Think first, think last, or not at all

Using AI is changing how we think about proposal management.

Last week, HBR posted some survey research on "AI slop" and its effect on business productivity. Their findings are that AI productivity gains are also offset by drains on productivity that come from what they call "AI workslop": work that superficially looks done but requires even more rework later.

The findings align with what I see as the three approaches to proposal AI in the GovCon industry: "think first", "think last", or "think not at all."

Think Not At All: The Magic Wand Approach

Starting with "think not at all", or the "magic wand" approach: load the RFP, maybe a past proposal, push go and hope the AI delivers. The result? No thinking, no differentiation, and usually a response that alienates the buyers by wasting their time. These "no thinking" bidders seem not to realize that anyone can wave the same magic wand, and so even if the best possible case that they're not viewed as slop, they're going to have to race to the bottom on price.

Think Last: The Most Common Approach

"Think last" is probably the most common, and what is referred to in the HBR study. Teams still lean on proposal AI tools or AI's directly to generate content, but they wait until late in the process to apply real thought. As a Color Team reviewer, I've felt the pain of getting sections that were supposed to be "red team ready" but were instead "AI slop" that pushed the work (and the thinking) on me as the reviewer. My friends at Tailored Global have been called in by a client on an emergency basis because an AI tool promised a Red Team ready draft that turned out unusable just days before submission. Like the HBR paper, thinking last gives the illusion of efficiency and productivity, but ends up causing more work later with less time to course-correct.

Think First: The Strategic Approach

At Proposability, we're built for the "think first" approach. Thinking first is where a proposal manager has the largest leverage to deliver her value: organizing a focused response, guiding authors, and applying the capture strategy. It's the thinking up front that drives real differentiation and avoids the false starts, making the entire team's effort productive.

At Proposability, we don't think of proposal managers as last-minute fixers or passive prompters for AI. We see them as strategic leaders who guide teams to put their best thinking forward. Proposability helps you capture that thinking and translate it into clear guidance—for your team, or for the AI you choose.

Contact us for a demo to learn more.

HBR article: https://hbr.org/2025/09/ai-generated-workslop-is-destroying-productivity