Study Guide: Alex for Project Managers
Your personal reference for applying Alex to project leadership and delivery. Ready-to-run prompts, core use cases, and a practice progression for PMs.
What This Guide Is Not
This is not a habit formation guide (see SELF-STUDY.md for that). This is a domain use-case library — the specific things Alex can do in your PM work, and how to do them well.
Core Principle for Project Managers
Project management work is fundamentally about managing uncertainty and communication. Alex is most valuable when you use it as a thinking partner for planning, risk identification, and stakeholder communication — not as a tracker or task manager.
The highest-leverage pattern: bring Alex context about your project (team, timeline, stakeholders, constraints) once at the start of a working session. Then run all your PM tasks inside that context. The output quality jumps significantly when Alex knows the landscape.
The Five Use Cases
1. Project Planning and Scope Definition
When to use: At project kick-off, when rebuilding a plan after a reset, or when scope is unclear.
Prompt pattern:
@alex I'm a project manager leading [project name/type].
Team: [size, disciplines involved].
Duration: [target — or "unknown"].
Goal: [what success looks like].
Known constraints: [budget / technology / compliance / dependencies].
Help me build a project structure covering:
- Phase breakdown with goals for each phase
- Key milestones
- Critical dependencies
- Assumptions I'm making that I should validate
Follow-up prompts:
What scope items am I likely underestimating the complexity of?
If I have to cut 30% of scope, what would you suggest I deprioritize and why?
2. Risk Register Development
When to use: Early in a project or whenever you’re sensing things could go wrong and want to get ahead of it.
Prompt pattern:
@alex I'm developing a risk register for [project type].
Project context: [brief description].
Help me identify the top 10 risks across these categories:
- Schedule risks
- Resource risks
- Technical or complexity risks
- Stakeholder and alignment risks
- External / dependency risks
For each: risk description, likelihood (H/M/L), impact (H/M/L), and mitigation action.
Follow-up prompts:
Which of these risks would I least notice until it was too late?
For [high-impact risk], what's the earliest warning sign I should be watching for?
3. Stakeholder Communication
When to use: Status reports, escalation memos, alignment meetings, difficult conversations with sponsors.
Prompt pattern:
@alex I'm writing a [status update / escalation / steering committee brief] for [audience].
Current project state: [green/amber/red — brief description].
Key message: [what they need to know].
Decision or action required from them: [if any].
Write this in [the format appropriate to the audience — one-pager / bullet points / formal memo].
Tone: [direct / diplomatic / urgent].
Follow-up prompts:
What questions will they ask that I need to be ready for?
I need to deliver bad news in this update. Rewrite it to be honest without causing unnecessary alarm.
4. Meeting Facilitation
When to use: Preparing for project workshops, retrospectives, kick-offs, or difficult alignment sessions.
Prompt pattern:
@alex I'm facilitating a [workshop / retrospective / kick-off / alignment meeting] for [group].
Goal of the session: [what decision, alignment, or output I need].
Duration: [time available].
Likely tensions or challenges in the room: [describe them if you know].
Design an agenda with: opening, activities to achieve the goal, and how to close with clear next steps.
Follow-up prompts:
What could derail this session and how do I prevent it?
Design one exercise that forces the group to prioritize if they can't agree.
5. Change Management and Project Recovery
When to use: When a project is off track, a major change is needed, or you’re trying to reset the team after a difficult period.
Prompt pattern:
@alex My project [name/type] is experiencing [describe the core problem: schedule slip / resourcing / scope creep / team friction].
Root cause (if known): [describe].
Stakeholders affected: [list].
Help me build a recovery plan covering:
- Immediate actions in the next week
- Revised scope or timeline options to present
- Communication plan for stakeholders
- How to re-motivate the team
Follow-up prompts:
What's the root cause hypothesis I should test first before taking action?
Draft the message to the project sponsor explaining the situation and our recovery path.
Your First Week Back: Practice Plan
| Day | Task | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Run the Risk Register pattern on a current or upcoming project | 25 min |
| Day 2 | Use the Stakeholder Communication pattern for a status update you owe | 20 min |
| Day 3 | Prepare a difficult meeting or conversation using the Meeting Facilitation pattern | 20 min |
| Day 4 | Run Project Planning on a project that currently lacks a clear structure | 25 min |
| Day 5 | Save three useful prompt patterns with /saveinsight | 10 min |
Month 2–3: Advanced Applications
Project Knowledge Base Save decisions, lessons learned, and context in Alex as you go. This becomes searchable and shareable.
@alex /saveinsight title="[Project] decision: [topic]" insight="[What was decided, why, and what we'd do differently]" tags="project,[name],decision"
Lessons Learned At project close or milestone:
@alex I'm running a lessons learned for [project].
Key challenges: [list].
Key wins: [list].
Help me structure a lessons learned report that's honest, actionable, and forward-looking — not a blame document.
Continue your practice: SELF-STUDY.md — the 30/60/90-day habit guide.