Field notes from real engagements. Frameworks, postmortems, and the unglamorous discipline of shipping AI in production.
Showing 1–9 of 14 essays
Most companies adopted AI faster than they inspected it. An AI audit answers five questions — what's in use, what data it touches, what it costs, whether output is checked, and who's accountable. Here's the working framework.
Read essayEnterprise AI maturity models are built for companies with committees. This one is built for operators: five levels, honest placement criteria, and the specific work that moves a growing business up each rung.
Read essay"AI transformation" has become a phrase that means everything and therefore nothing. Here's what it actually is, why the big-bang version fails, and the executive playbook that works for companies without transformation offices.
Read essayMost AI tools demo beautifully and break in production. After evaluating vendors across 100+ implementations, here's the framework I use — including the five questions that end most sales conversations early.
Read essayThe back office isn't glamorous, which is exactly why it's where AI pays back fastest. Repetitive, high-volume, rule-based operational work is AI's sweet spot. Here's where to apply it, what to automate first, and what to leave to people.
Read essayMost companies spending money on AI can't say whether it paid off — and the ones who claim it did are often counting vanity metrics. Here's an honest framework for measuring AI ROI, including the traps that make bad investments look good.
Read essayProfessional services firms sell expertise and time — which makes AI both a huge opportunity and a genuine risk. Here's where AI creates real leverage for consultancies, agencies, and firms, and where it quietly undermines the trust you sell.
Read essayMost companies buy AI tools before they're ready to use them — which is why the tools become shelfware. Here's an honest readiness assessment across five dimensions, including the signs you should fix something else first.
Read essayYou can buy the best AI tool on the market and watch your team quietly ignore it. Adoption — not technology — is where most AI investments die. Here's how to get real, lasting use out of the tools you're paying for.
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