Think of this like Maslow's hierarchy — but for how your team works with AI. Most teams aren't at one level exclusively. Where do you spend most of your time?
The five layers
As AI handles more production load, creative energy moves up. The goal isn't to skip levels — it's to know which one you're on and what moving up looks like.
Check the level that best describes where your team spends most of its time today.
You don't have to solve the whole thing at once. Start with one person, one piece of knowledge. This works whether you're a designer, engineer, PM, or researcher — the format just looks different.
How to use this: Think of one person on your team who holds knowledge that isn't written down anywhere. Fill in one row. That's your first repo. That's how you build from there.
| What knowledge lives in someone's head? |
What format could it live in? |
Who owns it as a system owner? |
|---|---|---|
| Example"Valerie knows what images look right for our brand." | ExampleBrand brief · reference image set · generation pipeline | ExampleValerie — system owner, not bottleneck |
Your team · Row 1 |
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Your team · Row 2 |
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Your team · Row 3 |
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Your team · Row 4 |
Not sure where to start? These prompts work across roles — designer, engineer, PM, researcher.