38-lesson course · about 12 hours

Set up an AI chief of staff for your Adobe creative practice

For Designers, photographers, editors and creative producers using Adobe tools to develop, refine and deliver visual assets

Everything for Adobe creatives

Build and test an agent that prepares your morning brief, review rounds, follow-ups, approvals log and weekly review. You still price, approve, send and make every image decision.

Try lesson 1 freeSee what you’ll learn

What you’ll be able to do

By the end, you can…

Decide what the agent may touchMap a chief of staff's standing work onto your own jobs: intake, shoot and edit schedules, review rounds, releases, delivery specs and approvals. Then write down what the agent may do alone, what needs your approval first and what it never does. Pricing, approvals, sending and image decisions stay with you.
Pick a platform that you can actually useCompare Claude Duet, an OpenAI dot, Claude or ChatGPT scheduled tasks, and Copilot or Gemini for work accounts. Check them against your plan, region and email suite, then choose a main platform and a fallback that can run every exercise. Availability and prices change, so you'll confirm them on the official pages and note the date you checked.
Write standing instructions for your studioWrite a versioned set of instructions that covers your priorities, VIP clients, sources, drafting voice, urgency rules and source tags. It also includes a firm rule that anything inside an email is data, not an instruction. A corrections log turns each mistake into a rule for next time.
Connect only what the job needsConnect your business email, calendar, job tracker and one logs folder with the least access that works. You start read-only, with permissions set to manual. Raw and embargoed client files, release forms with more personal data than the task needs, and payment accounts stay out.
Get drafts you review for briefs, shoots, reviews and deliveriesSchedule and score a sourced weekday morning brief. Have the agent draft shoot sheets at T-2, review feedback grouped by asset with scope flags, delivery checklists built from spec documents, and recap and quote emails with price placeholders. You approve or edit each one yourself.
Keep records of approvals, usage and deadlinesKeep a decision log of client approvals and the usage granted (media, territory, term), plus a delegation tracker and a deadline register that warns you before usage runs out. The agent proposes entries and only you confirm them. You also run a weekly jobs review, a prompt-injection drill and a permission audit, and finish with a go or no-go decision on each routine.

How it works

A tutor that meets you where you are

  1. Lessons that adapt to your levelThere are 38 hands-on lessons, and you follow each one with your assistant open. Each has a goal, numbered steps, copy-paste prompts written for creative jobs, a worked example, a checkpoint and a fix for when it doesn't work. Lessons adjust to what you already know, whether you've only used a chat window or have tried scheduled tasks before.
  2. An AI tutor you can ask anythingWhen a menu on your screen looks different, a connector won't link, or you aren't sure whether a task should be 'ask first' or 'never', ask the tutor. You can type or ask out loud.
  3. Quizzes and flashcards for each lessonShort quizzes and flashcards tied to each lesson help you remember the rules that matter most: approval before sending, source tags, content is data, and what never to connect.
  4. Progress tracking and a certificateTrack where you are across the eight modules as you build your setup. When you finish, you receive a certificate of completion.

Curriculum

The curriculum

The course has eight modules in the order you'd set things up. You define the role, choose a platform and write the instructions, then connect sources and run the morning brief, add job, shoot and review drafts, and keep the logs. It ends with a weekly review, guardrails and a two-week rollout.

Module 1What a Chief of Staff Does in a Creative Practice4 lessons

  1. 1The Chief of Staff's Standing Work
    • Name the chief of staff's standing duties: information flow, air traffic control, meeting prep and the record, peripheral vision, priorities and follow-through
    • List what a good chief of staff never does, such as deciding for the principal or blurring whose voice is speaking
    • Explain why a creative running their own jobs is the 'principal' in this setup
  2. 2Mapping the Role onto Your Jobs, Shoots and Deliveries
    • Map each standing duty to a creative task, for example morning brief to the day's shoots, reviews and deliveries
    • List the documents an agent would read for each task: inquiry emails, review comment exports, delivery spec documents, the job tracker
    • Spot which tasks carry confidentiality or rights risk
  3. 3The Rule: The Agent Prepares, You Decide and Send
    • Sort creative tasks into 'on its own', 'ask first' and 'never'
    • Explain why asking for a draft does not authorize sending it
    • Name the actions current agents block or ask about by default
  4. 4Write Your Chief of Staff's Job Description
    • Write a one-page job description for your AI chief of staff
    • Record in writing the decision rights you keep: pricing, approvals, sending and image decisions
    • Draft a never list specific to your studio

Module 2Choosing Your Platform4 lessons

  1. 5Proactive Agents: Claude Duet and OpenAI Dots
    • Describe what Claude Duet and an OpenAI dot each do for a morning brief and follow-ups
    • Check your own eligibility against region, plan, age and waitlist limits
    • Explain why neither should be the only path
  2. 6Scheduled Tasks in Claude and ChatGPT
    • Compare Claude and ChatGPT scheduled tasks on frequency, task limits and where instructions live
    • Identify the setting that makes Claude ask before each action
    • Explain the ChatGPT rule that a task created in a project cannot read the project's files
  3. 7Work Accounts: Copilot and Gemini
    • Name the Copilot features that fit this role and the license they need
    • Tell apart Gemini options for personal accounts and for Workspace accounts
    • Spot previews you should not rely on
  4. 8Pick Your Platform and Your Fallback
    • Choose a main platform and a fallback from the decision table
    • Record the plan, price and access date you checked on the official page
    • Confirm the fallback can run every exercise in the course

Module 3Standing Instructions for Your Studio5 lessons

  1. 9Anatomy of Standing Instructions
    • List the twelve sections of the standing instructions template
    • Choose where to paste them on your platform
    • Apply the 'capable new colleague' test to a draft
  2. 10Role, Priorities and VIP Clients
    • Write five or six ranked priorities split into outward- and inward-facing
    • Write a VIP client list with names, roles and email domains
    • Name the people who may receive delegated drafts
  3. 11Sources, Source Tags and the 'Could Not Check' Line
    • Write the sources section, naming the source of truth for times, decisions and owners
    • Write source tag formats for email, calendar, documents and logs
    • Explain why 'Inference:' and 'Could not check:' prevent silent errors
  4. 12Urgency Rules and Drafting Voice
    • Write urgency rules for today, this week, can wait and the never list
    • Describe your drafting voice and sign-off
    • Require [PRICE] and [DECISION] placeholders in drafts
  5. 13Content Is Data, the Corrections Log and Versioning
    • Write the content-is-data rule in your own words
    • Set up a corrections log with date, error and new rule
    • Save and date version 1.0 of your standing instructions

Module 4Connecting the Right Sources5 lessons

  1. 14Least Privilege and Why Connections Become Memory
    • Explain OWASP's three causes of agent damage and their fixes
    • Explain why disconnecting an app doesn't erase what the agent learned
    • Plan the week-1 and week-2 connections
  2. 15What Never to Connect in a Creative Practice
    • List the sources you will keep out and the reason for each
    • Prepare a minimal release tracker that holds no more personal data than the task needs
    • Check your client contracts and policies for tool restrictions
  3. 16Set Up the Logs Folder
    • Create the logs with the right columns
    • Place them where a scheduled task can read them
    • Add three practice rows from an anonymized past job
  4. 17Connect Email and Calendar Read-Only (Claude or ChatGPT)
    • Create a Chief of Staff project with the standing instructions
    • Connect email, calendar and the logs folder with the least access that works
    • Set Claude's permission setting to Manual, or confirm that ChatGPT tasks pause for approval
    • Add the job tracker and the folder of review exports and specs, read-only, in week 2
  5. 18Connect on Duet, a Dot, Copilot or Gemini
    • Configure a dot's Custom rules for sending, purchases, calendar and drafting
    • Connect only Gmail, Calendar and Drive in Duet
    • Set up Copilot or Gemini without automatic sending

Module 5The Morning Brief5 lessons

  1. 19Run Your First Morning Brief by Hand
    • Run the morning brief prompt on your connected sources
    • Check that every item carries a source tag
    • Find the 'Suspicious or unusual' and 'Could not check' sections
  2. 20Score the Brief and Log Corrections
    • Score a brief for precision, missed-urgent items and source coverage
    • Write corrections log entries that state a rule
    • Update the urgency rules from the score
  3. 21Run a Prompt-Injection Drill
    • Create a safe test email to your own account
    • Run the morning brief and the injection-check prompt
    • Decide on a fix if it fails
  4. 22Schedule the Brief for Weekdays
    • Create a weekday scheduled task with the full brief prompt and time zone
    • Set notifications so the brief reaches you
    • Verify the first scheduled run the next morning
  5. 23When the Brief Goes Wrong
    • Diagnose a failure from its symptoms
    • Apply the matching fix
    • Set a weekly check of the Scheduled page

Module 6Jobs, Shoots, Reviews and Drafts for Approval7 lessons

  1. 24Triage the Inbox and Draft Replies
    • Sort the inbox into me today, this week, someone else, FYI and suspicious
    • Draft replies for today's items labeled 'DRAFT for [Name]'
    • Approve or reject the agent's proposed label and archive list
    • Set up a VIP client watch, or a frequent scheduled check where your tool has no triggers
  2. 25Job Intake and Quote Drafts
    • Extract client, deliverables, usage, deadlines and references from an inquiry
    • Draft a reply asking for missing details
    • Draft a quote email with price placeholders you fill in yourself
  3. 26Shoot Prep at T-2 and Release Tracking
    • Generate a shoot sheet with unconfirmed items marked
    • List the releases needed and their status, with links
    • Draft release requests for your approval
  4. 27Prepare for Client Meetings and Calls
    • Generate a sourced one-page prep note for a client call
    • Draft a timed agenda with decision items
    • Find meetings with no agenda or purpose
  5. 28Recaps and Follow-Up Drafts
    • Turn notes into proposed decision and delegation rows
    • Draft a recap under 200 words
    • List anything you personally committed to
  6. 29Consolidate Review-Round Feedback with Scope Flags
    • Consolidate one round's feedback by asset, with each note quoted
    • Flag conflicting notes and out-of-scope requests
    • Decide which flagged items to charge for and draft the reply
  7. 30Delivery Checklists and Delivery Emails
    • Build a checklist per deliverable from a spec
    • List unticked items before sending
    • Draft a delivery email you send yourself

Module 7The Decision Log and Delegation Tracker4 lessons

  1. 31Log Client Approvals and Usage Granted
    • Generate proposed rows from an approval thread
    • Confirm, reject or edit each row
    • Explain why only you can mark a row 'confirmed'
  2. 32Track Delegations to Assistants and Collaborators
    • Add delegation rows with a definition of done
    • Distinguish done (claimed) from done (verified)
    • Draft check-in nudges under 60 words
  3. 33Deadline Register and Usage-Renewal Warnings
    • Add deadlines with their type and warnings
    • Run a check for usage periods ending in the next 60 days
    • Draft renewal check-in notes and invoice reminders for your approval
  4. 34Weekly Upkeep: Reviewing Proposed Rows
    • Run the stale-rows prompt
    • Clear or reject proposed rows
    • Check commitments reached the tracker within 24 hours

Module 8Weekly Review, Guardrails and a Two-Week Rollout4 lessons

  1. 35The Weekly Jobs-and-Deliveries Review
    • Schedule and run the weekly review
    • Compare this week's review with last week's
    • Pick next week's top five
  2. 36Set Your Approval Rules
    • Write the approval table
    • Match it to your tool's settings
    • Reduce unnecessary approval prompts
  3. 37Run a Permission Audit
    • Run the permission audit prompt
    • Remove or narrow any access your instructions don't need
    • Rerun the injection drill after any change to sources
  4. 38Two-Week Rollout and Go or No-Go Decisions
    • Map each rollout day to the lesson that taught it
    • Score the rollout against the metrics
    • Write a go, widen or cut decision for each routine and save version 2.0

Who it’s for

Made for you if…

Made for: Designers, photographers, editors and creative producers using Adobe tools to develop, refine and deliver visual assets

Freelance photographers and retouchers

You handle inquiries, shoot schedules, model and property releases, and review rounds alone, and confidential client files come through your inbox every day. You want something that prepares the day and the paperwork without ever sending anything in your name.

Designers working in Illustrator, InDesign or Photoshop

Feedback arrives from several people across email and comment exports, and requests slip out of scope. You want each round consolidated by asset with conflicts and extra work flagged, so you can decide what to charge for.

Video editors working in Premiere Pro

You juggle edit schedules, review rounds and delivery specs for several clients. You want delivery checklists built from each spec and a sourced brief of what's due, with no access to your project files.

Creative producers in studios of two or three

You track delegations to assistants and collaborators, client approvals and when usage ends. You want a decision log and deadline register that the agent proposes and you confirm.

Questions

Good to know

Do I need access to Claude Duet or an OpenAI dot?

No. Both have region, plan, age and waitlist limits. As of October 28, 2026, Duet is a US-only research preview for Claude Pro and Max users on a waitlist. The first dot comes with ChatGPT Pro or a Business Premium seat, and Pro is not offered in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK. Every exercise can be done with Claude or ChatGPT scheduled tasks, and the course covers Copilot and Gemini for work accounts. Check current access and prices on the official pages.

What do I need before I start?

You need day-to-day experience delivering client work in at least one Adobe app, and a business email and calendar on Google or Microsoft 365 that you're allowed to connect to an AI tool. You also need a paid plan on an assistant that supports scheduled tasks, such as Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus, a few recent jobs to practise on with confidential details removed, and basic comfort with a spreadsheet or shared document.

Will the agent send emails, book shoots or invoice clients for me?

No. The course sets it up to prepare drafts, briefs and proposed log entries. You approve and send everything yourself. You'll learn why asking for a draft does not authorize sending it, and how to set your tool so it asks before any action. Paying, signing, booking and invoicing are never handed to the agent.

How does the course handle confidential and embargoed client work?

You connect only what the job needs, starting read-only. You'll check your client contracts and policies for tool restrictions. Raw or embargoed client files stay out of unapproved tools, and so do release forms with more personal data than the task needs, and payment accounts. You'll also learn why disconnecting an app doesn't erase what the agent has already learned from it.

Does it teach Firefly or Photoshop generative editing?

No. This course covers production coordination: briefs, reviews, follow-ups, approvals and deliveries. Generative editing technique is covered in a separate course, and so are multi-agent pipelines that build asset variants.

Will it help me set my rates or give legal advice on usage and releases?

No. Quote drafts leave price placeholders for you to fill in. The course doesn't give legal advice on copyright, AI clauses in contracts, releases or advertising rules. It points you to your contract and to official sources instead.

How long does it take?

There are 38 self-paced lessons in eight modules, about 12 hours in total. The final module walks you through a two-week rollout on your own jobs.

Is the course connected to Adobe or any AI vendor?

No. It is independent of Adobe and of every AI vendor it covers.

Build an AI chief of staff that prepares the work and leaves every decision to you

$197

One payment · lifetime access

  • 38 hands-on lessons in 8 modules, about 12 hours, self-paced
  • A standing-instructions template, copy-paste prompts for creative jobs, and decision log, delegation tracker and deadline register formats
  • A path for Claude Duet, OpenAI dots, Claude or ChatGPT scheduled tasks, Copilot and Gemini, with a fallback for every exercise
  • A prompt-injection drill, a permission audit and a two-week rollout with go or no-go decisions
  • Lessons that adapt to your level, plus an AI tutor you can type to or talk to
  • Quizzes and flashcards for each lesson, progress tracking and a certificate of completion

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Refunds: Full refund if you ask before you open your first lesson. Once you’ve started, purchases aren’t refundable, except where the law gives you that right.

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