Before you hand work to AI
Most founders start by asking AI to do a task. Start with what only you know. Here is how to find it in a week.
01
The hard part is the judgment around the task.
You probably started by looking for tasks to hand to AI. The task is usually the easy part.
- A proposalis hard because someone has to know what this client cares about.
- A leadis hard to score because someone has to know which signals matter.
- A client updateis hard because someone has to know what needs confidence and what needs care.
In a small firm, that someone is you. That is why the work keeps coming back to you.
02
What AI cannot know about your firm.
AI already knows the general version of most work. About your firm, it does not know:
- what matters
- what to ignore
- what good looks like
- when to escalate
- when to bend the rule
- when the context changes the answer
Write those six down and give them to AI as context.
03
Three ways to find it this week.
Judgment is hard to describe when someone asks for it directly. It shows up in your corrections, approvals and exceptions.
- 01
The approval log.
For one week, note every piece of work that came back to you before it moved: who sent it, what decision they needed, and what you knew that they did not.
- 02
The almost-right test.
Take one piece of work you corrected. Write down what was technically right, what was still wrong, and the rule someone would need next time.
- 03
The exception map.
Write the normal rule for one recurring process, then every case where you would break it. The exceptions are usually where your real judgment is.
04
If you want help with it.
- 01
We start with one loop: one piece of work that keeps waiting for you.
- 02
We find where it pauses, what keeps coming back, and what looks done but still needs you.
- 03
Then we build the smallest thing that carries your judgment, check it against your corrections, and only then pick the next loop.