Meet AskFred™
AskFred is a virtual coach designed to help you improve your understanding and application of Principle Based Management (PBM).
AskFred is only available to Koch employees with KochID.
How Do You Use AskFred?
AskFred is equipped with knowledge of PBM. It answers questions, provides guidance and examples for how to apply PBM in your work, recommends (links to) additional PBM resources and encourages you to practice conversations using role play.
Talk to AskFred as if you are talking to a PBM coach. This is different from using a web browser to search for things. It is interactive and conversational.
Tips for Using AskFred™
This short video provides tips for getting started using AskFred, a virtual PBM coach.
Some Prompt Ideas To Get You Started
Below are some examples of how you can start a conversation with AskFred.
- Apply PBM to Your Work
- Explore a Concept
- Role Play a Conversation
- I need to have a conversation with my supervisor/employee about RREs. Here is some context: ...
- I’m having difficulty on a project. Specifically, I’m seeing [details here]. Can you help me troubleshoot using the five dimensions?
- I need to make a decision and want help ensuring I’m applying PBM. Here is some background: ...
- I’m new to Koch and keep hearing about comparative advantage — what is it?
- I just moved into a new role supervising five employees. Help me understand my supervisor role.
- I want to lead a team discussion on measures. Help me understand more about this topic to prepare for the discussion.
- Does “bottom-up” mean employees can do whatever they want?
When it makes sense, Fred will prompt you to practice a conversation using role play. However, you can ask to role play any time. Key prompts include:
- I’d like to role play a conversation
- I want to play the role of [employee, supervisor, project sponsor, etc.]
- The difficulty should be [easy, somewhat difficult, very difficult]
- End role play
Decision Making Prompts
AskFred helps you apply the Decision Making Framework (DMF) and sound economic thinking for better decisions. Simply copy a prompt and paste it into AskFred.
Review the opportunity and drafted objective below. What assumptions are being made, and what potential blind spots do you notice? Suggest at least one way this objective could be improved and explain your reasoning.
Opportunity: [insert your opportunity]
Objective: [insert your objective]
For the opportunity and objective listed below, suggest information that could help me make an effective decision. Include suggestions for how I could seek the best knowledge. Put the output in a table format.
Opportunity: [insert your opportunity]
Objective: [insert your objective]
Using the Decision Making Framework, help me brainstorm a range of alternatives for the following opportunity and objective. Include five low-cost alternatives, five conventional alternatives, and five unconventional/unexpected alternatives that really push the boundaries.
Opportunity: [insert your opportunity]
Objective: [insert your objective]
Use the Decision Making Framework to help me analyze the following alternatives in relation to the stated objective. What questions should I ask? What are some examples of tradeoffs and risks I could consider?
Objective: [insert your objective]
Alternatives: [insert your alternatives]
For the objective and alternatives listed below, assess each of the potential alternatives in a table format. Include pros, cons, resources needed, and an explanation of the opportunity cost.
Objective: [insert your objective]
Alternatives: [insert your alternatives]
For the objective and alternative below, list a range of possible outcomes in a table. For each outcome, give me practical ideas for proactively estimating the probability and value of each outcome. Then, suggest ways to increase the risk-adjusted value.
Objective: [insert your objective]
Alternative: [insert your alternative]
Instruction: Prepare information about the current state and objective.
Current State: (Briefly describe the existing process/offerings/output, note the key resources used, and note gaps or missed opportunities relative to the objective)
Objective: (State the desired outcome and the benefits of achieving the desired outcome)
Instruction: Use the following prompts one at a time and include the current state and objective with each prompt. Adjust the current state and the objective with additional details/learnings as you go.
“Suggest 5 ways to optimize the base case with low-cost incremental improvements, and explain why each is a low-cost incremental improvement that gets us closer to the objective.”
“Suggest 5 alternatives that could add marginal value after optimizing the base case, and explain why for each.”
“Suggest 5 specific measures I could use to track the impact of each change, and for each measure, explain how I might estimate the marginal value created by a specific improvement or alternative.”
Brainstorm measures that would help me understand if the following objective is being achieved. Put the output in a table format.
Objective: [insert your objective]
Create a table evaluating how each section of the Decision Making Framework is applied in the attached document. For each section, include positive aspects, areas for improvement, and questions to further enhance the analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
AskFred is a virtual (AI) coach designed to help you improve your understanding and application of Principle Based Management (PBM).
AskFred’s name was inspired by three influential figures in Koch/PBM history - Fred Koch, Friedrich Hayek and Frederick Douglass.
As an AI tool with knowledge of PBM principles, AskFred is especially equipped to:
- Provide guidance and examples for how to apply PBM in your work (as a supervisor or an employee)
- Allow you to practice conversations using role play
- Answer questions about PBM concepts
- Offer links to additional Principle Based Management resources
*If you are facing a serious issue, contact the appropriate person for help (HR, Legal, Compliance, etc.).
AskFred is not:
- A generalized AI Chatbot with deep knowledge about all subjects.
- A replacement for person-to-person conversations.
- Intended to replace your judgement or critical thinking.
- Infallible. While AskFred’s responses are typically accurate, they should be reviewed and vetted.
*It is the responsibility of all Koch employees to adhere to the Code of Conduct, which includes reporting concerns or issues. If you are facing a serious issue, contact your supervisor, or appropriate person for help (HR, Legal, Compliance, and/or KochGuideline).
AskFred’s knowledge encompasses a significant portion of the content found on principlebasedmanagement.com. We will continue to enhance this knowledge base to align with new content being published and to refine the quality of responses.
AskFred does not have knowledge of Koch-specific policies and procedures.
The experience is very similar. If you choose Applying PBM as a Supervisor, AskFred will assume you are a supervisor and talk to you accordingly. It will regularly ask if you want to role play conversations or discuss how to apply a concept with your team.
If you choose Applying PBM as an Employee, it will regularly ask if you want to explore how to apply a concept in your work situation and may occasionally ask if you would like to role play a conversation. You can prompt AskFred to role play a conversation if needed.
Yes, AskFred is capable of speaking many languages. However, it might switch back to English as it’s the default language for the system. If this happens, try prompting AskFred to go back to the desired language and usually it will switch back. Keep in mind there are certain PBM terms that may not translate well.
AskFred is available to Koch employees through KochID.
You can find information on how to submit a service request, incident or feedback here: AskFred Incident and Request form - Compass (service-now.com)
AskFred is hosted in Koch’s private environment with the privacy and security necessary for our enterprise. It is generally acceptable to use with confidential data. All conversation history is encrypted to safeguard your privacy.
You can delete an item in your chat history by clicking the “x” next to it. Otherwise, conversations that have not been updated within 90 days will be permanently deleted.
AskFred is grounded in a curated set of PBM content to provide high-quality responses and effective coaching in PBM principles. It also has specific instructions that make it more conversational and encourage practicing conversations through role-play. Additionally, AskFred provides quick access to current, official PBM content. While these others may answer PBM questions, they are generally less conversational and more likely to provide links to content from sources other than the PBM website.
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