Back to zero. Thanks, AI

Last summer, the universe gave me a gentle kick in the butt: I watched a non-techie product manager create a working prototype of an idea for a system we were discussing in a workshop with business people, within a couple of hours, with a few prompts.

I was the only “technical representation” in the group, and I had never seen that before. I was at the same time fascinated and skeptical. Later we were talking over lunch about AI usage in general, and I found myself trying to justify why I hadn’t interacted yet with any AI tool, not even privately.

20 years ago AI was for me something related to robotics. Working in Tech, I could observe the AI topic gaining popularity, but nothing really on the radar of my job: web applications at the enterprise. After ChatGPT, suddenly AI flooded all conversations and I felt annoyed. I was just busy, I had way too many things to do and deliver at work, to get caught in the topic.

The next couple of years I did what many experienced technologists quietly do: I bookmarked it for later. Between deadlines, meetings, and life, I kept saying I’d “catch up eventually.” Even hearing the word AI felt like hype I was tired of.

The main problem I saw was losing my own thinking. But it was also my inner voice which made me realize that I needed to change my attitude. I had to listen beyond the noise: this isn’t just another transformation. It took courage to admit how little I knew. It was not enough to even have my own opinion, let alone apply AI at work or in my private life.

I needed to act, or I’d be left behind. I was back to zero. I felt ashamed. Outdated. On the way to irrelevance, and I could not allow that.

So I decided to change my attitude from complete skepticism, annoyance and rejection, to a partial skepticism, curiosity and experimentation. Like a product discovery phase for my AI adoption.

First thing I did was to search for some “AI for dummies” books (or similar). Bought this one by the way:

which gave me a great overview to start with. Then I started interacting with ChatGPT and Claude. Like a kid with a new toy: full of curiosity.

Next, I enrolled in an online course “Requirements Engineering with AI” and got great insights in actual applications of different AI tools on the different phases of the analysis process. With the impulse of the trainer and the group, I started following key “influencers” on the matter, watching what people are doing but not going crazy and obsessed with what is possible. I am not just consuming the hype, I am carefully observing before acting. I am still in a “discovery phase”.

I did have some early wins already with AI at work though. For example, last January I was able to produce a sharp executive summary of a decision to take with pros and cons that the boss of my boss required with a lot of information that only I had. It took a couple of iterations but I was done within 2 hours.

This might sound trivial if you compare with fancy cases of agents automating processes and stuff. But that case showed me how helpful AI can be, without me feeling that I’ve outsourced my brain to it.

If I had such difficulties approaching AI as an experienced techie, I wonder how non-techies would feel in my situation? What I can say for sure is that curiosity, mutual support and optimism help a lot.

Think about it: what can we do today that we could not do before? As persons, as teams, as organizations. Let us not be afraid of the future.

You don’t need to be ahead of the wave, just willing to get in the water.