A Field Guide to AI Readiness
Ready Enough.
What to look at, in what order, before AI is worth the time, money, or attention. A five-layer framework for finding the lowest broken layer in your business — the one that's quietly breaking other things, including any AI you'd build on top of it.
The artifact
PDF · 21 pp
For operators evaluating AI in real businesses.
Includes a five-layer self-assessment you can run on three workflows in an afternoon.
Free. No email required.
What's inside
Five layers, in the order they break.
Eight short chapters and two appendices. The spine is the Readiness Stack — Data, Process, People, Tools, Decision — applied honestly to the workflows that actually hurt in your business. The exercise at the end is meant to be done with a pen, not a vendor.
01
Why Pilots Stall
02
The Readiness Stack
03
Data — Does the Information Exist?
04
Process — Is the Work Consistent?
05
People — Does Someone Own It?
06
Tools — Can the Systems Talk?
07
Decision — Does It Change an Outcome?
08
The Self-Assessment
Try it now · Interactive
Run the Readiness Stack on a workflow that hurts.
Score one of your workflows on the five layers — Data, Process, People, Tools, Decision. About three minutes. You get a verdict — not yet, pilot, or build it — and the weakest link to fix first.
Who it is for
Operators who'd rather know than be sold.
Written for the people responsible for whether AI actually works in their business — operations leaders, COOs, founders, department heads. If you're skeptical of AI pitches but not skeptical of AI itself, this guide is the conversation you wish vendors would have with you.
The principle
AI readiness is not a technology question. It's an operations question. The model is the easiest piece — everything underneath is harder, and the underneath is what determines whether AI works.
The exercise
Pick a workflow that hurts. Score each layer from zero to three. You get a verdict — not yet, pilot, or build it — and the weakest link to start with. That fix is worth doing whether you build the AI or not.
Want a second set of eyes?
Run the assessment with us.
We use this same framework on every operational AI engagement before we write a line of code. If you'd rather walk through it with someone who's done it a dozen times, that's a conversation we'll have.
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