YOUR DAILY PROMPT
Briefing ID: 26-132
Status: Confidential
If I had a nickel for every time a system does not quite handle something correctly, someone creates a spreadsheet…😆
Here is how it typically goes:
A report arrives too late, so another person builds a manual tracker.
A form is missing one field, which leads to an email, followed by a reminder, followed by somebody keeping a private list to make sure nothing disappears.
Each fix makes sense when it is created because somebody is solving a real problem and trying to keep the work moving. But then six months pass and the spreadsheet is still there. The private list is still there. Even worse, three people know the unofficial sequence of steps, and the new employee gets trained on the workaround as though it were the official process.
Nobody consciously chose the new workflow. It simply accumulated due to “solving a problem”. That is why before we call AI into the game, we need to make sure that what we are asking it to do is worth it!
And that is exactly where AI shines because it can review a workflow without the organizational muscle memory that tells us, “We have always done that part manually.” Or, you may hear it’s cousin-phrase, “We have always done it that way.” 😲
Now, you can give AI the actual steps people follow, including the awkward ones, then ask it to identify where temporary fixes, duplicate work, manual transfers, side calculations, extra approvals, and repeated exceptions have become embedded in the process.
I know, some workarounds exist for good reasons:
A manual review may protect quality
An extra approval may control risk
A spreadsheet may contain useful logic that the official system still cannot handle.
But your job is to separate necessary controls from inherited friction. And the payoff is so practical.
Once you can see these hidden process additions, you can decide which ones deserve a permanent design, which ones should be automated, which ones should be simplified, and which ones can finally disappear.
You may discover that the fastest way to improve a process is to examine everything your team added after the process was supposedly finished. 🧐
Try today’s prompt to find out how.
Let's go raise your AIQ.
THE MASTER PROMPT
📄 Temporary Workaround Audit
INTEL FROM Q:
Use this prompt when a workflow feels harder than it should, especially when people rely on spreadsheets, manual checks, side emails, duplicate entry, or unofficial steps. Give the AI the process people actually follow rather than the process documented in the manual.
ROLE
Act as a business process improvement advisor with experience analyzing workflows, operational friction, manual workarounds, controls, handoffs, and process risk.
REQUEST
Review the workflow I provide and identify any temporary workarounds, manual fixes, duplicate activities, unofficial practices, or exception-handling steps that may have quietly ... 
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Until next time,
