45 Minutes That Saved 20 Years: The Story of An Unlikely AI Hero
“Months to minutes.”
That's how AI is transforming industries. Fashion designer Diarra Bousso says AI compressed her months-long design and production workflows into minutes. Scientists, as highlighted in a recent New York Times article, are using AI to condense years of groundbreaking research into days—and in some cases, minutes.
But what about decades into minutes?
Meet Adam. He's never written a line of code. He doesn’t have a LinkedIn account. But in just 45 minutes, he built an AI-powered tool that's on track to save the National Park Service thousands of days of work every year.
How? By solving one of the most mundane yet time-consuming challenges every public facility faces: how to properly request new carpet tiles.
Now, don't let the carpet tiles fool you. Behind every basic maintenance request in our national parks lies a labyrinth of federal specifications, OSHA requirements, ANSI standards, and building codes. Facility managers like Adam often spend 2-3 days assembling paperwork for even routine repairs. And across 433 park sites spanning 85 million acres, those hours add up fast.
A Modest Training, a Monumental Impact
When the National Park Service invited me to lead a modest upskilling initiative on generative AI, I jumped at the chance. I've spent countless nights under the stars with my family in our national parks, so the opportunity to help these stewards work more efficiently felt like an honor.
The program was brief—just two hour-long sessions with about 50 participants—but focused. In our second session, I taught the group how to create simple, personalized GPT tools: lightweight, custom AI assistants that could automate repetitive tasks.
I asked everyone to pick something tedious they knew how to do but hated doing. “Finish the sentence, ‘It stinks that…’” Adam spoke up: “It stinks that I have to fill out so much paperwork for basic funding requests.”
In just 45 minutes, Adam built his tool. It asked him a series of questions about the scope of work, OSHA requirements, ANSI standards, and other details—and then generated a polished, complete funding request document.
Instead of two or three days, Adam’s next funding request was done in two hours.
But the story doesn’t stop there.
The Ripple Effect
A few weeks later, during an alumni showcase I hosted, another Facility Manager spoke up: “Wait, Adam, you made that tool? Someone sent me the link last week. I had blocked out Monday through Wednesday to process a door and window replacement request. Using your tool, I was done before lunch on Monday.”
Adam hadn't even realized people were sharing his tool.
I did a quick, real-time back-of-the-envelope calculation. “If this tool saves just one or two days per request across the parks in the system, that's over 7,000 days of labor saved annually.” Someone on the call corrected me: “Actually, it's closer to 14,000 days—you're being too conservative.”
Think about that. A Facility Manager with no technical background built a tool in 45 minutes that’s saving the National Park Service the equivalent of 20 years of labor every year.
But here’s what’s even more impressive: When Adam was asked to present his tool to 600 of his peers, he didn't just show them the tool—he rebuilt it from scratch, live, in front of the audience.
“It's so easy,” he said. “It only took me 8 minutes this time. And this version is actually better than the first one.”
Can you imagine equipping folks like Adam in your organization — close to the problems, motivated to make an impact — with the tools they need to thrive. “Equip” isn’t even the right word. More like “unleash.”
Adam later told me, half-jokingly: “Everyone seems to absolutely love it or thinks I’m a criminal, and to them I say, ‘take your horse and buggy and go practice your cave painting!’”
Humor aside, his live demonstration captured something powerful: AI isn’t about coding. It’s about confidence, curiosity, and the willingness to try.
From Elite Labs to Everyday Transformation
This isn’t just an isolated story—it’s part of a much bigger shift.
While elite scientists are using AI to dream up new proteins and fashion designers are compressing creative workflows, Adam showed us something every bit as powerful: how AI can help one person's expertise benefit an entire organization. The very same tools are also sitting in the hands of people like Adam—Facility Managers, park rangers, administrative staff. People who might not have LinkedIn accounts, might not think of themselves as “tech people,” but are quietly transforming their workplaces with AI-powered tools they built in under an hour.
That's the real transformation. Not just doing things faster, but making expertise instantly sharable. Not just saving hours, but saving decades. Not just improving one person's workflow, but upgrading an entire system's capabilities.
The lesson isn't just about speed—it's about scale. Adam didn't just save himself two days of work—he encoded his expertise into a tool that could save thousands of people two days of work every year.
That's the kind of leverage generative AI offers.
And it started with someone who, until recently, didn't even have a LinkedIn account.
The Trailhead, Not the Summit
Adam’s story isn’t an outlier—it’s a glimpse of what’s possible when everyday professionals get even modest exposure to the power of generative AI.
This isn’t about flashy tools or advanced coding skills—it’s about empowering experts to translate their hard-earned knowledge into shareable, scalable solutions.
That’s the kind of innovation that doesn’t just save time—it creates capacity. Capacity to help more campers plot hikes, to instruct junior rangers on the virtues of park stewardship.
And if one facility manager can save 20 years of labor in 45 minutes, imagine what your team could do with a little time, a little training, and the right mindset (I’ve written much more about how to catalyze AI success here).
So the next time someone tells you AI is just for tech experts or Nobel scientists, remember: somewhere in America's national parks, a facility manager just turned 45 minutes of effort into 20 years of saved labor.
All because he wanted an easier way to request new carpet tiles.
Related: Beyond the Prompt: Diarra Bousso
Related: Try This Now to Build AI Muscles
Related: Catalyze AI Success
Related: Stop Hiding Your AI Use (And Make Your Team Stop, Too)
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AI is transforming industries. Designers are compressing month-long workflows into minutes. Scientists are using AI to condense years of research into days. But what about decades into minutes? Meet Adam. He doesn’t have a LinkedIn account. But in 45 minutes, he built an AI tool that'll save his organization thousands of days of work every year.