Hello,
The new guy at our place watched someone do a weekly job for about twenty minutes, then asked the question I now can't stop hearing "why don't we automate that part?"
He wasn't being smart. He'd just looked at the week the way nobody who's been doing the job for years ever does, as a list of things a machine could carry.
That's what this note is for. A good few of you work in a business rather than run one, and this version of the exercise is honestly more use than the owner one, because it does to your week what he did to ours: looks at it from outside.
Same principle as the last note. AI is useless while it knows nothing about you, so let it interview you first. The difference is what it learns. Not the business. Your job.
Copy and paste this one:
"I want your help with my working week. I do [your job] at [type of place]. Interview me one question at a time until you properly understand what my job actually involves, what a normal week looks like, what takes up most of my time, what I keep putting off, and what I actually get judged on. Short questions, plain English, keep it under ten minutes. When you're done, tell me the three parts of my week you could take the most weight out of, then give me the ten most useful things you could help me with, ranked by time saved."
Answer like you'd talk. The question most folk find uncomfortable is "what do you actually get judged on", and that's exactly why it's in there. Half of what we all do every week isn't that, and seeing the gap written down is worth the ten minutes on its own.
Then pick one thing off the list and use it this week. The usual winners: the email you rewrite four times before sending, the report that's the same every month with different numbers, the meeting notes nobody reads, the summary that eats an afternoon. Every one of those is ten minutes for a machine that knows your job.
The trick that makes it sound like you and not a robot: show it your own work. Two or three examples, an old report, a typical email, then "write it like this". One instruction, night and day.
One practical bit. On the free versions, do all of this in one chat and keep using that same chat, because that's where the knowledge lives. The paid versions of Claude or ChatGPT remember you across conversations, so the interview you did on Tuesday is still there when you open a fresh chat in December. Twenty-ish quid a month, and if you're using it most days it pays for itself in the first week.
And here's a thought: ask your employer to pay it. I mean that. When someone at our place asks me to cover their AI subscription, I'm delighted, because it tells me exactly who's leveraging this stuff without being told to. The ask itself marks you out. Worst case they say no and you're where you started. Best case it's the cheapest payrise you'll ever get, paid in hours back.
And when something on the list works, do the thing the new guy did. Say it out loud. "Why don't we automate that part" is a question that changes rooms and it lands even better coming from the person who does the job than it does from the boss.
Reply and tell me what it took off your plate first. If the boss forwarded you this, tell them they owe you the ten minutes.
Andrew
Ps. Everyone knows one person drowning in admin. Sending them this is probably the nicest thing you'll do today.