AI’s Love Language is Precision
“A problem well stated is a problem half-solved”
Charles F. Kettering1 was an inventor in the early ages of electrified work. He invented the electric starter, worked at General Motors, and created Delco. As an engineer, Charles valued precision in work, and saw communication as a key component to work. Hence his quote, “A problem well stated is a problem half-solved.” More than 100 years after Kettering coined that phrase, it is more applicable than ever, especially in the AI space. AI can do wonders and AI can fail miserably, and the single biggest determining factor of the outcomes of AI’s work is the precision of the prompt that AI was given.
Prompt engineering is the latest manifestation of engineering’s all-important technical communication skill. In an earlier post, I shared my encounter with how my technical communication was tested in my Microsoft interview, as I tried to explain to my interviewer the process of “driving a car from point A to point B.”2 Technical communication is obviously important in engineering fields, but it is also powerful in any field. Engineering or otherwise, a dialogue between two people can easily become technical. Recognize the value of precision in your communication, and you will be a more effective communicator in all aspects of your life, from changing a smoke detector battery to hosting a great party.
AI is perhaps the best instructor of technical communication, through trial and error (and error and error). Embrace this opportunity and engage with AI to sharpen your communication. Spend quality time with AI and you’ll be rewarded for it. Build a relationship with your AI. Not a creepy relationship that has you convinced you’re falling in love with bits and bytes, but a relationship of mutual understanding through effective sharing. AI’s love language is precision, and as you build your muscle of effectively communicating your thoughts to AI, you will be rewarded with results from AI that are closer to your desired outcome, and that take less work for you and AI to co-create.
There are three other Kettering gems that I want to expand on as well, as they relate to this building of your technical communication muscle in an AI world.
“The biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train them to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until they learn what will work.”
“Inventing is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less material you need.”
“There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.”
