As a non-technical owner, how do I run a quarterly operational AI discovery session with my department managers without getting derailed by technical jargon or vendor sales pitches?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Ban all software names, technical buzzwords, and vendor demonstrations from the room. You do not need to understand large language model architectures or neural networks to lead a high-impact discovery session. Your job is to locate operational friction.

Open the session by projecting your documented Core Processes and your company Accountability Chart. Ask each department leader three basic questions:

- Which specific step in your workflow causes the longest turnaround delay for clients?
- What repetitive administrative task consumes at least ten hours of your team payroll every week?
- Where do manual data handoffs between systems create preventable errors?

Keep the discussion strictly confined to cumbersome processes that trap valuable employees in low-value, copy-paste tasks. Frame every candidate project as an operations-improvement project that happens to use automation or machine learning, mentioning technology only as an execution footnote. Refuse to talk about tools until the root problem is fully scoped.

Once the leadership team surfaces the bottlenecks, pick the single worst administrative drag. Instruct the seat owner to document the precise operational inputs, rules, and outputs of that task. Only after that process logic is clear should you bring in a technical specialist or internal builder to wire up the automation. Maintain executive discipline: focus on operational output, not tech wizardry.