Turn AI ideas into business impact in four weeks. This plan shows exactly what to do each week—owners, guardrails, KPIs, and proof—so you can scale with confidence.
Table of Contents
- Who This Guide Is For
- Principles (How to Ship Safely, Fast)
- Week 1 — Discover & Baseline
- Week 2 — Design for Quality & Safety
- Week 3 — Build, Pilot, Iterate
- Week 4 — Prove, Decide, Scale
- Governance Baseline (Non-Negotiables)
- KPIs to Report (Simple Dashboard)
- Scaling Playbook (After Green Light)
- FAQs
- Internal Links (add them at the end)
Who This Guide Is For
Leaders in operations, product, sales, support, finance, and IT who need a repeatable rollout plan. You’ll get a week-by-week checklist, artifacts to create, a governance baseline, and reporting that convinces any stakeholder.
Principles (How to Ship Safely, Fast)
- Smallest viable scope: one workflow, one team, one KPI.
- Security from day 1: SSO/MFA, logging, DLP, permission-aware data.
- Quality by template: define “what good looks like”, then automate.
- Evidence beats opinions: baseline vs. post-launch metrics, sample outputs, and a one-page decision memo.
Week 1 — Discover & Baseline
Objectives
Pick 2 pilots (one fast operational win + one strategic win) and capture baselines.
Actions
- Run short workshops by department (60–90 min): pains, data, current tools.
- List 5–10 use cases and score with the (Impact × Viability) ÷ Complexity formula.
- Choose two pilots; write a one-sentence “job to be done” for each.
- Capture baseline KPIs (e.g., cycle time, deflection %, forecast error).
- Draft security posture: SSO/MFA, data residency, retention, training opt-out.
Artifacts
- Prioritization worksheet, pilot briefs (1 page each), KPI baseline snapshot.
Owner(s)
Business owner + tech lead (integrations/data).
Week 2 — Design for Quality & Safety
Objectives
Lock guardrails and define the target output before building.
Actions
- Create templates (proposal, reply, report) with tone, sections, banned claims.
- Write acceptance criteria (quality, confidence thresholds, citations).
- Map data access and permissions; enable SSO/MFA; set DLP rules.
- Prepare measurement plan (how/when KPIs are collected).
- Draft rollback plan and who can trigger a kill switch.
Artifacts
- Template pack, guardrails doc, access matrix, measurement plan.
Owner(s)
Business owner + security lead + tech lead.
Week 3 — Build, Pilot, Iterate
Objectives
Ship to a small cohort, collect failures, and improve daily.
Actions
- Connect minimum data sources; avoid over-engineering.
- Launch to 5–20 users (or 1 squad).
- Run daily loops: review logs, accept/reject outputs, capture failure cases.
- Tune rules first, then prompts, then parameters.
- Update templates and macros when repetition appears.
Artifacts
- Failure library, changelog, daily KPI snapshot, training clips (3–5 min).
Owner(s)
Pilot users + ops lead + tech lead.
Week 4 — Prove, Decide, Scale
Objectives
Demonstrate impact with evidence; make a go/no-go decision.
Actions
- Publish a 1-pager: goals, before/after metrics, sample outputs, risks, next steps.
- Hold a 30-minute review with stakeholders; decide scale, iterate, or pause.
- If scaling: document runbook, schedule training, and formalize access reviews.
Artifacts
- Decision memo, runbook (SOP), final KPI chart, backlog for phase 2.
Owner(s)
Business owner + sponsor + security/IT.
Governance Baseline (Non-Negotiables)
- Identity & access: SSO/MFA, least privilege, access review monthly.
- Data: residency option, encryption, retention windows, training opt-out.
- DLP: block PII/financial uploads; allow-listed repos only.
- Audit: prompt/output logs, export to SIEM, anomaly alerts.
- RAG: citations on; low-confidence → human review.
KPIs to Report (Simple Dashboard)
- Adoption: active users, tasks automated.
- Quality: acceptance rate, edits per output, confidence distribution.
- Primary KPI delta: e.g., turnaround time, deflection %, forecast error.
- Risk: DLP blocks, log completeness, access anomalies.
Scaling Playbook (After Green Light)
- Add one team/segment at a time (avoid org-wide day-one rollouts).
- Formal training: 3–5 short clips + a printable checklist.
- Quarterly golden prompts evaluation to detect regressions.
- Budget for maintenance: re-index schedules, template review, role audits.
FAQs
What if legal says “not yet”?
Scope down: keep data in read-only, mask PII, pilot with synthetic or non-sensitive subsets.
How many pilots at once?
Two in parallel: one “quick win” + one “strategic”. Any more kills focus.
When do we call it done?
Two consecutive weeks with KPI improvement and quality/safety stable.
Internal Links (add them at the end)
- /ai-business-tools-practical-guide
- /ai-tools-marketing-sales-kpis
- /ai-finance-operations-workflows
- /ai-customer-support-rag
- /ai-security-compliance-checklist
- /prioritize-ai-use-cases-formula
- /ai-content-adsense-structure
- /avoid-ai-pitfalls-project-stall