"The AI Bottleneck Detective Prompt" - BETA TESTERS WANTED
Clarke-in-a-Box; not the too-hard-box.
Hello again!!!!!!!
I’ve built something special that I’m going to give away for free.
It’s not quite ready yet, but it’s close.
Before I release it properly, I need a few more people to beta test it on real situations.
The AI Bottleneck Detective.
It’s a Bottleneck Detective AI - a 7,000 word prompt you can talk to when you’re trying to find the bottleneck in your business, team, or project.
Or, since you know me: “Clarke in a Box”.
This move may be generous, sensible, or a very small act of professional self-sabotage(!) Possibly all three.
The idea came from a frustration I’ve had with The Theory of Constraints for decades.
Over 8 million people have read *The Goal*, and lots of people understand the idea of bottlenecks.
Far fewer can reliably find their own.
Some of them pay me, and people like me, for help.
But others learn about bottlenecks, try to find their bottleneck, and fail.
Then they give up.
They file “bottlenecks” away in their “too hard basket”.
And that sucks.
I am 99% convinced this is why ToC has never really taken off.
I’m sure you’ve experienced it: Step 1 - Find, or Identify, the bottleneck - looks so easy in the books, but is really rather tricky for most people in real life.
Most people can spot symptoms of bottlenecks: late work, idle people, too much demand, not enough demand, too many priorities, a team that feels permanently busy but strangely unproductive.
But very few people can find the root cause.
That’s what I wanted this prompt to help with.
Not to teach you bottleneck theory.
Not to give you a lecture about operations.
But to have a proper conversation with you and help you work out where the real bottleneck might be.
I’ve tested it on a bunch of my old client case studies, and it seems to work … very, very well.
It was 100x faster than me, which was annoying. And in one case, it found a bottleneck I had missed at the time, which was more than annoying.
That was the moment I thought: “Oh crap. This AI stuff might actually work.”
A few friends have started beta testing it already, and they’re finding it useful too, with similar Doh! moments. That’s encouraging, but I want to test it on more real situations before I share it more widely.
So I’m looking for a few more beta testers.
You’d need 10-30 minutes to use the prompt, then another 10 minutes to send me feedback.
It’ll help if you’re the boss of something - a business, team, department, or project.
And it doesn’t matter if your team has too much work, or not enough work.
Good bottleneck detectives handle both.
One practical note: you’ll need access to a decent AI tool. The cheap/free models will (ironically) choke.
If you have 30ish minutes spare, please, please, please hit reply and I’ll send you the prompt and a few simple instructions.
cheers, Clarke.
p.s.
My wife says I have too many gaps in my diary, and I’m starting to annoy her…
So, if you’d rather not DIY your bottleneck hunt, I’m wondering … should we do a little work together?
I have a new easy-start offer that has helped a bunch of clients find and fix their bottleneck quickly.
It’s low risk, with high returns:
Six 1-hour “bottleneck detective” sessions.
It only costs $4,500 usd, $6,000 aud, $7,500 nzd, €4,000, or £3,500 gbp.
It’s a surprisingly fun way to unblock your business 🕵️.
Hit reply or email me at clarke@clarkeching.com if you’d like to chat.