One evening, one working process. Building AI automations at Lencon Labs
One evening. One working process. That was the brief for the latest edition of Lencon Labs, the learning evenings of engineering firm Lencon in Noordwijk.
Thirteen colleagues joined, laptops open, with one goal. By the end of the evening something had to be running that genuinely makes their work easier. And it did. Step by step, until it worked.
From idea to working workflow
The theme was AI automations for smarter work processes. We worked in n8n, a platform in which you link steps together into a workflow. Everyone had their own account and a few ready-made building blocks to start with.
With those we built agentic workflows. An AI agent looks up information, summarises it, prepares a draft and decides for itself which step makes sense. That sounds big, but the core is simple. You describe what needs to happen, you connect the right sources and you test until it is right.
People stay in the driving seat
One principle was central all evening, human in the loop. The AI does the groundwork, but a person keeps an eye on it and decides. A generated email only goes out once someone clicks approve. A summary is only shared once a colleague has checked it.
That is not a brake on automation. It is what makes automation reliable. Especially in an age of AI, you want processes that are fast and that you can trust at the same time.
Learning by doing, until it works
What I love about these evenings is the energy. People build and test, sometimes something breaks, and then you work out together why. That is how you really get to know AI. Not by reading about it, but by doing it.
Thanks to Lencon for their hospitality and to all participants for their effort and enthusiasm. On to the next Lencon Labs!
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Photo Lencon Engineering
