For when
“We have been told to adopt AI, but where should we start?”
Usually commissioned by: COO, managing director, transformation or operations lead.
What you get
- Ranked shortlist of candidate workflows, each with an owner, volume and current effort
- Baseline economics per workflow — time released separated from cash removed
- Dependencies: data, systems, approvals and skills each option needs
- Recommended first project with scope, acceptance criteria and stopping conditions
- A portable project brief you can use with any supplier, including us
Acceptance condition
The sponsor can make a go/no-go decision on the first project and has appointed an owner.
How it runs
- 1
Kick-off with the sponsor to agree the scope and the decision the sprint must support
- 2
Interviews with 4–8 process owners and a review of the systems involved
- 3
Scoring and economics for each candidate workflow, shared as a working draft
- 4
Decision session: recommended first project, alternatives, and what would change the recommendation
It may conclude…
Use the software you already own, redesign the process, and do not commission custom AI. That is a successful sprint, not a failed one.
Not included
- Building or configuring the workflow
- Vendor negotiations
- Organisation-wide AI policy
Read before you decide
Free guides that cover the same ground. Plenty of teams get what they need from these alone.
How to calculate AI ROI honestly: hours released are not cash saved
Separate time released from cash removed, count the running costs people forget, test the case across a range, and set payback and stopping conditions.
What should the board ask before investing in AI?
Questions for boards, CEOs and CFOs: treat AI as a portfolio of workflow bets, each with alternatives, costs, risks and stopping conditions.
Should we buy, build, configure or do nothing about AI?
A seven-rung options ladder from doing nothing to a custom agent, the criteria that decide between them, and when custom AI is simply unnecessary.
Where should our business start with AI?
How to choose the first workflow worth changing with AI: a selection method, the scoring criteria, the traps to avoid, and what a credible first project looks like.
Discuss a AI Opportunity Sprint
Send a short project brief. A person reads it and replies with whether this engagement fits, a different one would, or none is needed.