# Make AI challenge your first idea

Original 5HO practice material. Fictional example. Reviewed 5 October 2026.

## Useful result

You'll finish with a list of assumptions and evidence needed before deciding.

AI will often help you develop your first idea. It is also useful for asking whether that idea deserves the effort. Invite a specific challenge, rather than requesting a dramatic argument for its own sake.

## Set up

Allow 20 minutes. Use a chat app and one decision with clear constraints. This is a thinking exercise, not a substitute for the person who owns the decision.

## Practice input

Proposal: replace the weekly 30-minute handover call with a shared document. Team: six people, two time zones. Current problem: actions get lost. Unknown: whether everyone reads written updates.

## Do the task

1. State the proposal and the problem separately.
2. Ask for the strongest practical objection and a cheaper alternative.
3. Choose a small test that could change your mind, then record the evidence needed.

## Prompt

Challenge this proposal. Give two plausible failure modes, one simpler alternative and a one-week test. Label assumptions. Do not claim to know what the team prefers.

## Refine

Now explain what evidence would support keeping the call. Judge both options against finding and completing actions, not meeting time alone.

## Expected checks

A useful answer might propose a structured action list before cancelling the call. It should identify unread updates as an uncertainty, not declare the team resistant to change.

## Save

Save your decision question, test and review date. Revisit after collecting real team feedback.

## Sources

- Writing clear prompts: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10032626-prompt-engineering-best-practices-for-chatgpt