Quick check
Guess first, no penalty. Your notes say testing is two weeks behind and the vendor contract isn't signed. You ask AI for a status update, and it says "All workstreams green." Why?
A workstream is one part of the project with its own team. Most teams report each one's status with a traffic light, called RAG (red, amber, green). Green means on track. Amber means at risk, with the team's own plan to recover. Red means a key date will be missed unless someone senior decides something.
AI drafts copy the mood of what you give them. Stand-up notes (from the short daily team check-in) are usually upbeat, because people report what they did, not what's slipping. So the draft says green, and the report reads better than the project.
The fix: set the color yourself, from facts, before you read the draft. A milestone (a key date in the plan) is either on its date or it isn't.
Same notes, two statuses
Before and after
Switch between the AI status and the one set from facts. Highlights show what changed.
AI status
On track for the 30 June launch, all workstreams green. Testing is progressing well and the team is fully staffed. No risks to flag.
Fill the gaps
Rebuild the status set from facts.
Status
. The 30 June launch is . Testing is two weeks behind, and . Plan: .
Try it
Your steps, about 2 minutes
- 1.Set the color of your last status report from its milestone dates, without looking at the color you sent, and compare. Add check 2 to your PM AI kit: "I set the color from dates before I read the draft."2 min