AI Literacy – Cycle 2

Situation: A company wants a better way to manage projects.

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Our company needs a better way to manage projects. Recommend a tool.

Available information:

• The company has 25 employees.
• About 14 people would use the system regularly.
• Most employees are comfortable with email and spreadsheets but are not highly technical.
• The company already uses Microsoft 365.
• Projects currently are tracked through spreadsheets, email, and informal check-ins.
• The main problem is poor visibility into task status, deadlines, and ownership.
• Leadership wants something employees can adopt quickly.
• Budget is limited to about $150 per month.
• Mobile access would be useful but is not essential.
• The company manufactures custom metal components.
• The company has been in business for 34 years.
• The office was remodeled last year.

Your job: Decide what the AI actually needs to know. Rewrite the request using the context you believe matters, run it, and compare the recommendation to the first result.

Situation: Order processing has become slower and customers are noticing.

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Our orders are taking too long to process. What should we do?

Available information:

• Average order-processing time increased from 18 hours to 31 hours over the last two months.
• The approval step alone averages 17 hours.
• Most other workflow steps average under 4 hours.
• One person per shift is responsible for approvals.
• About 82% of orders are approved without changes.
• Status updates are entered manually.
• Employees do not always update the system promptly.
• Customer complaints about order visibility increased 22%.
• Sales volume increased about 3% during the same period.
• The company employs 74 people.
• The ERP system was installed four years ago.
• The warehouse operates two shifts.

Your job: Decide which facts are useful diagnostic signals and which are mostly background. Add the context you think matters, run the new request, and compare the advice.

Situation: A company is considering extending customer service hours.

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We are considering extending our customer service hours. Should we?

Available information:

• Current service hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time.
• About 18% of customer calls now arrive between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m.
• Voicemail records show an average of 11 customer calls between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. each weekday.
• Most after-hours calls come from customers in Mountain and Pacific time zones.
• Extending coverage to 7:00 p.m. would require one additional employee on a staggered shift.
• Estimated additional labor cost is $52,000 per year.
• The average annual revenue of customers making after-hours calls is higher than the company average.
• Customer satisfaction scores are strong overall but lower among western-region customers.
• Two major competitors advertise service until 7:00 p.m. Central.
• Some current employees prefer earlier shifts and may be open to staggered schedules.
• The company moved offices three years ago.
• The customer service manager has been with the company for nine years.

Your job: Decide what information AI needs to evaluate the decision intelligently. Add the relevant context, run the request, and compare the quality of the recommendation.

Choose something real: Pick a task, decision, problem, or communication you would actually like AI to help with.

1. Write the request the way you might normally ask it and run it.
2. Ask yourself: What does the AI not know about my situation?
3. Decide which of that missing information actually matters.
4. Add that context in your own words and run the request again.
5. Compare the results. What changed, and what might still be missing?

Remember: Good context is not everything you know. It is the information the AI needs to understand your situation well enough to help.