The champion role
The role consists of three behaviors that reinforce one another.| Behavior | What it looks like in practice | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Share what you discover | Post the prompts, screenshots, and small wins from your own work in the places your team already reads, such as an engineering channel, a standup thread, or a pull-request description. | Examples drawn from your own codebase are more persuasive than any external documentation, because colleagues can see exactly how the tool applies to the problems they share with you. |
| Be the person people ask | When a colleague asks how you accomplished something, respond with the actual prompt you used so they can apply it directly to their own task. | A concrete, runnable example removes the gap between curiosity and a first successful use, which is where most adoption efforts stall. |
| Grow the circle | Establish a small number of lightweight, recurring habits, such as a dedicated channel or a weekly thread, so that momentum continues even when your attention is elsewhere. | Adoption that depends on a single person is fragile. Adoption that is carried by shared habits continues to compound on its own. |
What this should cost you
Set expectations with yourself and with your lead. The activities below are intended to fit inside a normal working week, and the role should remain a multiplier on your existing work rather than an additional support responsibility.| Activity | Time per week | Guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Posting wins and prompts | About 15 minutes | Capture these in the moment with a screenshot and one or two sentences; avoid turning them into formal write-ups. |
| Answering questions in a shared channel | About 20 minutes | Answer publicly once, then link back to that answer when the question recurs. |
| Hosting a weekly show-and-tell thread | About 5 minutes | You post the opening prompt; the team supplies the content. |
| Optional pairing or walkthroughs | 0 to 30 minutes | Reserve this for colleagues who are genuinely blocked, and offer the Quickstart link before scheduling time. |
Share what you discover
Your own experience is the most persuasive material your colleagues will encounter, because it is specific to the codebase, workflows, and problems you all share. Documentation tells people what is possible; your posts show them what is actually working in your environment.What is worth sharing
The most useful posts describe a technique a colleague can reuse tomorrow rather than an outcome that is already complete. Techniques compound as they spread through a team; status updates do not. Examples of reusable techniques:- “I learned that @-mentioning a directory works. Pointing it at
@src/components/and asking which were missing tests surfaced two I had overlooked.” - “Plan mode (
Shift+Tab) shows exactly which files will be touched before any edit is made, which is why I am comfortable using it on shared code.” - “I configured a Stop hook so I receive a desktop notification when a long task completes. Configuration is in the thread.”
- “Running
/initgenerates aCLAUDE.mdfrom the repository so the assistant stops re-asking about our conventions.”
Where to share it
Post wherever your team already reads. The goal is to place examples in the path of normal work rather than to create a destination.| Location | Best suited for | Recommended format |
|---|---|---|
A #claude-code or general engineering channel | Discoveries, prompts, and “today I learned” moments | A screenshot accompanied by one or two sentences of context |
| Pull-request descriptions | Demonstrating the approach on real code that reviewers are already reading | A single line such as “Claude and I did this refactor; happy to walk through the approach.” |
| Standups or weekly written updates | Normalizing usage with leads and skip-level managers | One sentence describing one concrete outcome |
| Team wiki or internal documentation | Durable patterns, custom skills, and CLAUDE.md examples | A short page, linked from the channel topic so it remains discoverable |
The format that works
A screenshot accompanied by a single line of context, or a brief before-and-after description, is generally the right level of detail. Keep each post short enough that someone scrolling past still absorbs the point. A long write-up tends to be saved for later and forgotten, whereas a short post with a screenshot tends to be copied and tried. The example posts below illustrate tone and length; adapt them rather than copying verbatim.Be the person people ask
Once you have shared a few examples, questions will follow. This is where the champion role has the greatest leverage, because a good answer to one person frequently unblocks several others who are watching the same channel.Answer with a prompt rather than an explanation
When a colleague asks how you accomplished something, the most useful response is the prompt you actually used. They will learn more from running that prompt against their own problem than from any description you could write, and it gives them something they can act on immediately.Point at the feature rather than the documentation
A response such as “Try plan mode, pressShift+Tab until you see it” is more useful in the moment than a link to the documentation. If the person needs more depth later they will find it on their own; right now they need the single thing that unblocks them.
Questions you are likely to hear
| Question | Suggested response | Follow-up resource |
|---|---|---|
| ”What should I try it on first?” | Recommend a real but contained task, ideally a bug or chore the person has been postponing because it is tedious rather than difficult. | Common workflows |
| ”How do I trust it with my code?” | Introduce plan mode: pressing Shift+Tab cycles into it, Claude proposes exactly what it intends to change, and nothing is modified until the user approves. | Permissions |
| ”Is the setup worth the effort?” | Installation takes roughly two minutes, runs in the terminal, and requires no IDE extension. Running /init once is sufficient to begin working. | Quickstart |
| ”It produced an incorrect result.” | Encourage them to provide the failure back to Claude. Pasting the error message or failing test is far more effective than rephrasing the original request. | Common workflows |
| ”It does not understand our codebase conventions.” | Suggest running /init to generate a CLAUDE.md file, then adding the team’s conventions, test commands, and any directories that should be avoided. | Memory |
| ”Is this just autocomplete?” | Offer a brief demonstration in which Claude explains an unfamiliar file, traces a bug across services, or drafts a migration plan. These tasks require reasoning across the repository rather than completing a single line. | A two-minute live demonstration |
| ”What about security and data handling?” | Refer this question to your administrator. Your organization’s deployment and data-handling policy is already configured, and champions should not improvise this answer. | Security · Data usage |
Grow the circle
The objective is not to build a program or to own a rollout. It is to establish a small number of lightweight habits that allow momentum to continue after you have stopped actively driving it. When questions in the channel are being answered by people other than you, the role has done its job.Patterns that tend to work
| Pattern | How to run it | Effort required |
|---|---|---|
| A dedicated channel | Create a #claude-code channel (or a recurring thread in an existing one), pin the Quickstart link and one strong example, and answer questions publicly so each answer benefits everyone watching. | About five minutes to set up, then ambient |
| A weekly show-and-tell thread | Each Friday, post “What did Claude help you with this week?” No preparation, slides, or meeting are required; screenshots and short descriptions are sufficient. | About two minutes per week |
| Share a custom skill | Post your most useful .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md file, for example a /ship skill that runs tests and lint before committing, with a one-line description. Because skills are plain Markdown, colleagues can adopt them immediately. | About five minutes per skill |
| Generate a setup guide from your own usage | Run /team-onboarding in a project you have spent real time in. Claude scans your recent sessions, commands, and MCP servers, then produces a guide a new teammate can paste as their first message to replay your setup. Pin it in the channel. | About two minutes |
| Pair on a first task | Offer a single fifteen-minute pairing session to anyone getting started. One successful outcome on their own code is more persuasive than any presentation. | About fifteen minutes per person |
| Identify the next champion | The colleague who asks you the most questions is usually ready to take on this role. Forward them this page and divide the channel responsibilities between you. | Negligible |
Thirty-day playbook
If a loose plan is helpful, the sequence below reflects what tends to work across most teams. Adjust freely to fit your context.Week 1: Seed the channel
Create the channel, pin the Quickstart, and post two or three of your own examples with the prompts included.Signal that it is working: a few colleagues react or reply, and at least one question is asked in the channel.
Week 2: Start the rhythm
Start the weekly show-and-tell thread, answer every question publicly, and share one custom skill or
CLAUDE.md snippet.Signal that it is working: someone other than you posts an example of their own.Week 3: Pair and consolidate
Offer two or three short pairing sessions and consolidate the most common questions and answers into a pinned FAQ message.Signal that it is working: you see repeat usage, with the same colleagues returning rather than trying once and stopping.
When someone wants to go deeper
You are the warm introduction rather than the onboarding program. When a colleague moves past “should I try this” into “how do I become effective with it,” point them to the Quickstart and Common workflows pages. They contain short sections covering the features that are genuinely useful but difficult to discover on your own.Respond to common concerns
Healthy skepticism is expected; engineers should be cautious about tools that touch their code. The most effective response is rarely to argue the general case. Instead, acknowledge the concern, offer a brief reframe, and propose one concrete demonstration on the person’s own code. Most concerns are resolved by a single successful experience.| Concern | Suggested response | Evidence to offer |
|---|---|---|
| ”I am faster without it.” | That is likely true for code the person writes routinely. Suggest trying it on the work they tend to avoid: legacy files, unfamiliar services, or test scaffolding, where the leverage is highest. | Time one tedious task both ways and compare. |
| ”I do not trust AI to touch production code.” | Agree that no change should land unread. Plan mode combined with normal diff review means nothing is applied that the engineer has not inspected, the same standard as any pull request. | Demonstrate plan mode on a real file. |
| ”It will make junior engineers weaker.” | Used well, it is an effective explainer. Encourage junior engineers to ask Claude to explain a file and its call sites before asking it to change anything. | Run “Explain @file and where it is called from” together. |
| ”I tried it once and it hallucinated.” | This is usually a context problem rather than a model problem. @-mentioning the relevant files, running /init, and providing the actual error output typically resolves it. | Re-run their original prompt with proper @-context. |
| ”We do not have time to learn another tool.” | Claude Code is a terminal command rather than a platform. If it does not return value within the first session, it is reasonable to set it aside. | A two-minute install followed by one real bug. |
Quick-reference sheet
The techniques below are the ones that most reliably move someone from a first trial to daily use. Pin this table in a channel or share it on its own.| Technique | How to apply it |
|---|---|
| Provide the right context | Use @file or @directory/ references, or paste the error or log output directly. Supplying relevant context is more effective than elaborate prompting. |
| Review the plan before the edit | Press Shift+Tab to enter plan mode. Claude will describe the intended changes for your approval before executing them. |
| Teach it your repository | Run /init to generate a CLAUDE.md file, then add your conventions, test commands, and any directories that should not be modified. See Memory. |
| Reuse a workflow | Save a SKILL.md file in .claude/skills/<name>/ to create a /name skill that the entire team can use. See Skills. |
| Stay informed during long tasks | Configure a Stop hook to receive a desktop notification when a long-running task completes. See Hooks. |
| Recover from an incorrect result | Rather than rephrasing the request, paste the failing test or stack trace back to Claude and ask it to address that specific failure. |
| Keep edits surgical | Ask for a diff, or specify “only change X.” Claude respects scope when scope is stated. |