Most people add AI to a job the way they’d add a new app. They hand over the whole job. Then it half works, and they decide AI isn’t ready for their business.

The job was never one thing, though. It was six or seven steps, and AI is good at some of them and bad at others. So before I add AI to anything, I write the job out and sort every step into four piles.

Write the job out first

Pick one job you do every week. Replying to a new enquiry is a good one. List every step, start to finish, the way it really happens rather than the way it’s meant to.

For an enquiry it might look like this:

  1. Read the enquiry.
  2. Work out if it’s a quote, a booking or a question.
  3. Copy the details into the spreadsheet.
  4. Check the calendar or the price list.
  5. Decide the price.
  6. Write the reply.
  7. Send it and set a follow-up reminder.

Most jobs have five to seven steps. If you’ve got more than ten, it’s probably two jobs.

Sort each step into four piles

AI does it. The AI handles the whole step and you check the result. Sorting the enquiry into quote, booking or question fits here.

AI helps. The AI writes the first draft, then you finish it and hit send. The quote email fits here.

You do it. Anything that needs your judgement, a relationship or your name on it. Deciding the price usually lives here.

Delete it. Steps nobody needs, you or the AI. Retyping the enquiry into a spreadsheet you never look at is the classic one.

That last pile surprises people the most. Almost every job I map has at least one step that only exists because it always has. Deleting it saves more time than automating it, and it costs nothing.

Then add your check points

Before anything goes live, mark every spot where the AI has to stop and wait for you. A good rule is before it sends, pays or promises anything.

In the enquiry example, the AI might sort the email, pull the details and draft the reply. Then it stops. You decide the price, read the draft and press send. The AI did most of the work, and nothing went out without you.

You can move check points as you build trust. Maybe after a month you let it send the “thanks, we’ll be in touch” reply on its own. That’s your call, made with a month of evidence behind it.

Why it works

The four piles stop two common mistakes. One is handing AI a step that needs you, like pricing, and getting burnt. The other is holding on to a step AI could easily do, because the whole job felt too big to hand over.

You also end up with a written process, which is useful on its own. The same list that tells the AI what to do tells a new team member what to do.

Try it on one job this week. It takes about twenty minutes with a pen and paper.

When you’re ready to set AI up across more of your jobs, set up your own AI Operating System is where to start. Work with Brightwaters covers what it looks like when we map the jobs with you.