Get Curious

Before diving into your AI journey, spend a little time getting curious about the best path forward for you and your team. Here are some suggested questions to ask and ways to brainstorm in your personal AI journey.

AI Opportunity Brainstorm

Start With the Problem, Not the Technology

Before choosing an AI tool or building an automation, start by identifying something worth improving.

You don't need to understand everything AI can do. You just need a problem, a little curiosity, and a willingness to ask questions.

Where Am I Losing Time?

Ask yourself:

What do I do repeatedly every day, week, or month?
What am I constantly copying, pasting, reformatting, or re-entering?
What report takes much longer to prepare than it should?
What information do I regularly have to hunt down?
What task makes me think, “There has to be an easier way to do this”?
Where are people spending time gathering information instead of using it?

Where Are We Relying on People to Remember?

What happens only because someone remembers to do it?
What information lives primarily in one employee's head?
What questions are employees repeatedly asking the same person?
Where would an automatic reminder, alert, or exception report help?
What process is dependent on someone remembering to check something?
What would become difficult if a key employee were unexpectedly unavailable?

Where Do We Have Data — But Not Information?

Most manufacturers already have a tremendous amount of data. The challenge is turning it into information people can use.

Consider:

What questions should our ERP or other systems already be able to answer?
What decisions require us to manually compare multiple reports?
What exceptions would I rather be alerted to instead of reviewing every transaction?
What trends would be useful if someone could help analyze the data?
What do I wish my dashboard told me?
What information would help someone make a faster or better decision?

Where Are We Spending Time Creating Instead of Thinking?

Think about the things your team regularly creates:

Emails and communications
Work instructions
Training materials
Meeting summaries
Policies and procedures
Presentations
Translations
Reports
Forms and checklists
Data analysis
Standard operating procedures
Documentation

Could AI help create the first draft, organize the information, identify missing pieces, or make the finished product easier to understand?

Don't Know Whether AI Can Help? Ask It.

One of the easiest ways to discover AI opportunities is simply to describe your problem to the AI tool you already use.

You don't need to know the solution before starting the conversation.

Try this:

Brainstorm With Me

Copy/Paste Prompt:

“I work for a [TYPE OF COMPANY] and I am responsible for [YOUR ROLE OR RESPONSIBILITIES].

I am trying to improve the following process:

[DESCRIBE THE PROCESS]

Currently, we:

[DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENS TODAY]

The biggest problems or frustrations are:

[DESCRIBE THE PROBLEMS — TIME, ERRORS, REPETITIVE WORK, DELAYS, LACK OF INFORMATION, ETC.]

Before suggesting a solution, ask me questions one at a time so you can understand the process, the people involved, the systems we use, the information available, and the outcome I am trying to achieve.

Then identify ways AI, automation, or technology we may already own could help.

Give me options ranging from simple, low-effort improvements to more advanced solutions.

Do not assume AI is necessarily the best solution. If there is a simpler way to solve the problem, tell me.”

Questions to Ask Your AI

You can also start with a much simpler question.

Try asking:

“What questions should I be asking before trying to automate this?”

“What parts of this process appear repetitive or rules-based?”

“Which parts of this process require human judgment and probably should not be automated?”

“What information would you need from me to help analyze this problem?”

“What could I accomplish using technology we may already own?”

“What's the simplest version of this solution I could test first?”

“What could go wrong with the solution you're recommending?”

“What data-security, confidentiality, or privacy risks should I consider?”

“How could I test whether this actually saves time or improves the process?”

Or try one of my favorites:

“I don't know enough about this technology to know what to ask. Interview me about the problem, one question at a time, and help me figure out my options.”

You don't need to be an AI expert to have a productive conversation with AI.

Show It What You're Working With

Sometimes it's easier to show the problem than explain the problem.

Depending on your organization's policies and the AI environment you're using, you may be able to provide an appropriate:

Screenshot • Spreadsheet • Report • Procedure • Form • Error Message • SQL Query • Meeting Notes • Process Description

Then try:

“This is what I'm currently working with. My goal is [DESCRIBE YOUR GOAL]. Before recommending any changes, tell me what you understand about the current process and ask me anything else you need to know.”

⚠️ Protect Your Information

Before uploading files, screenshots, data, documents, or other company information to any AI system, make sure you understand:

Your organization's AI and information-security policies
Whether the AI tool is approved for business use
What happens to information submitted to the tool
Whether customer or supplier information is included
Whether employee or personally identifiable information is included
Whether proprietary, confidential, or intellectual-property information is included

When in doubt, remove or anonymize sensitive information before beginning the conversation.

💡PRO TIP!
Try This: Ask AI to Interview You

You don't have to write the perfect prompt.

Tell the AI what you're trying to accomplish and say:

“Ask me questions one at a time until you understand the problem well enough to recommend a solution.”

Then have a conversation.

Often, the best prompt isn't a perfectly written paragraph.

It's the beginning of a really good conversation.

Don't forget - once you find something that works, you can ask the AI tool to write you a prompt to make it repeatable. After an interview of who you are, what your company does, and you business problems, you can also ask for a summary to store in the account section of the AI tool so it remembers who you are and what you're trying to accomoplish.

Your Turn

Think about your work.

What's one repetitive task, frustrating process, painful report, unanswered data question, or information bottleneck you'd like to improve?

Write it down.

Then ask:

Could AI help us do this differently?

Start with one problem. Get curious. Experiment responsibly.

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