From the book · Unleash Your Business With AI
Chapter 20: Build small tools without code
The 2 prompts from Chapter 20, ready to copy, with the chapter's mistakes to avoid and three tasks for this week.
Let AI interview you first
Copy this prompt
I want to build a small internal tool for my business. I am not a programmer. Interview me to understand what I need. Ask one question at a time and wait for my answer. Cover these in order: the job the tool does, in one sentence; who will use it and on what device; the three to five things it must do; each screen and what a person does on it; the information it stores; who may see or change what; what should happen when something goes wrong (a wrong entry, no internet, a person on leave); what "done" looks like for version one; what to leave out of version one. If I say "I don't know", offer two simple options and let me choose. Do not decide for me. When you have enough, write a one-page brief in plain English under those headings. Do not add features I did not ask for. Do not invent names, numbers or rules. Mark anything you are unsure about as [TO CONFIRM].
What you should get back: ten to fifteen questions, one at a time, and then a one-page brief in your own words, tidied.
Check: read the brief against how the work happens today. Then show it to the staff who will use the tool. They will find the missing step in minutes.
That's the first one
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- Let AI interview you first (2)
- Mistakes to avoid
- Do this week
Let AI interview you first (2)
Copy this prompt
Here is the one-page brief for a small internal tool: [paste the brief] Act as a careful reviewer. Do not rewrite the brief. 1. List the 10 most likely ways this tool will go wrong in daily use, in plain words (for example: two people edit the same order, a wrong quantity is saved, a phone is lost). 2. For each one, say what the brief should add to handle it. 3. List every place where the tool would hold personal data, money or passwords. Mark each one "needs a developer or security review before use". 4. Write 10 test cases my staff can run by hand, with the expected result for each. Base everything on the brief. If something is not stated, ask me. Do not assume.
What you should get back: a list of risks, a list of items for a developer to review and ten tests.
Check: the tests should be ones your godown or counter staff can run without you.
Mistakes to avoid
- Starting with the tool. Start with one clear page describing the job.
- Building what you could buy. Billing, inventory and GST invoicing are solved problems.
- Putting customer data or payments into a self-built app before a developer has checked it.
- Testing it only yourself. You know how it is meant to work. Your staff will use it the way it is not meant to work.
- Letting an AI agent delete, send or pay without a person confirming. Every documented failure above has this shape.
- Repeating a company's revenue claim as proof that the product will work for you.
Do this week
- Write down three "we should get software for that" problems in your business and run each through the six questions. Mark each one buy, bot or build.
- For one of them, run the interview prompt and save the one-page brief it produces.
- Show that brief to two people who would use the tool and write down every correction they make.