Practical resources

Make the thinking visible.

These tools solve four different problems: missing context, unclear intent, careless delegation, and hidden assumptions. Use one on the work already sitting in front of you.

Start here

Where are you on the AI adoption ladder?

A two-minute check that places you on a three-step ladder and names the one thing standing between you and your next step. See your result before you decide to share anything.

Take the 2-minute check
01

When the output is generic

The Five-Layer Framework

A flat prompt leaves the model guessing about your situation and your standards. Add the five layers one at a time.

Identity

What point of view or role should shape the response?

World

What does it need to know about the project, people, stakes, and history?

Task

What exact work should it do, and what form should the result take?

Example

What does good look like? What should it avoid copying or repeating?

Constraint

What rules, limits, facts, rights, and hard boundaries must it respect?

Starter sentenceAct as [IDENTITY]. You are working inside [WORLD]. Your task is [TASK]. Use [EXAMPLE] as the quality standard. Respect [CONSTRAINT].
02

When you know it in your head

The Intent Brief

Write the answers before you write the prompt. If another person could not act on the brief, an AI system will fill the gaps with defaults.

  1. 01

    What problem am I solving? Name the decision or obstacle, not the document you want produced.

  2. 02

    What should change when this is done? Describe the result in observable terms.

  3. 03

    Who is this for? Name what they know, need, fear, or misunderstand.

  4. 04

    What does good look like? Give the system a standard you could defend.

  5. 05

    What am I assuming? Separate known facts from hunches and missing information.

  6. 06

    What cannot move? State the legal, ethical, practical, and voice boundaries.

03

When you are deciding where AI belongs

Keep, Delegate, Verify

Do not sort work by what AI can generate. Sort it by the cost of being wrong and the amount of human judgment the work carries.

Keep

Human judgment leads

Intent, taste, consent, relationships, final creative choices, and decisions where you carry the consequences.

Question: Would I let someone else make this call without me?
Delegate

The system can draft

Organization, option generation, first-pass summaries, formatting, and bounded work with a clear standard.

Question: Can I describe success and check the result quickly?
Verify

Evidence decides

Facts, prices, dates, rights, contracts, health, safety, and any claim another person may rely on.

Question: What source would change my decision?
04

When the answer sounds certain

The Assumption Ledger

AI resolves missing information so the answer can keep moving. This ledger slows the decision down long enough to see what was supplied without permission.

AssumptionEvidenceRuling
What did the system fill in?Known, inferred, or missing?Accept, verify, replace, or reject?
The audience already knows the basics.No audience data supplied.Replace with a mixed-experience assumption.
The venue has reliable internet.Not confirmed.Verify and prepare an offline version.
The polished answer is factually correct.No sources attached.Reject as unverified.

Use them in a room

These tools make more sense when the work is real.

Bring a current project, a messy request, or a decision your team keeps circling. We can work through it together.

Tell Alex about the work