Heuristic: The SEA Framework
Once you’ve identified a point of Friction in your business, the next question is: “So what?” How do you define the value of fixing it? The SEA Framework is a simple but powerful heuristic—a mental shortcut—to answer that question.
It helps you clarify the primary goal of your AI pilot by forcing you to choose a primary dimension of value you want to create. Are you trying to make a process easier, better, or faster?
Streamline: Reduce Effort & Complexity
The Core Question: Does this make the work easier?
Streamlining is about reducing the cognitive load and manual effort required to complete a task. It’s about removing unnecessary steps, eliminating tedious work, and making a process more efficient and less prone to human error.
Ask Yourself:
- Can we eliminate repetitive data entry or copy-pasting?
- Can we reduce the number of handoffs between people or systems?
- Can we automate the creation of standard reports or documents?
- Can we lower the mental energy required for an operator to do their job?
Example: Reducing 8 hours of manual data extraction for a compliance report down to 1 hour of validation.
Enrich: Improve Quality & Insight
The Core Question: Does this make the outcome better?
Enriching is about improving the quality, depth, and consistency of your work. It’s not just about doing the same thing faster; it’s about leveraging AI as a thought partner to produce a higher-caliber result that would be difficult or impossible for a human to achieve alone.
Ask Yourself:
- Can we improve the quality and depth of our strategic decisions?
- Can we ensure 100% of requirements are captured consistently every time?
- Can we provide more personalized or data-driven recommendations to clients?
- Can we codify expert knowledge into a repeatable, high-quality process?
Example: Using AI to analyze customer feedback to uncover subtle trends that inform product strategy, rather than just categorizing comments.
Accelerate: Increase Speed & Agility
The Core Question: Does this make the cycle faster?
Accelerating is about increasing the velocity of your business. It’s focused on shortening the time it takes to go from a signal to a decision, reducing feedback loops, and increasing your organization’s ability to respond to market changes.
Ask Yourself:
- Can we shorten the sales cycle or the time to quote?
- Can we reduce the delay between a customer request and our response?
- Can we get critical business insights in hours instead of weeks?
- Can we increase the pace at which our team learns and iterates?
Example: Compressing a multi-week quarterly reporting cycle into an on-demand, real-time dashboard.
How to Apply It in the Workshop
You will use the SEA Heuristic as a core part of your Scaffold - Workflow Analysis. For each step of the workflow you analyze, you will assess how an AI-augmentation could create value across these three pillars.
Example from the Scaffold:
| Pillar | Value Captured in This Step |
|---|---|
| Streamline | Eliminates the manual triage and document classification step. |
| Enrich | Provides immediate certainty that the request is complete. |
| Accelerate | Reduces the “missing document” delay cycle from hours to minutes. |
For a real-world, detailed application of this framework, review the Assessment of the Safety Shower Compliance Workflow document.
Why This Heuristic Matters
The SEA framework forces clarity. By choosing a primary value driver, you can design a more focused, effective pilot. It prevents the common trap of “AI for AI’s sake” and ensures your project is anchored in creating tangible, measurable business value.
RFQ Workflow — SEA Examples
- Streamline: Early EP staging in CF03 reduces rework; auto‑RFIs in CF02 (IP/EMC) reduce manual drafting.
- Enrich: Cross‑walk precision (Section_Title + Page/Line_Range) increases auditability; Spec Reference Register surfaces Missing_Source early.
- Accelerate: Variant dependency and power alignment checks shorten CF03 decisions; annex manifest refresh accelerates CF04 handoff.
References: Discovery Documentation/Safety Shower RFQ Workflow.md; Design & Build Workshop/MVP Documentation/MVP Sequencing.md