Work Instructions Make your Organization Sexy

Published: 2024-09-18
Updated: 2024-09-18
Author: Chuck Boecking

Said no one ever... until now!

This article describes how AI is changing how work instructions are created and increasing the value of your organization more than ever.

Key Takeaways

Here are the important points in this article. Work instructions:

Are getting shorter - not longer
Feed automation
Give superclerks more autonomy - which is good
Add value to the overall worth of your organization - which is great

AI is playing a vital role in changing how work instructions are created. Work Instructions are getting shorter because you no longer need to say as much because AI can fill in the gaps with general knowledge because AI knows more about more than any one person.

Said another way, only write what is specific about your organization in your work instructions. Do not include general knowledge or concepts about your industry. Instead, rely on AI to help users create personalized discussions that go into more depth on an as needed basis. If someone needs to know more, they can always ask AI.

Your job, as someone in charge of maintaining work instruction, is to only write enough words to shrink AI's world down to what matters most to your organization's success. Work instructions should teach AI to use your vocabulary, your terms, your specifics.

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Words are Liabilities

Think about it this way: Every word you write in your work instructions is a liability that will cost you in the future. It must be understood, explained, tested, reviewed and maintained. Every word you write consumes someone else's heartbeats. Be kind by being deliberate and concise.

Integrate AI Chat

Include a "let's discuss" link in each section of your work instructions. The link should open an AI chat dialog about that topic so users can ask questions, create learning aids, test knowledge, and more.

If you want a high-impact example of concise work instructions and the power of "let's discuss" with AI, look at the US Constitution. It is arguably one of the most meaningful work instructions in the modern world. Like many documents, most people have not read the Constitution*. AI makes the Constitution more available and more meaningful to more people. Here is what I mean:

AI can learn almost any document immediately
AI is a kind and patient tutor
AI will take as little or as much time as you want on a topic
AI can teach at any learning level (primary to PhD)
AI helps you create personalized connections
AI can help you memorize important details or instructions

I am often asked to help with systems training. My first question is: do you have work instructions? If answer is no, we cannot move forward - at least not with training. After all, why would you ever create training (about how to create and run a country for example) before you have the actual work instructions (Constitution for example)? Instructions come first, then everything else.

Automation is Next

Hopefully I have convinced you to immediately start writing concise, AI-supported work instructions. However, there is more.. Not only will you gain operational velocity and efficiency from creating work instructions as discussed above, you also gain the ability to automate your organization.

AI will continue to perform more and more work for you. AI's current role mostly centers around thought labor; however, with tools like AIChat, AI is starting to interact with systems and people on our behalf. Clear and concise work instructions do not apply solely to humans. One of AI's greatest strength is to read and apply knowledge. It only make sense that an AI can read and act on your work instructions.

However, not all systems are created equal. When you are forced to use a mouse to interact with the system, AI is limited in what it can do. Since the last 20 years of software was largely build around a mouse, simply saying "AI go do..." does not work in many cases. Luckily, the last 10 years have ushered in the concept of APIs where systems can talk to systems. AI can very much talk to systems via an API.

The chuck-stack brings AI interaction to a whole new level. There is little distinction between what a human can do versus what an AI can do. Said another way, chuck-stack enables everyday clerks to use AI and well-formed work instructions to remove complexity and automate tasks. What was tedious becomes scripted. Scripts become menu options. Options connect to form data pipelines.

Conversational enterprise computing (the chuck-stack) will change how you think about business basics. As a result, I hope the mouse enjoys a pleasant retirement.

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I think you are starting to understand the big picture. Now, let's tie these concepts back to sexy.

Let's get Sexy

Business basics have not changed.

Say what we do.
Do what we said we would do.
Prove that we did it.
Focus on continuous improvement.
Welcome feedback!

What's changed is how we do it. If you can do what this article suggests, it stands to reason that you will greatly increase the value of your organization. Better documentation with more automation results in more value. Anyone can make 1 + 1 = 2. It takes synergy (like with work instruction + automation) to make 1 + 1 = 11. That is what we do.

We take easy to understand concepts and tools and create synergy that drives your operational and transactional velocity and efficiency. We make you more valuable!

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If you want help executing the topics in this article, join the stack-academy. Not ready to join... We can always stay connected to learn more.

Percentage Who Read The US Constitution

It's difficult to provide an exact percentage of US citizens who have not read the Constitution, as I am not aware of a nationwide survey that has measured this specific information. However, various polls and studies over the years have indicated that a significant portion of Americans have not read the entire Constitution. If you want to know more about sources that would either prove or disprove these comments, I encourage you to ask AI.