Where AI fits in project work

The Harvard Business School study with Boston Consulting Group (2023) found two results. On tasks inside AI's abilities, consultants using it completed 12.2% more tasks, 25.1% more quickly, with better quality. On the task outside them, they were 19% less likely to be correct. The researchers call the uneven edge between the two a "jagged technological frontier".

Project work splits along that frontier:

1. Shaping information: notes, summaries, status drafts. Inside.
2. Deciding: what to cut, what to escalate (raise to someone senior). Outside. It depends on your project and people.
3. Delivering through people: persuading, chasing, noticing the sponsor (the senior person paying for the project) has gone quiet. Outside.

Hand AI the first layer

A prompt is the message you send to the AI. This one gives it shaping work and keeps the deciding with you:

Here are my notes from this week's three project meetings.
Turn them into decisions, open questions and action items.
Give each action item the owner and date from my notes.
Don't decide anything new. I'll check every line before it goes out.

Try it