I’ve been asked about the use of AI to write a PRFAQ in nearly every interview or conversation I had since I released the book. I wrote a brief sidebar in the book about the Risk of AI Atrophy. The gist of that section was to that asking AI to do the writing (of the PRFAQ) meant that you are asking AI to do the thinking for you.

Since I wrote the book, I’ve gained more clarity in ways that AI is effective in helping in the PRFAQ and Working Backwards process, and ways that it's harmful.

Let me start with concerns first and working backwards (zing) from the benefits you get from writing a PRFAQ: Think critically, articulate ideas, and inspire action. These aspects are so important that I included them in the book's cover!

First, writing a PRFAQ is an act of thinking critically and deeply about an idea. While writing, you are learning what you don’t know, what makes little sense, and how to integrate multiple ideas into a coherent story (strategy). People believe they have to have a well-formulated idea before they write it down. That’s a mistake! Writing helps you develop the idea. One crucial value of writing your idea is the concerns you uncover along the way. These are the dead-ends that provide you with insightful knowledge of what doesn't work. You are evaluating multiple paths and choosing one that aligns with what you are doing. Better than that, it’s not unusual for you to take a turn on your writing and realize there is a better opportunity. If you ask AI to write your PRFAQ, you’ll miss that exploratory element. AI will deliver a compelling strategy and vision (even if wrong) that makes it harder for you to challenge it.

Second, writing helps you articulate the ideas that you developed. This is best explained through an example. Scenario A: Imagine someone hands over a six-page document that explains how a new product feature is going to work. Your job is to understand that document clearly and deeply, and explain it to the CEO the next day. Scenario B: YOU write a six-page document that explains how the new feature works, and you are going to explain it to the CEO the next day. Which one do you think you’ll do a better job at delivering it? Not only that, your CEO will probably ask you why certain things will work the way they do, what options you considered, and why the team made certain choices. If you did the writing yourself, you’ll be prepared to clearly and fluently answer those questions and articulate them with conviction.

Last, it’s hard to imagine your team feeling inspired by a strategy and vision that was created by AI. We are social beings, and an AI mandate can’t replace the feeling that you get from knowing you were part of developing the vision. One feels authoritarian, the other feels empowering.

When can I use AI with a PRFAQ?

I strongly advise you to not have an LLM write a PRFAQ for you. That’s the antithesis of the value it creates. However, there are two parts of the PRFAQ process that AI can be tremendously helpful: the “collection” phase and the “critique” phase.

I call the collection phase when you are researching and discovering aspects of the opportunity, problem, customer, market, challenges, solutions, and more. This is the divergent thinking step. You are opening the doors and exploring the space to build a map of what's there and what you can build. AI is fantastic as a substitute for search engines. It’s also good at seeding your brain with ideas (”give me ten options for ___”). In this use case, you are treating the AI as a buddy to help quickly bounce off ideas.

The second excellent use of AI is as a critique tool. Few people use AI this way. You literally ask AI to “critique this PRFAQ” and paste your text. AI will surprise you how insightful it can be in providing feedback in the writing, in the logic (coherence) of the document, and also in the clarity. AI has delighted me at the feedback I get from it. One area it helped me in is when I jump too quickly from point A to point C without explaining point B in the middle. Another is when it tells me something I wrote is not common knowledge.

Here’s a prompt that you can use for your PRFAQ (or other business documents):

As a ____ [product leaders, investors, founder, executive], review my PRFAQ and give me feedback on clarity, coherence, and conciseness.

For even more, use the five principles of the PRFAQ Framework:

As a ____ [product leaders, investors, founder, executive], review my PRFAQ to ensure that’s: 1) Customer-centric, 2) aspirational, 3) clear, concise, and coherent, 4) truth-seeking, and 5) a strategic decision-making document.

Key takeaways: Use AI for the discovery phase, collecting information, and brainstorming ideas. Use it to review and provide a critique of your document. Don’t sue AI for writing the draft of the document—that’s where you’ll be doing the thinking and learning how to articulate the project.

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