduled task
A morning briefing that runs while you sleep.
Module 08Your first skill
One thing you repeat, codified. Stage 1, done.
Module 09Graduation
A scorecard, five habits, and your next gate.

Safe for any organization. Built that way.

Tinker Time was designed to run inside organizations of every size, from a team of one to the Fortune 500, inside the AI tool you already have: Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Gemini. It adds no software, no new data processor for your work, and nothing for IT to install, so there is nothing new to approve.

No software to install
Your copy is plain-text instructions for your AI. No code, no executables, no browser extension.
Works where skills and plugins are blocked
The no-install version is one file you attach in the AI tool your company already approved. No skill or plugin to get signed off.
Nothing new connected
The AI Kickstart brings no connectors or servers of its own. It teaches you to use the ones your company already provides, and drafts the note to IT if one needs an admin's OK.
Your work never leaves your AI tool
We never see your prompts, files, emails, or outputs. Your progress record lives in your own AI tool and holds counts, never confidential content.
Counts, never content
Tinker Time's optional progress connector sends an event type and a quality score. Our server drops everything else, and a test proves it. Share links carry only the numbers you choose to share.
Nothing happens without your OK
Read-only by default. Your coach shows exactly what it will create, schedule, or share and waits for a yes. It never sends an email for you.
Responsible AI is the curriculum
Checking answers, keeping confidential data out, reviewing before anything ships, least access, and an accountable owner for every agent.
Check your AI policy, or use it at home
At work, follow your company's AI policy: use the AI tool it approves, and keep confidential data where the policy says. Or use Tinker Time in your personal life, with your own account, to build the same habits.
Questions? Ask us directly
Your security, privacy, or legal team can write to privacy-assurance@cheek.org. Or read our privacy policy.

How personalizing works

Give us your email and your LinkedIn URL (or skip it; there is a button).
Watch Tinker Time read your experience, education, and skills live. It has opinions.
Fix anything it got wrong. Your copy knows what you confirm, nothing more.
Tell us your AI tool, download your personal copy, and follow the install steps for that tool. About a minute, start to finish.

Personalize my free AI Kickstart

Questions, answered

What is Tinker Time?

Tinker Time is a personal AI coach that runs inside the AI tool you already use. It meets you where you are on a 0 to 5 AI maturity scale and builds one good AI habit at a time: from your first useful prompt, to your first custom skill in one to two weeks, to agents that run whole processes while you supervise.

Which AI tools does it work with?

Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Gemini, plus most other AI chat tools. Where your plan supports skills you install it as a skill; everywhere else it runs from one file you attach to a project, Gem, or chat. Personalizing gives you the exact steps for your tool and plan.

How long does it take?

About a minute to personalize your copy from your LinkedIn profile or a few questions. Most people reach their first custom AI skill in one to two weeks of light use, with a coached check-in every week after that.

What does it cost?

The AI Kickstart is free and covers levels 0 to 2. Tinker Time, the full program from level 3 to 5, is a one-time purchase with no subscription. Teams and cohorts can use promo codes.

Is it safe to use at work?

Yes. It installs no software and adds no new data processor for your work: your copy is plain-text instructions that run in the AI tool you already have. We never see your prompts, files, or outputs; progress tracking holds counts, never content. Check your company's AI policy and use the AI tool it approves.

Why is AI transformation hard?

Not because of the technology. Every company can buy the same models. AI transformation takes new habits for each person, a new operating model for how teams split and review work, and a new culture that shares what works and ships nothing unread. Tinker Time builds all three, one person and one habit at a time.

Can my whole team or company use it?

Yes. Every person gets their own personalized copy, cohorts group people by team or program, and leaders, HR, and L&D see a company AI view of habits, quality, and progress, built from counts only.

Who made Tinker Time?

Paul Cheek, Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan, author of Disciplined Entrepreneurship: Startup Tactics and No One Works Here. Tinker Time is a Cheek LLC program.

Anything else: help@cheek.org.