Artificial intelligence is often framed as a futuristic add‑on to programme delivery - something interesting, but not essential. In Bertie, it’s quite the opposite. AI sits at the heart of a more adaptive, precise and scalable approach to programme management. Instead of replacing the Programme Manager, it acts as a strategic partner: guiding planning, generating structured journeys, refining tasks and communication, and helping you stay ahead of cohort progress with far less manual effort.

This article brings together the core ideas from Bertie’s AI Configuration, Journey Planner and Co‑Pilot capabilities. It shows how they combine to elevate Programme Managers into high‑value venture partners, supported by an intelligent operational backbone.

From Static Plans to Intelligent, Adaptive Journeys

A traditional programme framework is fixed: the same tasks, delivered in the same order, to every founder. Useful, but rarely optimal.

Bertie introduces a more dynamic approach. You design the foundational structure - stages, pillars, tasks, milestones - and the platform’s AI helps you:

• Tailor journeys to specific cohorts or founder profiles.
• Generate tasks and questionnaires aligned to your programme logic.
• Rank, prune or refine tasks to maintain a realistic workload.
• Automatically classify and tag content for better navigation.

The result is a programme that evolves over time, strengthening with each cohort.

Configuring AI: Setting the Tone for an Intelligent System

AI in Bertie doesn’t operate as a closed black box. It responds to the structure, wording and choices you build into your programme framework.

Programme Managers and organisation admins can shape AI behaviour by configuring:

• Tone and formality: how the Co‑Pilot communicates.
• Level of proactivity: from a quiet assistant to a more coaching‑oriented partner.
• Preferred terminology and frameworks used across your organisation.
• AI usage limits: ensuring cost control and predictable usage across programmes.
• Scope of AI support: from suggestions only, through draft generation, to automated tagging.

Every piece of programme content - from task descriptions to milestone criteria - also trains the system. Clear, intentional wording leads to clearer, more relevant AI outputs.

The Journey Planner: Turning Frameworks Into Tailored Roadmaps

The Journey Planner builds on the foundation you design. It takes your programme structure and uses AI to create adaptive, context‑aware roadmaps for each cohort.

It considers:

• The mandatory stages and tasks you’ve defined.
• Founder maturity - idea‑stage teams vs those with revenue.
• Sector context - from healthtech to deeptech to B2B SaaS.
• Historical patterns from previous cohorts.
• Any specific instructions you give when launching a journey.

A practical example

Imagine you start with a generic pre‑accelerator template and tell the Journey Planner:

“This cohort is mostly early‑stage healthtech founders.”

The Planner may:

• Bring regulatory discovery earlier in the journey.
• Add optional tasks related to clinical validation.
• Re‑order customer interviews to occur before prototyping.
• Surface health‑specific templates from your Knowledge Hub.

You can accept, modify or reject suggestions - you remain the architect, with AI as a strategic adviser.

Automation: Generating, Ranking and Refining Tasks

AI dramatically reduces the time Programme Managers spend on task creation and programme editing.

Task generation and refinement

You can ask the system to generate task sequences from a short brief, or to rewrite tasks for clarity and stronger outcomes. For example:

“Generate a 4‑week customer discovery sequence for first‑time B2B founders, aligned to Market & Customers.”

Task ranking and pruning

AI can help maintain coherent programme flow by:

• Ranking tasks by priority or dependency.
• Highlighting tasks that may be too heavy for early‑stage founders.
• Suggesting cuts or merges if programme duration changes.

Intelligent classification and tagging

Whether you’re adding new content to the Knowledge Hub or reviewing founder submissions, AI can propose:

• Tags such as pillar, stage, difficulty or audience.
• Short summaries for easier navigation.
• Risk or opportunity signals based on submission content.

This automation keeps programme structures tidy and ensures founders always encounter resources at the right moment.

The Bertie Co‑Pilot: Your Daily Strategic Partner

While the Journey Planner focuses on programme design, the Co‑Pilot (Ask Bertie) supports day‑to‑day management.

It sits inside the platform and is context‑aware - capable of understanding the programme, cohort or venture view you are working in. This makes its guidance far more targeted than a generic AI tool.

Chat‑based guidance

Programme Managers use the Co‑Pilot to brainstorm, evaluate ideas and refine programme structures:

• “Help me outline the first four weeks of Idea Validation.”
• “Suggest evaluation criteria for early‑stage climate‑tech ventures.”
• “How could we improve the Build/Launch stage?”

Document and content generation

The Co‑Pilot can draft:

• Emails to founders, mentors or sponsors.
• Application questions.
• Guidance notes and playbook sections.
• Multiple variations for different audiences.

This is particularly helpful when balancing multiple cohorts or preparing collateral for stakeholders.

Progress summaries and risk spotting

You can ask questions like:

• “Summarise how this cohort is progressing across pillars.”
• “Which ventures are falling behind on tasks?”
• “Draft a sponsor update based on this cohort’s progress.”

The Co‑Pilot turns raw data into narrative insight - helping you decide when and where to intervene.

Task and milestone refinement

Paste any piece of programme content into the Co‑Pilot and ask for:

• Clearer wording.
• Measurable criteria.
• Variants for different difficulty levels.

This creates consistency across programme materials and improves founder understanding.

Power capabilities

Beyond everyday use, the Co‑Pilot can also:

• Conduct deeper research on complex topics.
• Search the web for current, reputable information.
• Analyse attached documents and extract common themes.

These advanced features allow PMs to produce higher‑quality materials and insights without losing time to manual research.

Getting the Best from AI: Prompting and Good Practice

To use AI effectively, clarity matters. Strong prompts include:

• Specific context (stage, cohort type, audience).
• Desired structure (bullet points, short summary, 3‑paragraph email).
• Clear intent (“Make this simpler”, “Rewrite for investor audience”).

AI is an assistant, not an authority. Programme Managers should:

• Review and adapt all outputs.
• Apply organisational tone and governance.
• Use AI as a thinking partner, not a final decision‑maker.

Admins can also set usage limits and behaviour settings to ensure predictable and responsible adoption across programmes.

A Continuous Learning Loop

The real power of AI in Bertie emerges over time. Each cohort contributes data - where founders stall, which tasks land well, which journeys lead to stronger outcomes.

This creates a continuous loop:

1.    Design the programme framework.

2.    Configure AI behaviour and preferences.

3.    Generate tailored journeys via the Journey Planner.

4.    Run the cohort and collect structured progress data.

5.    Analyse insights with analytics and the Co‑Pilot.

6.    Refine the programme, tasks and Knowledge Hub.

Each cycle improves the next, gradually evolving your programme into a more adaptive, evidence‑driven system.

Practical Takeaways

• AI configuration sets the foundation for how the system behaves.
• The Journey Planner adapts your programme for different cohorts and sectors.
• Automation accelerates task creation, refinement and classification.
• The Co‑Pilot supports daily operations, from drafting content to spotting risks.
• PMs stay in control - AI suggestions enhance judgement rather than replace it.
• Programmes improve with each cohort, forming a repeatable learning loop.

AI doesn’t just make programme management faster - it makes it smarter. As you begin using the Journey Planner, automation and the Co‑Pilot in your own workflows, you’ll find that they amplify your expertise and free up time to focus on high‑value venture‑partner work.

In the next module, we’ll explore how to use monitoring and analytics to close the loop and drive continuous improvement across your programmes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Co‑Pilot replace Programme Managers?
No. It supports your work by reducing admin, sharpening tasks and helping interpret progress - but decisions remain with you.

How personalised can journeys become?
Journeys can be tailored by cohort type, sector, maturity and insights from previous cohorts.

Do I need technical skills to configure AI?
Not at all. Bertie’s AI settings are accessible and designed for Programme Managers.

Is AI content automatically applied to programmes?
No. You review, edit and approve all suggestions.