The operation as it runs today
- Describe one recurring process end to end, in the order it happens, naming who does each step.
- How often does it run, and how many records, messages or files pass through it in a typical week?
- Which steps are somebody copying information between two systems by hand?
- Who notices first when it goes wrong, and how do they notice?
The cost of the current failure
- What is the most expensive mistake this process produces, and roughly how often does it happen?
- What does somebody have to do to recover from that mistake today?
- Is the real problem the time it takes, the errors it produces, or that it will not scale? Pick the one that matters most.
The systems involved
- List every tool that holds part of this data, and who administers each one.
- For each: is there an API, do you have credentials, and is there an export?
- Which system is the source of truth when two of them disagree?
- Anything you are contractually or technically unable to replace.
The decision boundary
- Which judgements here are defined rules that a person could write down today?
- Which need interpretation of a photo, a document, free text or speech?
- Which actions must a person approve before they commit, and who is that person?
- What should happen when the system is not confident — hold, escalate, or proceed and flag?
What a good result looks like
- Write two or three acceptance statements somebody could test: a duplicate identifier is flagged before it is saved; an unauthorized role cannot edit a closed record.
- What is the deadline, and what is driving it?
- After launch, who owns hosting, access, backups and user support?
Leave these out
- Credentials, API keys or passwords — never in a first message.
- Real customer records. Redact a sample instead; the shape is what matters, not the data.
- Anything covered by an NDA you have not cleared.