How to find the right AI tool 🔎

Hi Non-Techies,

Finding the right AI tool can feel like going to the beach in search of a particular grain of sand.

This was a real pain point for me (the AI tool thing, not the sand thing), so there’s a chance you’re in a similar pickle.

By the end of this email, you’ll know how to identify the AI tools you need and where to find them. I’ll also share a Google Doc with the prompts I use for tool hunting, so you can get AI tools to find more AI tools.

Today's menu:

• The 4 steps to finding the right AI tool

• Step 1: Business/Role Goals

• Step 2: Your Blockers

• Step 3: Impact/Effort Matrix

• Step 4: Is AI the Answer?

• Let AI do the Work

The 4 steps to finding the right AI tool

Have you ever popped to B&Q for a screwdriver and fallen in love with a shiny power tool that you absolutely don’t need? Just me?

I feel a bit like that when I discover an exciting AI tool. Sure, it can do all this fancy stuff, but if I’m being really honest with myself, it’s probably not built to solve my problems. 

The first big eureka moment for me was realising that to find the right tool, I first had to properly understand what my goals and challenges were. If you need to hang a picture, you probably don’t need a table saw (even if it does look cool). 

The steps to diagnosing and solving your problems:

Step 1: Business/Role Goals
Step 2: Obstacles and Challenges
Step 3: Impact/Effort Matrix
Step 4: Is AI the answer?

Let’s look at each one.

Step 1: Business/Role Goals

First, jot down what you’re looking to achieve, a deadline, and what needs to be done to make it happen. So far, so easy.

(not a real example, but it should be).

Step 2: Your Blockers

Next, note down the things that stand in your way (or ‘blockers’, if we’re using the technical term). I bloody love a mind map, but format them however you want.

Step 3: Impact/Effort Matrix

Dig out your long, leather coat and get ready to enter the Matrix…

…not that Matrix. The Impact/Effort Matrix.

We’re looking for those goals that fall into the top boxes: Quick Wins and Strategic Projects. These ought to be your areas of focus. Ignore the fill in jobs and the hard slogs.

Step 4: Is AI the Answer?

“AI can’t solve everything.”

- Heather Murray, AI Consultant.

But seriously - it can’t. Your challenges might not be solvable by AI.

Step 4 is definitely the trickiest part.

Resources like Future Tools and Futurepedia can be useful here, but how can you know what AI can and can’t help you with if you’re not fully aware of AI’s ever-changing capabilities?

Well, here’s where my prompts really come in handy…

Let AI do the Work

I created a Google Doc of prompts for each of these steps. That’s right: By asking ChatGPT to play the role of a generative AI implementation specialist, we can use AI to find other AI solutions. There’s some irony in there somewhere.

Click the button below, shove the prompts into ChatGPT (or your preferred chatbot) and see what happens. This one is view only, but feel free to duplicate it and edit as you see fit:

A quick heads up: These prompts aren’t perfect. Chatbots will try to lead you astray by asking follow-up questions. My advice is to stick to the four prompts in the document and move on once you’re happy with the answer.

Okay, I’m off to figure out whether AI can hang out the washing and run me a bath. Here’s hoping.

See you next week,

Heather