John Wheeler

I’ve lived through the PC revolution, Windows, the Internet and the cloud. I believe AI is the next seismic shift. I’m exploring what it means for business—and building along the way. Translating emerging technology into business advantage.

Test whether an AI workflow can be handed to another employee. Include where its instructions live, how to review its output, and how to stop it. Useful automation should not depend on one person's browser being open.

A customer who has not replied has not necessarily lost interest. Before AI recommends another follow-up, check whether the customer is waiting for something your business promised to send.

When does your team need an answer immediately, and when would a daily batch be enough? Which AI-assisted task could wait without making the customer's experience worse?

Let an AI assistant prepare a concise comparison of an invoice and the agreed terms. Keep the disputed amount separate from the undisputed amount so the person reviewing it can see exactly what needs attention.

Where does your business rely on a spreadsheet adjustment that only one person can explain? What would you need to understand before letting AI repeat it?

Before using AI to plan purchasing, separate demand from order size. A minimum order quantity may create surplus even when the demand forecast is reasonable. Show that surplus explicitly instead of hiding it in the recommendation.

Keep instructions found inside incoming documents separate from the rules for an AI assistant. A supplier attachment may contain useful facts, but it should not be able to change who receives your business records.

Which task makes your team switch between the most applications? If AI could gather the needed information in one place, what would still require a person's decision?

For an automated handoff, define what counts as received. A sent message, an accepted job, and completed work are separate events. Keep those states visible so a quiet failure does not look like progress.

How much checking does an AI-generated answer need before your team can use it? Which part of that review takes the most effort, and could a clearer output format make it easier?

Have an AI scheduling assistant show the time zone when a deadline crosses locations. Also distinguish a calendar date from a precise cutoff. 'Due Friday' leaves room for assumptions that people may not share.

Add a review trigger to important business decisions. A change in demand, cost, or capacity may justify another look. An AI assistant can help watch for those conditions if the original decision records them.

When someone spots an incorrect business record, how easy is it to correct the source? An AI assistant may keep repeating the same mistake if the fix lives only in a private message.

When testing a new AI instruction, keep the sample work unchanged. Changing the instructions and the test cases together makes it harder to tell what actually improved.

If AI saved your team an hour a day, where would you want that time to go? More customer conversations, fewer unfinished jobs, better preparation, or a shorter workday?

Give each incoming request a stable reference number. If an AI workflow receives the same request twice, it should recognize the repeat before creating a second job, order, or message.

Yes, let's connect. Not sure how Grok Bot will do with mothering and being a wife, but I'd love to hear your story.

Which term in your business means something different to a customer, a supplier, and your own staff? What would an AI assistant need to ask before acting on it?

Which small experiment would you run if preparing it took an hour instead of a week? What result would convince you to keep going, and what result would tell you to stop?

When AI helps prepare a customer onboarding plan, separate what can happen in parallel from what must happen in sequence. Waiting for every form before starting any work may add delay that nobody intended.