INDEPENDENT BOOKS BY JANNIS DOULOUMIS
Practical books for shipping a product, making your work count, and building systems you can keep using when your tools change.
Find the book for your goalRead an excerpt before choosing your edition.
01 / AVAILABLE NOW
What are you working on?
Start with the result you want.
01 / AI PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Get your AI demo ready for real users.
Beyond the AI Prototype
Your demo works with your own data. The first paying customer brings a separate account, failed requests, billing questions, and data you have to protect. Build a small beta you can test, charge for, and keep running.
For developers who can already build and deploy a web app and want a guided first SaaS release.
What You’ll Work Through
- Test whether a specific customer problem is worth building for.
- Use SignalDesk, a TypeScript reference app, to work through customer data isolation and AI evaluations.
- Plan billing, failure recovery, and what you’ll learn from your first users.
Try This First
In your test environment, create two customer accounts. Try to open the first account’s workspace from the second, and check that the request is denied.
Read an excerpt
When the Prototype Stops Being Enough
You can create an impressive AI prototype in an afternoon. A prompt accepts text, a model returns a fluent answer, and a polished interface makes the result feel complete.
Then the first real user arrives and exposes everything the demonstration was able to ignore. The account belongs to a workspace whose data must remain separate from every other customer’s data, while model output can be invalid and a request can outlive the browser’s patience.
From the introduction to Beyond the AI Prototype.
02 / CAREER EVIDENCE
Walk into your next career conversation with evidence.
The Employee Leverage System
You unblocked the delivery, but the status update only says it shipped. Turn work you already do into a record of what changed, what you contributed, and which decisions you want to ask for next.
For employees and knowledge workers preparing for a conversation about pay, scope, promotion, or a move.
What You’ll Work Through
- Find where your work gets lost between delivery and recognition.
- Turn repeatable work into blueprints and build a record of outcomes you can point to.
- Use a 90-day plan to prepare a concrete ask and decide what to do if the answer is no.
Try This First
Replace “helped with the release” with the risk you spotted, the decision it changed, and the evidence that shows the result. You now have something a manager can discuss.
Read an excerpt
The Employee Leverage Problem
The meeting ended with a familiar kind of praise. A difficult delivery had crossed the line. Several teams had been aligned, technical risks had been resolved, and a decision that had drifted for weeks had finally been made. The manager thanked everyone for the effort and moved to the next item.
[…]
Her effort was real. Her value was real. The evidence of who changed the outcome was almost nonexistent.
From the introduction to The Employee Leverage System.
03 / SOLO BUILDER SYSTEMS
Build a workflow that survives your next tool change.
The Evergreen Solo Builder Toolkit
A client decision lives in chat, the latest file is behind a login, and an automation only works as long as you remember how it was set up. Give your files, decisions, and workflows a home you can keep and recover.
For solo builders, side hustlers, and independent creators who want fewer dependencies and less time spent rebuilding their setup.
What You’ll Work Through
- Use C.O.A.S.T. to capture, organize, automate, secure, and tune the work you already do.
- Identify the version you trust and test an export or restore before you need it.
- Decide which cloud tools still earn their place and what you want to keep under your control.
Try This First
Pick one project. Find the editable source, the last decision, and the latest deliverable. If you had to restore it tomorrow, could you get back to work from those three things?
Read an excerpt
Build a System You Can Still Use
The problem usually announces itself in a pause. You are trying to answer a client, finish a feature, or turn a rough idea into a useful page. Then you need one decision you made three months ago. It could be in a chat thread, a workspace you no longer open, a document with an unhelpful title, or the app you meant to replace last year. You search in three places, find two partial versions, and lose the thread of the work you meant to finish.
From the introduction to The Evergreen Solo Builder Toolkit.
04 / MAC CREATOR WORKFLOWS
Take one idea all the way to a finished launch kit.
The Mac Creator Workbench
A tutorial needs more than a recording. There’s narration to clean, a thumbnail to make, a worksheet to export, and a folder full of versions to keep straight. Build one route through the whole job on the Mac you already use.
For Mac creators making tutorials, digital products, or other releases with a lean tool budget.
What You’ll Work Through
- Use Stack, Route, Ship to choose tools by the job and give files a consistent path.
- Make a launch kit with video, graphics, audio, a PDF worksheet, and a mini ebook.
- Keep editable originals and choose built-in, open-source, or paid tools where they fit.
Try This First
Give a screen recording one home for the original, one for the editable project, and one for the export. Next week’s tutorial starts with a route you’ve already used.
Read an excerpt
Stop Renting Your Creator Workflow
A creator can lose control of a project long before the work looks messy. The loss often starts with a small subscription added for one task, a web app used for one conversion, a cloud upload made because the local option was not ready, or a folder left in Downloads because a deadline arrived first. None of those choices feels dramatic. Combined over months, they turn a Mac into a toll booth for ordinary creative work.
From the introduction to The Mac Creator Workbench.
JANNIS DOULOUMIS / AUTHOR02 / ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hi, this is Jannis.
I’m a technical Product Owner with more than two decades in software and product delivery. I write about work I recognize: getting a prototype ready for customers, explaining the contribution behind a delivery, and keeping a workflow usable when a tool changes.
On Medium, I write about developer tools, AI, and practical ways to get more out of a Mac.
Read PowerUpSkills on Medium03 / BEFORE YOU BUY
Choosing an Edition
Which books are available on Amazon?
Beyond the AI Prototype, The Employee Leverage System, and The Evergreen Solo Builder Toolkit have Kindle and paperback links for Amazon.com and Amazon.de.
Where can I get The Mac Creator Workbench?
It’s available as an English ebook. See the ebook stores in the book section.
Can I read a sample before I buy?
Yes. Open “Read an excerpt” in any published book section to read a passage from its introduction here.
Where do I check prices and availability?
Open your preferred edition on the retailer’s site for the latest price and availability in your region. The editions linked here are in English.
POWERUPSKILLS / THE COLLECTION