AI First Workspace Template

🤔 Two Questions That Will Transform Your Business

❓ What if you moved your workflows from ChatGPT's website to superagents like Cursor?

Instead of copying & pasting between browser tabs, your AI understands your entire business context
No more losing conversation history or starting from scratch every session
AI that knows your company's strategies, processes, and goals

❓ What if your entire company used tools like Cursor and shared context, prompts, scripts, and workflows across the whole organization?

Your marketing team's AI expertise becomes available to your strategy team
Your operations workflows become templates for the entire company
Every team member benefits from the collective AI intelligence of your organization

🎯 From Individual AI Usage → Organizational AI Intelligence

Most companies today: Everyone uses ChatGPT individually, recreating prompts, losing context, working in silos.

What this template enables: Your entire organization becomes an AI-powered organism where knowledge, workflows, and expertise compound across all departments.

👨‍💻 Created by: Seva Ustinov | 📱 Telegram | 🐦 X/Twitter | 💼 LinkedIn

Based on the real-world Elly Analytics workspace implementation

🚀 What This Template Provides

This is the complete framework that enables companies to migrate their entire workforce — developers, marketers, strategists, operations teams, and executives — from isolated AI usage to organizational AI intelligence.

✨ Key Benefits

🤖 AI-Powered Productivity for Everyone:

Personal task automation - AI handles routine work while teams focus on strategy
Custom agent context - Each team member can build specialized AI workflows
Cross-department intelligence - AI agents understand your full business context

🔗 Unified Knowledge Sharing:

Department-specific expertise - AI adapts to strategy, product, marketing, operations contexts
Shared workflows & prompts - Leverage specialized AI tools created by colleagues
Full organizational transparency - See the complete picture beyond departmental silos

🏢 Enterprise-Ready Structure:

Scalable repository architecture - Each department = separate repo with proper access control
Professional git workflows - Maintains enterprise standards while enabling AI collaboration
Battle-tested at scale - Proven with 40+ person team across multiple countries

🎯 Perfect For

Growing companies (10-100+ employees) ready to become AI-first
Organizations with multiple departments needing structured collaboration
Leadership teams wanting to unlock AI productivity across all functions
Companies migrating from traditional tools to developer-quality workflows

📋 What's Included

This template contains real examples from Elly Analytics showing:

📊 Complete Department Structure

Strategy - Competitive analysis, business planning, executive decision-making
Product - Roadmaps, specifications, user research, technical planning
Sales & Marketing - Campaigns, content creation, sales processes, go-to-market
Operations - Process documentation, metrics, hiring & recruitment workflows
Finance - Financial models, projections, unit economics
Projects - Client project management, team allocation, portfolio tracking

🤖 AI Context Switching System

Department-specific AI behavior - AI adapts expertise per team
Cross-functional collaboration - Maintain specialization while enabling transparency
Sophisticated prompt engineering - Pre-built AI workflows for each department

🛠️ Implementation Framework

Repository architecture - Multi-repo structure with proper access control
Automation scripts - One-command setup and daily sync workflows
Professional git workflows - Enterprise-ready collaboration patterns

📚 Real-World Examples

Strategy documents - Competitive analysis, business model planning
Product specifications - Technical requirements, user research, roadmaps
Marketing campaigns - Content creation, lead scoring, campaign tracking
Operational processes - Hiring workflows, project management, team coordination

💡 Why This Approach Works

Unique Advantages

🚀 Beyond Basic AI Adoption:

Most companies use AI for individual tasks
This framework enables organizational AI intelligence
AI agents understand your complete business context

💼 Enterprise-Ready:

Professional git workflows and access control
Scalable architecture for growing teams
Proper separation of concerns between departments

🎯 Practical Implementation:

Real examples and templates, not just theory
Proven workflows refined through daily use
Clear migration path from traditional tools

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 "Isn't this just Notion/Google Docs with AI?"

No. The key difference is code execution.

Most "AI solutions" are glorified chatbots or knowledge bases that can summarize and search. The real magic happens when AI can write and execute code.

📝 Notion/Google Docs = useful for documentation
🗃️ Knowledge bases = valuable for information storage
💻 AI that writes and executes code = transformative automation

This framework enables your AI to actually do things - process files, run analyses, automate workflows - not just talk about them.

📦 "What exactly is included in this template?"

You get a complete, working business intelligence workspace:

🏗️ Ready-to-use structure:

📁 7 department repositories (Strategy, Product, Marketing, Operations, Finance, Legal-HR, Hiring)
📁 Dev repositories for technical projects
📁 Projects folder for client work
📁 Presales materials repository

🤖 AI Configuration:

.cursorrules files for each department with specialized AI behavior
Context-switching system ("use marketing context" → AI becomes marketing expert)
Department-specific prompts and guidelines

📋 Real examples and templates:

Hiring pipeline with candidate evaluation frameworks and scoring
Marketing campaign planning and analysis workflows
Financial models and investor update templates
Strategy documents including competitive analysis and business models
Client project management templates

⚙️ Automation scripts:

One-click setup for your organization (setup/clone-all-repos.sh)
Daily sync scripts (setup/update-all.sh)
Cross-platform support (Windows PowerShell + Mac/Linux Bash)

🎯 What you can try immediately:

Ask AI to analyze the example competitor research
Have AI create a new marketing campaign using existing templates
Test the hiring evaluation system with sample candidates
Generate financial projections using the included models

📖 All based on real company usage - these aren't theoretical templates, they're workflows refined through daily use at a real business.

📂 "Do I really need to learn GitHub? It seems complex."

Think of GitHub as Google Drive, not as a developer tool.

You'll never manually type git commands. Your AI agent handles all the technical stuff. For you, it's just:

📁 Folders with your files
💬 "Hey, download all updates" → AI syncs everything
💬 "Upload my changes" → AI commits and pushes

The benefit: version history, team collaboration, and professional-grade file management that scales.

🔄 "How do I migrate from Notion/Confluence/Google Docs?"

Gradual migration, department by department:

Week 1-2: Set up one department (recommend Strategy)
Week 3-4: Move that department's content over
Week 5+: Add departments one by one as they see the value

You can run both systems in parallel. Most teams find they naturally stop using the old system because asking your AI agent is faster than searching through web interfaces.

⚠️ "Does the AI actually follow instructions reliably?"

It requires management, like any team member.

From early implementations:

✅ 80-90% accuracy on well-defined tasks (with proper setup)
✅ Dramatically improves with specific prompts and examples
✅ Gets better over time as you refine your .cursorrules

Pro tips from early adopters:

Be very specific in your instructions
Use examples of good vs bad output
Include source citations requirements to reduce hallucinations
For critical tasks, have AI generate code/scripts for verification

📊 "Can I connect real-time data (metrics, APIs, databases)?"

Yes, through AI-generated scripts and integrations.

Example workflow:

You: "Connect to our Google Sheets with revenue data and create a monthly summary"
AI: Creates Python script → Connects via API → Updates markdown files → You review output

🔒 "What about security and sensitive data?"

Enterprise-grade security through GitHub's access controls:

🏢 Organization-level permissions - Control who sees what
🔐 Repository-level access - Finance team can't see HR data
📝 Audit trails - Full history of who changed what
🔒 Client data isolation - Separate repositories for client projects

AI safety:

Configure AI to cite sources and avoid hallucinations
Client-specific data stays in separate repositories
Use .cursorrules to define data handling policies

🏗️ "Can I customize this for my industry/company size?"

Absolutely. The framework is designed to be adapted:

For smaller companies (5-20 people):

Start with 2-3 departments
Use simpler repository structure
Focus on core workflows first

For larger companies (100+ people):

Add more department-specific repositories
Implement more sophisticated access controls
Create industry-specific templates

🚀 "What's the learning curve for my team?"

Surprisingly gentle, even for non-technical users:

Week 1: "This is just like having a very smart assistant that can read all our files" Week 2: "Wait, it can also create and edit files automatically?" Week 3: "I'm asking it to automate tasks I never thought were automatable"

Most common "aha moments":

🎯 Recruiters: "It can score all candidates consistently using our framework"
📊 Analysts: "It can process dozens of call transcripts in minutes"
📝 Writers: "It knows our brand voice from reading all our past content"
💼 Executives: "I can get cross-department insights without interrupting anyone"

🚀 Project Status & Community

Current Implementation Status

🏢 Early Stage, High Interest:

✅ Active implementation at Elly Analytics (original company)
🔬 ~20 companies running early experiments and pilots
💬 Strong community interest from founders and business leaders
📈 Rapid evolution based on real-world feedback

This is a Living Template

🛠️ We're building this together:

This template reflects our current best practices, but we're learning fast. Every company that tries this approach discovers new use cases, automation opportunities, and workflow improvements.

🤝 Contribution Welcome:

📝 Share your .cursorrules - Department-specific AI prompts that work
🔗 Add integrations - Scripts for connecting your tools (CRM, analytics, etc.)
📋 Contribute templates - Industry-specific workflows and examples
🐛 Report issues - What doesn't work in your environment
💡 Suggest improvements - Better folder structures, automation ideas

📧 How to contribute:

Open issues/PRs on this repository
Share your customizations and learnings
Join discussions about best practices
Help newcomers with setup and troubleshooting

What This Means for You

✅ Pros:

Get started with proven framework structure
Benefit from real company experience
Join active community developing best practices
Free, open-source, no vendor lock-in

⚠️ Keep in mind:

You'll be an early adopter (exciting but requires some pioneering spirit)
Some rough edges as we refine workflows
Best practices still evolving
You might need to adapt examples to your specific needs

💪 Perfect if you:

Want to be at the forefront of AI-first business operations
Enjoy experimenting and contributing to open source
Have basic comfort with file management and AI tools
Want to help shape the future of AI-assisted teamwork

🏗️ Implementation Guide

📝 Note about .gitignore

This template includes .gitignore.template instead of .gitignore so you can see all example folders on GitHub. When setting up your workspace, this will automatically be copied to .gitignore to properly exclude department repositories.

⚠️ IMPORTANT: DON'T DO THIS MANUALLY!

🤖 Use AI to Implement AI-First Workflows

This template is designed for AI-first organizations, so the implementation should be AI-assisted too!

Instead of following the manual steps below:
📁 Create a new folder for your company workspace

🖥️ Open it in Cursor
🤖 Ask your Cursor agent:
"Help me implement the AI First Workspace Template for my company. 
Here's the template: https://github.com/vsevolodustinov/ai-first-workspace-template

Guide me through:
- Setting up the repository structure
- Customizing it for [Your Company Name] 
- Creating the GitHub repositories
- Migrating our team to this framework

Walk me through each step and handle the technical setup."
🎯 The AI will handle: Repository creation, script generation, content customization, team onboarding plans, and technical setup.

📋 You focus on: Strategic decisions, team alignment, and organizational change management.

The manual instructions below are for reference only - let AI handle the implementation!

Phase 1: Repository Setup

1. Create Your Organization Structure

# 1. Fork or download this template
git clone https://github.com/vsevolodustinov/ai-first-workspace-template.git
cd ai-first-workspace-template

# 2. Create your company's GitHub organization (if not exists)
# Go to https://github.com/organizations/new

# 3. Create separate repositories for each department:

2. Required Repositories

Create these repositories in your organization:

Core Department Repos:

[YourOrg]/Strategy - Strategic planning & competitive intelligence
[YourOrg]/Product - Product roadmap & specifications
[YourOrg]/SalesAndMarketing - Marketing campaigns & sales processes
[YourOrg]/Operations - Operational processes & metrics
[YourOrg]/Operations-Hiring - Hiring processes & recruitment
[YourOrg]/Finance - Financial models & projections
[YourOrg]/Legal-HR - Contracts, policies & HR workflows

Technical & Project Repos:

[YourOrg]/Dev-[ProductName] - Your main product codebase
[YourOrg]/Projects - Client project portfolio management
[YourOrg]/Presales - Presales materials & proposals

Main Workspace Repo:

[YourOrg]/SharedWorkspace - This template, customized for your company

💡 Naming Your Main Workspace Repository:

You can choose any name for your main workspace repository. Recommended: SharedWorkspace

SharedWorkspace - Short, practical name for daily use

[YourCompany]-Workspace - Include your company name

AI-Workspace - Emphasize the AI-first approach

The name you choose here will be used in git clone commands and daily workflows, so pick something convenient for your team.

3. Repository Setup Commands

# Replace [YourOrg] with your GitHub organization name
# Replace [YourCompany] with your company name

# Create and initialize each repository:
gh repo create [YourOrg]/Strategy --private
gh repo create [YourOrg]/Product --private  
gh repo create [YourOrg]/SalesAndMarketing --private
gh repo create [YourOrg]/Operations --private
gh repo create [YourOrg]/Operations-Hiring --private
gh repo create [YourOrg]/Finance --private
gh repo create [YourOrg]/Legal-HR --private
gh repo create [YourOrg]/Dev-[ProductName] --private
gh repo create [YourOrg]/Projects --private
gh repo create [YourOrg]/Presales --private
gh repo create [YourOrg]/SharedWorkspace --private

# Clone and populate template content:
git clone git@github.com:[YourOrg]/SharedWorkspace.git
cd SharedWorkspace

# Copy template content to each repository
# (Detailed instructions in setup/ folder)

Phase 2: Content Customization

1. Update Workspace Configuration

# Edit .cursorrules to replace [COMPANY_NAME] with your company
# Edit setup scripts to point to your repositories
# Update README.md with your company information

# IMPORTANT: Set up .gitignore for your workspace
cp .gitignore.template .gitignore
# This file excludes department repos (Docs/, Dev/, etc.) since they're separate git repositories

2. Populate Department Repositories

# For each department, copy relevant template content:
cd Docs/Strategy
# Copy strategy templates and examples
# Replace Elly Analytics examples with your company information

cd ../Product  
# Copy product templates and examples
# Adapt to your product architecture

# Repeat for all departments...

3. Team Onboarding

# Add team members to appropriate repositories
# Set up department-specific permissions
# Train teams on AI context switching

Phase 3: Tool Migration

1. Cursor Setup for Teams

# Install Cursor for all team members
# Import workspace configuration
# Train on AI context switching commands

2. Workflow Training

Department heads - Learn context switching and AI workflows
Team members - Daily workflow patterns and AI collaboration
Leadership - Cross-department visibility and strategic AI use

3. Gradual Migration

Week 1-2: Department heads set up repositories and learn workflows
Week 3-4: Migrate existing documentation to new structure
Week 5-6: Train team members on AI-first workflows
Week 7+: Full adoption and optimization

🎯 Getting Started

For Organizations Adopting This Framework

Leadership Alignment - Ensure executive buy-in for AI-first transformation
Repository Setup - Follow the Implementation Guide above
Pilot Department - Start with one department (recommend Strategy or Product)
Gradual Rollout - Expand to additional departments based on early success
Training & Support - Invest in team training for AI collaboration workflows

For Individual Contributors

Clone your organization's workspace:

git clone git@github.com:[YourOrg]/SharedWorkspace.git
cd SharedWorkspace

Run setup to clone all departments:

# For Unix/Mac:
bash setup/clone-all-repos.sh

# For Windows:
.\setup\clone-all-repos.ps1

Start with AI context switching:

"Use strategy context"
"Use product context"
"Use marketing context"

🏗️ Architecture Overview

Multi-Repository Structure

YourCompany-SharedWorkspace/
├── .cursorrules              # AI context switching & company rules
├── README.md                 # This documentation  
├── setup/                    # Automated setup scripts
├── Docs/                     # Department repositories (separate repos)
│   ├── Strategy/            # Strategic planning & competitive intel
│   ├── Product/             # Product roadmap & specifications
│   ├── SalesAndMarketing/   # Marketing campaigns & sales process
│   ├── Operations/          # Operational processes & metrics
│   │   └── Hiring/          # Hiring processes & recruitment
│   ├── Finance/             # Financial models & projections
│   └── Legal-HR/            # Legal contracts & HR policies
├── Dev/                     # Technical repositories
│   └── [ProductName]/       # Your product codebases
├── Projects/                # Client projects (separate repos)
└── Presales/                # Presales materials (single repo)

Key Principles

🔄 Department Autonomy - Each team owns their repository and workflows 🤖 AI Context Switching - AI adapts expertise based on department context 📊 Cross-Department Visibility - Transparency while maintaining specialization 🔒 Proper Access Control - GitHub-based permissions for enterprise security ⚡ Developer-Quality Tools - Professional workflows for all team members

🛠️ Technical Requirements

Prerequisites

GitHub Organization - For repository management and access control
Cursor Editor - Primary AI-enabled development environment
Git Proficiency - Basic git knowledge for team members
SSH Keys - Secure repository access (setup guide included)

Supported Platforms

macOS - Full support with automated setup scripts
Windows - Full support with PowerShell scripts
Linux - Full support with bash scripts

Team Requirements

Leadership Champion - Executive sponsor for AI transformation
Technical Coordinator - Person to manage repository setup and permissions
Department Heads - Owners for each department repository
Training Plan - Structured onboarding for team members

📚 Documentation & Support

Included Documentation

Setup Guides - Step-by-step implementation instructions
Workflow Examples - Real-world usage patterns from each department
AI Context Rules - Complete prompt engineering and behavior definitions
Template Content - Professional examples for all department types

Getting Help

Issues - Report problems or request features via GitHub Issues
Discussions - Share experiences and get community support
Examples - Extensive real-world examples from Elly Analytics

🎯 Success Metrics

Organizations using this framework typically see:

30-50% reduction in routine administrative work
Improved cross-department collaboration through AI-enabled transparency
Faster onboarding for new team members
Higher quality documentation through AI assistance
Better strategic alignment across all departments

🤝 Contributing

This template improves through real-world usage. If your organization adopts this framework:

Share feedback on what works and what doesn't
Contribute improvements via pull requests
Document adaptations for different industries or team sizes
Help others through discussions and issue responses

📄 License

MIT License - Feel free to adapt this framework for your organization's needs.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Created by Seva Ustinov based on the real-world implementation at Elly Analytics.

Special thanks to the Elly Analytics team for pioneering AI-first organizational workflows and proving this approach works at scale.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 23 Commits
Dev		Dev
Docs		Docs
Projects		Projects
Sales Calls/XS Discovery Call Demo		Sales Calls/XS Discovery Call Demo
scripts		scripts
setup		setup
.cursorrules		.cursorrules
.gitignore		.gitignore
.gitignore.template		.gitignore.template
AI-First-Workspace-Template.code-workspace		AI-First-Workspace-Template.code-workspace
DEMO-QUICK-START.md		DEMO-QUICK-START.md
README.md		README.md

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