Write the process down first: a ten minute walkthrough decides if AI fits

Most AI projects I hear about start with a tool. I would start with a page of notes.

Before anyone picks a model or a vendor, I ask one person to walk me through a single task, out loud, while I write it down. Ten minutes is usually enough. The walkthrough often answers the question better than a demo does.

What the walkthrough looks like

Take a hypothetical example, not a client: an office manager who turns weekly supplier emails into a short summary for the team. I ask them to narrate it as they do it.

• Where does the input come from?
• What do you look at first, and what do you ignore?
• What do you do when something looks wrong?
• Who reads the result, and what do they do with it?

I write down the steps as they say them, not as I think they should go.

What I listen for

Some steps are plain pattern work. Pull the dates, group the items, write three sentences. An AI draft can help there, and a person can check it quickly.

Other steps are judgment. "I know that supplier always rounds up, so I double check." That knowledge lives in someone's head. If it is not written down, no tool will have it, and the draft will look fine while being wrong.

The walkthrough also shows what the task touches. Does it need a read-only lookup, or does it write somewhere? Does the input include customer names or other personal details? Non-regulated work still carries privacy and security duties, so I note what data is involved and who should see it. If the workflow would use MCP, I note which tools it would call and with what permissions. If it does not use MCP, there is nothing to audit there.

How I read the result

After ten minutes I usually land in one of three places.

The process is clear and repetitive. It is a good candidate for a draft that a person reviews before anything goes out.

The process is clear but depends on unwritten judgment. Write that part down first. Then decide.

The process is unclear. AI does not fit yet. Fixing the process is the useful work, and it costs very little.

The handoff matters as much as the draft

The page of notes also becomes the handoff. It says what the tool does, what the person checks, and what happens when the check fails. Someone who was not in the room can read it and run the workflow.

If you want to try this, pick one bounded task this week. Set a timer for ten minutes. Write down what you hear. You may find the answer before you spend anything.

I'm Jonathan Melton. I run FusionAL, focused on reviewing and integrating lower-risk internal AI workflows, one bounded workflow at a time.