Replace Line Items, Not Job Descriptions
The first step of putting AI to work in your role — found by an interview, not guesswork
The Idea
When people think about using AI at work, they picture it doing the whole job. The excited ones try to hand it everything, the worried ones are scared it will take everything — and it's the same mistake from both directions.
Because your job isn't one thing. It's a bundle — judgement, relationships, context you've built up over years — and, mixed in with all that, a handful of tasks you repeat every single week. AI is terrible at being you. It's brilliant at those repeated tasks.
Think of it like a new hire. You'd never sit them down on day one and say "be me." You'd hand them one task, then another, increasing in difficulty as they earn it. The people winning with AI right now are doing exactly that — they're not replacing job descriptions, they're replacing line items.
The Interview Prompt
You don't have to work out which line item to start with — that's the AI's first job. Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, or whichever AI you use, exactly as written, and answer its questions honestly.
What Happens When You Paste It
It interviews you
One question at a time about your actual week — what repeats, what drains you, what has a clear right answer. You don't have to analyse your own job; answering honestly is the whole task.
It finds the line items
Out of your answers it lists the repeatable tasks hiding in your role — and just as importantly, flags the judgement, relationship, and context work you shouldn't hand over.
It picks the first one with you
The easiest task with the clearest right answer and the lowest risk. Then it builds the first version with you on the spot — a reusable prompt, a template, or a checklist.
One Honest Bit
The first handover won't be perfect or seamless. You'll be checking its work for a couple of weeks, the same way you would with any new hire — and that's not the AI failing, that's just what delegating is. The checking phase is also where you learn what good instructions look like, which makes the second line item dramatically easier than the first.
Where This Goes Next
Once the first line item is handed over, two guides pick up from here. The AI Autonomy Ladder helps you decide how much supervision each task needs — in the loop, over the loop, or out of the loop. And Teach AI to Do a Task Your Way shows you how to save the way you like a task done, so you never have to re-explain it.