Session 1 — Kickoff
Thursday, 21 May 2026 · 1 hour
The first ever AI Office Hours at SMG. We'll introduce the AI CoE, walk you through how this program works, feature two associate-led demos, work through the queue of submitted ideas, and tour the hub where all of this lives.
Run of show
| Time | Beat |
|---|---|
| 0:00 | Welcome + why we're here — what AI at Scotts looks like in FY26 |
| 0:03 | The two engines, in plain language — growth + capability creation + reimagine how we work |
| 0:08 | Where you fit — the three-tier model, no permission needed to be Tier 1 |
| 0:12 | Walkthrough the AI Hub @ SMG website — what lives here, how to navigate it, live intake form demo |
| 0:18 | Associate demo — confirmed — Andrew Pitts (Supply Chain) on the Production Planning Tool: SAP data + Gemini-generated ranking → daily plan in 2–3 min, ~90% time reduction |
| 0:28 | Terri Weaver demo (Tri-Engine AI Operations Framework) ran out of time — moved to Session 2. |
| 0:38 | Discuss the ideas in the queue — walk the remaining cards, what each one looks like next |
| 0:46 | Open mic / Q&A |
| 1:00 | Hard stop |
Pre-read (optional)
- How to Participate — ground rules and norms
- Solution Library — what's already in flight
What you'll leave with
- A bookmark to this hub.
- A 60-second submission in the intake form (if you've got an idea).
- Clarity on what the CoE will and won't do — and where to send the things it won't.
- A sense of what to expect every two weeks.
After the session
Q&A distilled from what came up live — the takeaways most relevant to associates.
When do all associates get access to the AI Hub?
Rolling out the week of 2026-05-25. Once access is live, the hub is the canonical home for AI at SMG — Solution Library, AI Brief, intake form, session notes, the works.
Should I be using Gemini or Claude today?
Gemini first. Scotts is prioritizing Gemini training because most associates haven't explored what it can do yet. Claude (Cowork) access is need-based — requires VP + second-approver sign-off. Build the business case before kicking off a request.
I built something cool with AI. How do I share it?
Submit it via the AI Idea Intake form — the form takes both "I built something" and "I have a problem to solve." Every entry gets read.
Can I demo my own AI workflow at a future Office Hours?
Yes — that's the point of these sessions. Note it on your intake submission or raise it in Open Mic. Andrew Pitts (Supply Chain) demoed in Session 1; Terri Weaver and Caitlin Dezso are queued up for Session 2 on 2026-06-04.
What about sensitive or regulated data?
Don't paste it into Gemini or Cowork. Internal firewalls don't fully cover you — Gemini doesn't automatically inherit your access rights, and AI-generated content can surface things it shouldn't. If you see PII or regulated data in an AI tool's output, report it to the security team.
How do I avoid shipping broken AI-generated code into production?
Three things that came up from Security + IT in Session 1:
- Human sanity-check before production — never deploy AI-generated code without reviewing it carefully.
- No hard-coded credentials — Andrew's script was specifically praised for keeping credentials out of the code.
- Read-only by default — if your script reads from SAP, Sheets, or any system of record, prompt the AI to make it read-only so it can't accidentally edit data.
What's the Champion Network?
An FY27 program — 1-2 associates per function with deep domain expertise who partner with the AI CoE on scalable use cases.
What's the difference between a "bot," an "LLM," and an "agent"?
The progression of AI at Scotts:
- Bot — deterministic if-then workflow. Brittle, limited.
- LLM — a question-answering brain (ChatGPT, Gemini chat).
- Agent — reasons, plans multi-step work in parallel or sequence, takes autonomous actions across systems (writes to databases, calls SAP, fetches from APIs). This is what the CoE is building today — Bloom is our agent fleet platform.
Will sessions be recorded?
No video recording. A Gemini-generated meeting notes summary lands on each session page within 24 hours — captures the questions, answers, and decisions.
When's the next session?
Thursday, 2026-06-04. Same recurring calendar event — add it once from any session page and you've got the full series.
First session — be patient with the format
This is the first time we're running this. Some beats will land, some won't. Tell us what worked and what didn't — that's how the next session gets better.