Intermediate Path

Working With AI Daily

You've tried AI a few times. Now make it a real part of your workflow — advanced prompting, document automation, image generation, data analysis, and the tools that multiply your output.

6 lessons ~60 min total Assumes basic AI familiarity

Advanced Prompting: Context, Personas, and Chains

12 min ›

The CRISP Framework

The difference between amateur and professional AI use comes down to five elements:

C — Context: Who are you? What's the situation? "I'm a QAQC manager on a 50MW datacenter project in Phase 2 commissioning"
R — Role: Who should the AI be? "Act as a senior mechanical engineer reviewing commissioning data"
I — Instructions: What exactly do you want? "Compare these two cooling system designs and recommend one"
S — Specifics: Format, length, tone, audience. "Create a comparison table, 1 page max, for a non-technical owner's rep"
P — Parameters: Constraints. "Use only data I provide — don't make assumptions. Reference ASHRAE 90.4 where applicable"

Persona Prompting

Telling AI to "act as" a specific role dramatically changes output quality. "Act as a construction attorney reviewing this contract clause" produces legalese-aware analysis. "Act as a project controls engineer" produces schedule-focused responses.

Chain Prompting — Multi-Step Tasks

Break complex work into sequential steps within one conversation:

"First, read this spec section and list every testable requirement"
"Now organize those requirements by system (mechanical, electrical, plumbing)"
"Create a field verification checklist from that organized list, with pass/fail columns"
"Finally, add the applicable code references next to each item"

Each step builds on the previous one. The AI holds context across the entire chain.

Try This

Take a task you do regularly. Write a CRISP prompt for it. Then send it to Claude or ChatGPT. Compare the output to what you'd normally spend 30+ minutes producing.

AI for Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations

10 min ›

Document Processing

Upload or paste any document into Claude or ChatGPT and transform it:

Spec → Checklist: "Convert this specification section into a field verification checklist with pass/fail criteria"
Contract → Summary: "Summarize the key obligations, deadlines, and liability clauses in this subcontract"
Meeting notes → Action items: "Extract all action items, who's responsible, and due dates"
Long report → Executive brief: "Condense this 30-page report into a 2-page executive summary"

Spreadsheet Power

AI can generate formulas, analyze data patterns, clean messy data, and create structured outputs.

Presentations in Seconds

Gamma (gamma.app) is the standout tool here. Describe your presentation and get a polished deck in about 60 seconds.

The workflow that saves hours: Use Claude or ChatGPT to generate the content and structure. Copy it into Gamma for the visual design. Review and refine. What used to take an afternoon takes 20 minutes.

Image Generation and Editing with AI

8 min ›

What AI Image Tools Can Do

Describe an image in words, get a high-quality visual in seconds. Transformative for presentations, proposals, marketing, and concept visualization.

The Tools

DALL-E (in ChatGPT): Built into ChatGPT Plus. Good for quick images, illustrations, and concepts.
Midjourney: The highest-quality option. Produces stunning, professional visuals.
Adobe Firefly: Integrates with Adobe Creative Suite.

Prompting for images: Be specific about style, perspective, lighting, and content. Detailed prompts work much better than vague ones.

AI for Data Analysis and Decision-Making

10 min ›

Turn Raw Data Into Insights

Upload a spreadsheet of inspection results, test data, or project metrics. Ask AI to find what matters.

Decision Support (Not Decision Making)

AI is excellent at laying out options with pros, cons, and trade-offs — but the decision is always yours.

Try This

Take any spreadsheet you work with regularly. Paste a sample into Claude and ask: "Analyze this data. What patterns do you see? What should I be paying attention to?"

Automating Repetitive Work

10 min ›

The Automation Mindset

Every time you think "I do this exact same thing every day/week," that's an automation candidate.

Level 1: Templates + AI

Create a prompt template you reuse. Save it in a note or document.

Level 2: Claude Projects / Custom GPTs

Upload your company templates, SOPs, and reference documents into a Claude Project or Custom GPT.

Level 3: Zapier / Make

Connect your apps with AI in the middle.

Start with Level 1. A saved prompt template costs nothing, takes 5 minutes to set up, and starts saving time immediately.

Choosing the Right AI Tool for the Job

10 min ›

The Decision Matrix

Deep analysis, long documents, careful writing → Claude
General tasks, quick answers, image generation → ChatGPT
Google Workspace integration → Gemini
Research with citations → Perplexity
Presentations → Gamma
Workflow automation → Zapier + AI steps

Free vs. Paid — Is It Worth It?

Free tiers are genuinely useful. Paid tiers ($20/month) give you faster responses, longer conversations, more features, and higher usage limits. If you're using AI more than a few times a week, the paid tier pays for itself in the first hour of time saved.

The productivity stack that pays for itself: Claude Pro ($20/mo) + Gamma ($10/mo) + Zapier ($20/mo) = $50/month. If this saves you 5 hours/week — and it will — that's $50 buying back 20+ hours per month.

Ready to Go Pro?

You're using AI effectively in your daily work. Now learn to build it into your business — agents, custom workflows, and automation at scale.

Continue to Professional Path →