Can you write? Great, you're a developer.
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As we go through life, we learn from our experiences and assemble a set of tools to solve problems. When presented with a new challenge, it's natural to consult our inner-toolbox to identify the best tool to help us form a solution. This process becomes intuitive over time and it forms the basis for how work gets done. When faced with a never-before-seen problem, the habits we've formed to organize tools becomes the basis for how we form new ones. Generative AI has unlocked a new set of powerful tools, that when understood and leveraged appropriately, allow anyone to function like a developer with no coding required.
The Developer Mindset
Knowing how to write code and build technical solutions often feels like having a superpower. To illustrate this, imagine you have a list of 100 names and email addresses and you need to send a personalized message to each person by the end of the day. Naturally, there's tools to help with this process, but the path of least resistance for most would be to manually send each email until their queue is empty. Developers would approach this differently and assess the effort to write a script to automate the process and use code to complete the task. That code, the ability to work with the machine, let's them not only move faster, but have a solution in the future for when the task arrises again.
Early in my career, I learned to write code to automate work I found boring or tedious. Over the years, my toolbox has increased and when faced with any challenge or problem, my mind instinctively goes towards my developer tools to identify what I should do next. I've used code to build tools for analysts, assemble market material for competitive research, visualize and administer a coffee roaster, convert structured workouts for a smart treadmill, map credit card charges against my personal calendar and so much more. I've managed to solve countless problems with code that otherwise would have cost me money or remained an issue. Having spent nearly a year working with generative AI, it's clear to me that this technology can achieve outcomes that used to require code, thus transforming anyone into a developer.
My GAI Toolbox
If you've longed to be a developer or wished you could solve a problem on your own, GAI can allow you to do this. While the space is still rapidly forming, there's several tools I've amassed into my toolbox that can allow anyone, regardless of experience, to begin building solutions that otherwise would have required code. Below are my list of tools you can leverage to begin building immediately.
Ideation and Refinement
Brandon Dixon
When speaking with most people about GAI, I find many become paralyzed by the open prompt presented to them. What should they ask? What can the models do? How do they form a good prompt? These are all valid questions, but the beauty of GAI is that you can use the models to help you learn how to interact with the models. I commonly use the "flip the script" pattern––have the model ask you questions to achieve an outcome––to assess my knowledge, help me solve a task or even write prompts for generative AI. This tool is paramount to getting you into a state of action.
Prompting
Brandon Dixon
Most interactions with GAI occur through natural language instruction, commonly referred to as prompting. I've found that every model has it's own "personality" and requires experience to identify the best way to refine your instructions. The better your prompts, the more you can achieve and the better outcomes you can expect to get. As noted above, I will use "flip the script" to write some of my prompts or help me refine ideas. There are also several YouTube videos online that capture the essense of prompt engineering and what makes a great prompt. This tool becomes the basis for how you "develop" using GAI.
Scaffolding
Brandon Dixon
Once you have your idea worked out and maybe a few starting prompts, you can then apply scaffolding. For any large problem, it's best to break it down into steps (chain of thought) and reflect those as individual prompts or guidance for the model. Scaffolding exploits the broad foundational model capabilities and conversational interfaces to constrain a given session to achieve a specific outcome. With this tool, you emulate the development process using the model and natural language. It often takes several iterations and "side-sessions" to solve challenges you may encounter along the way, but the effort is worth it.
Operationalizing
Brandon Dixon
Once you are satisfied with your implementation, you need a way to operationalize your work. This is an area where being a developer has strong advantages, but those without coding abilities still have solutions. The path with the least friction is to consider building a "GPT" or equivalent in other products like Retune or Copilot Studio. These tools will leverage the prompts you formed during scaffolding to focus a purpose-built chatbot that you or anyone else can leverage to solve a specific problem. The alternative path is to have the model help you write code to implement your solution. While this requires expertise, the entry bar is much lower than it used to be. With some simple scripting skills, you can have an application up in no time.
Build Something, Change your Life
GAI has given anyone who knows how to write a set of skills that were previously only available to developers or those with extensive technical knowledge. We are in the early stages of a new way of working and there's no better time to begin filling your toolbox with a new set of tools. There's no greater feeling to have built something on your own to solve a problem in your life. The tools I've shared are what I use on a daily basis and are not exhaustive; as I work in this space, I am continually amazed at the creativity of others and the breakthroughs I am seeing from various organizations. I fully expect my toolbox to grow and evolve over time and you should too! No more excuses, go build.
