…And Transfer From Chaos To Readability
My crew and I are constructing an animated present utilizing GenAI, and it is positively an journey. Getting used to eLearning software program instruments, creating on this new manner feels each acquainted and contemporary. First, there may be way more inventive freedom in what I can design as a Studying Expertise Designer utilizing GenAI instruments. Second, I am excited that we’re now capable of inform tales and educate in totally new methods.
Whereas creating this collection, I have been tasked with one thing I’ve performed for different organizations: documenting our manufacturing course of in a manner that is simple for others to comply with. After documenting, I will be linking our documentation to an AI chatbot that may shortly retrieve any essential data (a narrative for an additional article). Listed below are a number of the classes I’ve needed to revisit whereas documenting my AI processes.
Discovery Section
When creating a brand new course of, like we are actually, you are experimenting with totally different approaches to see what works greatest. This stage requires persistence. There have been a number of occasions I began working in a single course, solely to find a greater manner later, and needed to pivot and scrap the sooner work.
One instance was once I started creating scenes for the present utilizing characters I had beforehand generated as references. This labored for a number of scenes, however the extra photographs I generated, the extra distorted the characters turned till they have been unrecognizable. I used to be pissed off, to say the least, and realized that my technique wasn’t sustainable or duplicable. So, I went to “YouTube College” for assist. A form teacher in a video instructed detailing every character throughout the prompts and including these prompts to each scene to take care of consistency. I adopted his recommendation—and it labored! I instantly added all the character particulars to my “playbook.”
I am presently within the discovery section for different elements of the method as nicely, drawing from conventional animation manufacturing strategies (a lot respect), storytelling ideas, and our crew’s private experiences.
Documentation Section
As I discussed earlier, the documentation and course of discovery phases can occur concurrently. When documenting, crucial side is guaranteeing that your AI processes are clear and easy sufficient for anybody to comply with. When including AI into the equation, it turns into much more crucial to make sure that the knowledge is structured so the AI can scan and retrieve it precisely as written, with out hallucinating.
Whereas documenting our processes, as we have performed for different organizations, I pay shut consideration to readability. Simply as you simplify a fraction like 3/6 into 1/2, you must cut back your course of directions to their easiest type. It is also necessary to elucidate why a course of issues and who’s accountable earlier than explaining do it. Offering this context ensures the documentation communicates each goal and accountability.
Returning to our earlier instance, once I found a greater approach to generate constant scenes, I documented why we add prompts for every character, who’s answerable for scene creation, and do it. This ensures anybody can are available in and full the duty with confidence.
Residing Documentation
In occasions of speedy change, it may be tough to choose mounted AI processes. As know-how evolves, workflows inevitably should be up to date. That is why your documentation must be residing: continuously evolving and reviewed periodically. Earlier than implementing any modifications, there must be a evaluate course of and case research or examples validating that the brand new course of really improves upon the previous one. It is advisable to evaluate documentation for updates or changes each quarter.
As organizations, massive and small, adapt to those altering occasions, it may be tempting to deprioritize documentation. But it surely ought to stay a cornerstone of efficient operations. In my expertise, the groups that doc as they develop are those that scale with the least friction. They onboard quicker, automate extra successfully, and waste much less time reinventing what already works. Documentation would not gradual innovation, it sustains it. It is how organizations protect the knowledge that comes from experimentation.
As I proceed constructing this GenAI present, I am reminded that creativity and construction aren’t opposites, they’re companions. The inventive course of thrives on freedom, but it surely is dependent upon techniques to make that freedom sustainable. The identical precept applies to any group experimenting with AI or digital transformation. Innovation with out documentation is like constructing a home and not using a basis: it might look spectacular at first, but it surely will not maintain up underneath stress.
So, as you introduce AI instruments, automate workflows, or redesign how your crew collaborates, take the time to doc what’s working and why. Seize your discoveries earlier than they’re misplaced in busy inboxes and forgotten threads. Create readability the place there’s confusion and construct a residing information that grows alongside your group. As a result of the reality is, course of documentation is not nearly effectivity, it is about empowerment. It ensures that information is not trapped in a single individual’s thoughts however shared, accessible, and able to evolve. That is how innovation turns into tradition.
In case your group is able to bridge creativity and construction, to make what you are constructing scalable and repeatable, I might be joyful that can assist you design the techniques that make it doable. If you would like assist documenting AI processes in your division or enterprise, I might be joyful to help you.
