Field Guide · level 6 · Advanced and by role

Which jobs should your team hand to AI first?

List your team's repeated jobs. Three gates pick the two to start with.

5 min · try it 10 min · as of Oct 2026

Bring this to your team · Team workshopsA workshop where your team sorts its own jobs and leaves with two to start. Get in touch

Many tries, no answers

Everyone tried AI on something different. Nobody can say what worked.

Every repeated job on a card

Put each job your team repeats on a card. Send each one through three gates.

Gate 1: safe

No private data it shouldn't see. Nothing it sends or pays on its own.

Gate 2: checkable

A person can tell quickly if it's right. A forecast can't be checked for months.

Gate 3: worth it

It comes round often and takes real time. Once a year can wait.

Name an owner. Try a month.

Give each an owner and write what done looks like. Then run it for a month.

My pick for handing over a task

Claude logo ClaudeAlso good: ChatGPT logo ChatGPT Work

Hand over a task in any chat: it plans the steps, works with your files and asks before important actions.

All my picks

Boring jobs first.

Small, checked, repeated jobs earn trust. Win these, then sort the board again.

Try it · 10 minutes

Sort six of your jobs

Job titles only. Nothing private goes in.

List six jobs your team repeats.2 min
Paste them in with the prompt.1 min
Answer its questions for each job.4 min
Pick two. Name an owner and write what done looks like.3 min

The prompt

Here are jobs my team repeats, titles only: [list them].
Ask me three questions about each, one at a time.
1. Safe: could it see private data, or send or pay alone?
2. Checkable: could a person tell quickly if it's right?
3. Worth it: how often, and how long does it take?
Then suggest two to start with.

Good looks likeTwo jobs, each with an owner and what done looks like.

In your assistant · as of Oct 2026 · Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini

Give each job one home

One shared project per job. Its instructions say what done looks like.

CheckYour work account
CheckApproved for this data
CheckOne named owner

Put in only files your company allows you to use with AI, on your work account.

Claude

Calls it a project

Home

Projectsthen+ New Project

One project per job, named after it.

Done

Set project instructionsthenSave instructions

Write what done looks like, and who checks it. Claude uses them in every chat in the project.

Can viewCan edit

Select Share project (Team and Enterprise). Give the job's owner Can edit.

Free plans: up to five projects. Sharing needs Team or Enterprise, and your admin can turn it off.

ChatGPT

Calls it a project

Home

New project

In the sidebar. OpenAI suggests reusing a project for recurring tasks.

Done

•••thenProject settings

Add the instructions there. They apply only in this project.

Chat accessEdit access

Select Share. On Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu; the owner sets who can edit.

Shared projects always use project-only memory, and Work isn't available in them.

Gemini

Calls it a notebook

Home

Gemini NotebookthenCreate new notebook

Add the job's files as sources.

Done

Paste what done looks like as a source.

Copied and pasted text is one of its source types.

ViewerEditor

Select Share and add each person's email. On a work account, your admin decides what you can share.

Notebooks are also rolling out in the Gemini app and sync with Gemini Notebook. Shared ones aren't listed there: open them in Gemini Notebook.

Quick check · three questions

Did it stick?

1An agent could answer every customer complaint and send each reply straight away. Which gate stops it first?
The answer: A Sending on its own fails the first gate. Let it draft and keep a person pressing send, and the same job can pass.
2Which of these jobs is quickest for a person to check?
The answer: B You were there, so you can tell in minutes. A forecast can't be checked for months, and a market you don't know means opening every source.
3A job has passed all three gates. What does it still need before the team starts?
The answer: C The gates say it's a good first job. An owner, a clear finish and a set month turn it into a trial you can judge.

0 of 3 answered

Sort it togetherSide note

In Microsoft's 2026 Work Trend Index, its most advanced AI users were about twice as likely to say their teams look for AI opportunities together: 63 against 32 percent. What people said, not proof.

Not in the first roundSide note

Leave out any job that decides something about a person, such as hiring, promotion or performance. Those carry their own rules: see the lesson What rules does your team need for AI?

A card that waitsSide note

Waiting isn't never. Fix what stopped it: take the private data out, add a check, or batch it. Then sort it again next month.

Sources, checked 18 Oct 2026Source

Product details as of Oct 2026, each checked on the vendor's own page on 18 Oct 2026. Recheck by 18 Nov 2026. The examples in the pictures are made up for this lesson.

Microsoft, 2026 Work Trend Index annual report, "Agents, human agency, and the opportunity for every organization" (Microsoft's report, 5 May 2026; survey run for it by Edelman Data x Intelligence: 20,000 AI users in 10 countries, February to April 2026; its most advanced users, 16 percent, more likely than the rest to say their teams look for AI opportunities together, 63 against 32 percent)
BCG, AI Is Reshaping Jobs Faster Than Companies Are Reshaping Work, press release on its AI at Work report (3 Jun 2026; 11,749 workers in 14 markets; 47 percent report spending more time managing and directing AI than doing the work itself)
McKinsey, The state of AI in 2026: On the road to ROI (25 Aug 2026; 1,719 participants, May to June 2026; the commentary beside it by Tara Balakrishnan, associate partner: avoid "simply accumulating tools or pilots")
Anthropic, How can I create and manage projects? (Projects, + New Project; Set project instructions and Save instructions, used in all the project's chats; Share project with Can view or Can edit on Team and Enterprise, unless the admin has turned it off; five projects on Free)
OpenAI, Projects in ChatGPT (New project in the sidebar; reuse a project for recurring tasks; instructions under Project settings apply only in that project; Share with chat or edit access on Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu; shared projects use project-only memory, where ChatGPT Work is not available)
Google, Organize your projects with notebooks in Gemini Apps (notebooks rolling out in the Gemini app; they sync with Gemini Notebook; shared notebooks aren't listed in the Gemini app)
Google, Create a notebook in Gemini Notebook (Create new notebook; Share as Viewer or Editor; up to 50 people on personal Gmail)
Google, Add or discover new sources for your notebook (copied and pasted text as a source)
European Union, the AI Act, Regulation 2024/1689, Annex III point 4, on EUR-Lex (AI for recruitment or selection, and for decisions on promotion, termination, and monitoring and evaluating performance, is high risk: the "own rules" for jobs that decide something about a person; orientation only, not legal advice)

Free kitThe AI Rollout PlanBring this to your teamTeam workshops · Get in touchBack to level 6, Advanced and by role

Safe, checkable, worth it. Then start.

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