The function map: how one person runs a software product with AI
Every function of a one-person software product, split into what the founder decides, what AI does and what runs on its own. The full table, and how to make your own.
Sophie Michaud ·
One person can run every function of a software product if AI does the drafting and building and the person keeps every decision. The tool that makes this workable is a function map: a table of who does what, written down once and followed every day.
This is the map behind Plumerie, a library app for physical books that I built and run alone: web, iOS and an Android beta, about ten months from first commit.
The rule
AI drafts and builds. I decide, review, merge, deploy and talk to customers.
Every row below is that rule applied to one function.
The full map
| Function | Person | AI | Automated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery and research | Interviews, demos, decisions | Mining competitor reviews, keyword analysis, synthesis | — |
| Product and engineering | Prioritises, reviews previews, merges, deploys, console changes | Recon reports, implementation on its own branches | Preview deployments, cloud functions |
| Design and brand | Logo, illustrations, mascot, by hand | Unbranded layout scaffolds for a brand pass | — |
| Content and SEO | Edits, fact-check sign-off, guest authors | Briefs, drafts, fact-check reports | Daily publishing schedule |
| Social | Writes and posts in her own voice | Drafts at "80% there" | — |
| Support | Writes every reply, manual data repairs | Triage docs, root-cause fixes | Feedback form to inbox |
| Billing and finance | Pricing decisions | Revenue method, pipeline code | Payment webhooks, scheduled snapshots |
| Analytics | Reads the dashboard, decides | Reports, pipeline code | Daily snapshots |
| Sales and PR | All outreach emails, meetings | Strategy, angles, discovery questions | — |
What the map makes obvious
Customers only ever hear from a person. Every support reply and every outreach email is written by me. AI groups the emails, finds the root causes and fixes the bugs in one batch; then each customer gets one complete reply once all their issues are fixed.
Risky changes stay manual. Database security rules and console changes are pasted by hand, never pushed by a script. Every deploy command is run by a person.
Automation is for things that repeat on a clock. Publishing, snapshots and previews run on a schedule. Nothing that needs judgement is automated.
How to make your own
- List your functions. Use the nine above as a starting point and cross out what doesn't apply.
- Fill the person column first. Write down what must stay human: decisions, customer contact, anything irreversible.
- Then the AI column. What can be drafted, analysed or built for you to review?
- Then automation. What happens on a schedule, with no decision in it?
- Write the rules down. Each hard-won rule goes into an invariants file.
- Start every change with recon. A recon prompt asks the AI to report before it touches anything.
For teams
The map works the same way for a marketing or operations team, with names in the person column instead of one founder. Building it together is the first exercise in our team workshop, and the most useful hour of the day: the gaps show up the moment it's on the wall.