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AI Product Direction Brief

Use this worksheet to make one opportunity, one first release, and the evidence required for a build decision explicit.

1. The decision

What decision must the team be able to make after this direction work?

2. The user and moment

Name a specific person, the situation they are in, and the decision or task where help could matter.

3. The outcome

What should become meaningfully better for the user, and what business outcome could follow?

4. Evidence and assumptions

5. The AI role

Describe what the system should help do, what inputs it may use, and where a person must remain in control.

6. First-release boundary

7. Evaluation plan

List representative tasks, acceptable behavior, unacceptable failures, and the evidence that would support continuing.

  • Representative inputs defined
  • Quality criteria defined
  • Failure behavior defined
  • Human review points defined
  • Privacy and data risks reviewed
  • Release signal defined

8. The next 90 days

Sequence the smallest actions needed to test, build, verify, release, or stop. Add a decision point—not only delivery dates.

Final clarity check

  • One primary user
  • One product decision
  • One coherent first release
  • One accountable owner
  • Evidence can change the plan
  • The team knows what not to build