WEBVTT - The #1 mistake people make with AI 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:03.800 You know that feeling when you ask AI for help 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:06.960 and it gives you something back that is technically fine 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:11.760 but completely misses the mark, like it's too generic. 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:14.000 To surface level, not quite you. 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:19.720 That's not a prompt problem, it's a context problem, and 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:23.360 it's probably the single biggest reason people aren't getting their 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:27.760 results they hoped for from AI. The fix is something 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.640 Neo and I use constantly. We call it a briefing document. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:35.159 In this episode, we walk through exactly what it is, 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:39.000 why it changes everything, and how to create one without 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:40.640 sitting down to write. 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:41.879 A big wall of text. 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.440 We are sharing the actual prompt we give to our 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:50.360 Inventium AI workshop participants to have AI interview you, so 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:53.160 the whole thing gets done in about fifteen minutes over 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.319 a cup of copy. By the end, you will have 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.800 a clear system for giving AI the context it actually 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.720 needs to understand your world, so that every chat you 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:07.480 open feels less like starting from scratch and more like 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:11.040 picking up with someone who already knows what you're working on. 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.720 Welcome to how IAI with me Doctor Amantha Imba and 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:25.440 Neo Applin, head of Inventium AI. Each episode we share 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.560 one practical way to use AI better at work and 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.560 in life. No fluff, no tech jargon, just things you 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:37.600 can use straight away. Back in twenty twenty four, maybe 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:39.839 some of twenty twenty five, all the talk was about 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.920 prompt engineering and how can you craft better prompts. But 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.240 in twenty twenty five, and you know, certainly now in 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.720 twenty twenty six, I think that everyone working in AI 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:58.080 would agree that context trumps are well written prompt Would 0:01:58.080 --> 0:01:58.720 you agree with that. 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:01.800 Neo, Yeah. A lot of people are saying that prompt 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:05.000 engineering is dead because AI guesses what you're after and 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:06.560 it gives you the result. But if you don't give 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:08.680 it the background of your business, your needs, your problems, 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:10.400 all those kinds of things, you're going to get a 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:11.919 great average response. 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:15.360 And this is really the biggest mistake that we see 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:20.440 people making with AI, not giving the AI enough context. 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:25.320 So today we want to talk about how we recommend 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.760 doing this and doing this really easily in a way 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.680 that is not going to be cumbersome or overly time 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.839 consuming for you. And that is what we call at 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:39.960 Inventium AI a briefing document. Can you share what this is? 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:40.239 Neo? 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:42.200 Yeah. Before I show you what it is, let me 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.000 tell you about the old fashioned way of doing things. 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.720 So we all know you should give background to AI, 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:48.600 and so you might say, this is the project I'm 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:50.639 working on, this is what I've done so far, blah 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.120 blah blah blah. You can imagine you've got to write 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.320 or if you've listened to other episodes, then hopefully you've 0:02:56.360 --> 0:03:00.000 dictated to AI. You're going to write all that back 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:02.800 or dictate all that background to AI, and then you 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.760 can tell it what you want it to do. So imagine, 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:08.600 I would argue, if we're going a big complicated thing 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:13.200 we're talking about, multiple paragraphs of background is probably what 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.640 you need to add. So cheap number one is upload 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:18.480 a document or three. That's kind of cool, so it 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:20.440 gets some kind of the background there, but you really 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.360 need to give that background before you get it to 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:24.720 do the thing. And that's the old fashioned way of 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.200 doing things. But here's the thing. Every time we open 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:28.920 up a new chat thread, you're going to have to 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:30.880 do the same thing. You're gonna have to add all 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:32.880 that background and give all that kind of context. Every 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:35.040 single time you do that again and again. You're doing 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:37.720 that so many time reads every day that either one 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:39.760 of two things are going to happen. One is you're 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.400 going to be bored of giving the background, or two 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.200 you're going to be what most people do, which is lazy, 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.600 and then you don't give it the background, and therefore 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.200 you don't get a really targeted result. So what we're 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:52.720 going to do is we're going to capture that background 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:56.240 in one document. We'll call it a briefing document, and 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:59.360 then you can then upload that each single time you've 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:01.560 got a new chat, or you can even add it 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.560 as knowledge to a project or it from an agent. 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:06.760 So that's always got that knowledge, always got that background, 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:08.800 So every time you come to AI, you can start 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:10.920 talking Turkey and it already knows all about you and 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:12.760 your background. That's a briefing document. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.760 Now, it can be a little bit annoying to go, oh, well, 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:17.640 what should I put in a briefing document? 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:18.800 Or have to sit down and. 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.880 Type it all out, but we have solved that problem 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.560 for you. Neo, Can you share the prompt that we 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.920 give to our workshop participants to help make it really 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:30.719 easy to create a briefing document. 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.080 Yeah. So the briefing document, a good one has things 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.680 about your job, context, stakeholders, how you work. It might 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:39.200 be products that you work with. That might be customers 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:40.760 you've got, it might be all those kind of things. 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.839 So you could type all that down, but why not 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:46.680 have it a bit more engaging, in a little bit 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:48.480 more fun. So what we're going to do is we're 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.359 going to have an interview with AI. So this is 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:55.359 something that you can use on the adaptive Advanced Voice mode. 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:57.239 This is the one that looks like a little squiggle button. 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.560 You can actually have an interview with AI. It'd asks 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:03.159 you question by voice. You can answer it five voices, 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:05.160 not easier. So sit back with a cup of coffee, 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.039 get at the interview about your job, and then it'll 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:09.720 create a document at the end. So here's the prompt 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.920 we're going to use. Run a short adaptive interview that 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:17.080 captures only what matters about my role, context, stakeholders, and 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:20.200 how I work, and then produce a single structured briefing 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:24.800 that covers all information. Be efficient, inquisitive rather than prescriptive, 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:28.280 and tailor the depth in questions to my role and signals. 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.840 In other words, don't follow a really regimenter process. But 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:33.960 really I want you to understand and be inquisitive about 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:35.920 what I do and my background and all those kinds 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.360 of things. And then I want you to produce a 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.800 briefing document. And so when you do that, it's probably 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.360 fifteen twenty minutes, sit back, have a chat with it 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:46.920 and tell it. Make sure you tell it the important 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:48.520 parts about your job. And if it doesn't ask you 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.960 a question that's important, feel free to just tell it 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:52.800 well like, well, this is my boss and this is 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.480 what they really need and these are my main clients 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:57.520 or these are the main products, or those kind of things. 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.640 So make sure everything's really important about your job is 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:01.600 in this document. 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.599 And so at the start, you'll probably have just the 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.560 one briefing document that is about you, the organization that 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:11.200 you work in, and your role. 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:12.960 But as you. 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.400 Start to double down on this strategy, I would say 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:20.839 you will end up with several briefing documents. So I 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:23.480 think Neo and I we can both share the briefing 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:27.359 documents that we have credit in our own working lives. 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:31.560 But really, anytime you are starting a new project, that 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:35.320 really justifies creating a new briefing document that you can 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.920 upload to any chat thread in AI when you want 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.200 to give it that instant context so it knows, ah, yeah, 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.880 this is what we're talking about so Neo, do you 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.880 want to share a handful of your briefing documents what 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:48.600 you've created. 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:53.320 I've got an overview Inventium one, so it's about our 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.359 product services and all those kind of things. And I 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:59.159 use this particularly when i've got sales e type chats 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:00.720 that I need to have, you know, like when people 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:02.000 ask you know, what do you do with these kind 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.360 of things? I've got within that, I've got a sub 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.400 briefing document section which is all about our products and services. 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.120 So if someone asked a question about a particular program, 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.400 then I can get AI to help me beat that 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:17.400 into shape. So about our company, I've got one for me, 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:19.920 which is my role what I do all of those 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.840 kind of things. I have another one which is about 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.280 our AI programs. In fact, they've got two of those, 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.520 So I've got one for our main programs which has 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.000 all the main lessons in it, what you get out 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:32.880 of it and earn all those kinds of things. And 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.320 the reason that I do that is sometimes I need 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.120 to work with some of my previous content to be 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:40.160 able to like remix bits and pieces or how do 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.080 I pull that in and what have we gotten? Things 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:43.800 like that, so I can then ask questions of AI 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.960 about my stuff already built. Recently, we've got a big 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:50.920 client and they've got a big fun project where we're 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:55.080 going to be doing hands on fun. It's like a 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:58.680 half day AI hackathon if you'd like. It's not quite 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:00.440 a hackathon, it's something a bit cool more than that, 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.760 but anyway, we'll call it that. Very detailed, lots of 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:05.400 different ins and outs and things like that. So I've 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.560 created a briefing document for that. So yeah, for me, 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:09.520 it might be projects, might be about the company, might 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:11.520 be about me, but that's me, how about you? 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:16.520 So I have got quite a few briefing documents. I've 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.120 got one, for example, in my role as a manager 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.360 at Inventium that understands who are the people I manage, 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.760 what are their goals or okayrs, what are the things 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:30.320 that they're working towards, what are they're trying to work 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:31.800 on as areas for development. 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:33.640 That's super useful. 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.720 I've got one for the How I Work podcast, which 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:41.960 is incredibly relevant for all sorts of all sorts of 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.080 workflows that I have with AI for helping to create 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:48.319 how How I Work podcast and now also the how 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:49.920 I AI podcast. 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.680 And I have had various. 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.520 Briefing documents for my latest book, The Energy Game, which 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.880 is out on the seventh of July. And I mean 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:01.800 the book is the book is now written, and it's 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:06.360 just in the final stages of proofing and typesetting, but 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:08.000 moving into the marketing stage. 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.079 This is super super useful. 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.680 Where I can do things, for example, that would have 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.679 taken a long time to do previously, where you know 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:19.839 I will most likely be guesting on a range of 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.040 different podcasts, as is pretty typical for authors to do, 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.000 and I can, and I've had this done to me 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.800 as a podcast host, and I find it incredibly useful 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:33.320 to give me a bunch of different questions or talking 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.679 points that are going to be hyper personalized to the 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:42.079 podcast that we are pitching to. It helps reduce their 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.840 work and it also helps lead to a better interview. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.880 There are other bits of marketing collateral that can be 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.280 really time consuming to create, but with the help of 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.480 AI and a really good briefing document, it can cut 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:58.280 down time and also improve the quality of what we 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:03.080 are creating. So they are a few, but typically any 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.079 project that I start that is a major project or 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:10.640 a major area of my life, I will sit down 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.200 and just spend that fifteen or twenty minutes creating a 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:14.040 briefing document. 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.960 So we're talking about briefing documents. We've got aid interviewers 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.520 to create them. We've talked about different ways you would 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:22.920 have them. We didn't talk about where you'd actually place 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.240 them at, how you'd actually use them. Where do you 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.040 put your briefing documents? 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.400 I actually have a file and it's in the main 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:36.000 company folder at Inventium that says briefing documents, and that's 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:39.880 where I've saved most of the briefing documents that are 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:42.920 relevant to me and the team. Obviously, things like the 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.120 how I Work briefing document. It just saved in the 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:46.160 how I Work folder. 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.160 So you upload them to AI as you need them. 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:54.800 I do, but also because I have done all the 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.280 content that we are teaching in our AI Agent boot camp, 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:04.480 what I actually also do is I create GPTs or projects. 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:05.880 But do you want to talk a little bit about 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:09.920 this is for those that are wanting to not have 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:11.679 to manually upload them every time. 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.640 Yeah, I'm lazy. I don't upload in mine every single time. 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:18.440 So I've created either a project or an agent slash 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:20.439 GPT depends on which of the tools that I'm using, 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.200 which is preloaded with my briefing document, and some of 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:27.120 the magic thing you need to tell it is before 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:29.920 you answer my questions, make sure you read this briefing 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:33.040 document as context and background, so something like that, and 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:34.920 so that way, every time I open up the project, 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.640 it understands, Okay, I've already read everything about NEO, or 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:40.520 I've read everything about this project, and then I can 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:43.040 start talking turkey with it off the bat. And I 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.439 don't have to upload this briefing document to every single 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:49.240 chat threads because I'm lazy. Why do that if you 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:50.959 can just get at the store in AI. But there 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.520 is a gotcha here, which is I like Amanther's idea 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:55.440 of just keeping in a folder because that way it's 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:57.960 always updated and you've got the most up to date one. 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.440 Mine takes a little bit of diligence, so if I 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:02.400 update it, I need to go in there and update 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:06.160 it within the project or the GPT. So depending on 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:07.880 which tool you want, which way you want to go, 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.760 they're both very valid. But make sure your briefing document 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:13.520 is updated because if your project changes and you've got 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:16.480 an old briefing document, it's going to give you old information. 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.040 So we will put the full text of that prompt 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.200 that Neo shared that will have AI interview you to 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:25.720 create a briefing document and hopefully today you can just 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.920 take your AI out for a coffee and just spend 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:33.719 fifteen minutes creating a briefing document. How i AI was 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:37.000 hosted by me Amantha Imber and Neo Applan. A big 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:39.480 thank you to Martin Imber who does our sound editing, 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.920 and Jim Rubio for production support, and thank you to 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.320 John Kilby who composed the theme music.