AI Pilot Readiness Checklist

Work through the five areas below before scoping your first pilot. Nothing is submitted or stored — this is a working tool, not a lead form.

Team capability

A pilot needs an owner and a few willing users — not an AI team.

One person is willing to own the pilot end-to-endThe people who run the workflow today can spend 1-2 hours/week testingLeadership has agreed a pilot is worth 4-8 weeks of focusSomeone can approve access to the tools the workflow touches

Data availability

AI pilots run on your real inputs — check you can actually get to them.

The workflow's inputs (emails, documents, tickets, records) are digitalYou can export or grant access to a representative sampleYou know where sensitive data lives and what must stay privateHistorical examples exist to validate against (even a few dozen)

Process documentation

The pilot automates a workflow — the workflow has to be describable.

You can describe the workflow's steps from trigger to doneThe main exception cases are known (even if undocumented)You know who touches the workflow and in what orderThe current pain is specific: hours spent, delays, or error rates

Success metrics

Measured at 30/60/90 days — decide what 'better' means before building.

You can name the one number the pilot should moveA baseline for that number exists or can be captured pre-pilotYou've agreed what result would justify scaling — and what would stop it

Change management readiness

Pilots fail on adoption more often than on technology.

The team affected knows a pilot is coming and whySomeone will handle questions and feedback during the pilotThere's appetite to change the process if the pilot works

Your readiness

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Start with a readiness audit

Several foundations are missing. That's normal — a readiness audit maps the gaps and leaves you with a prioritized pilot backlog instead of a stalled build.

Bring your results to the first conversation

Whatever the score, the next step is the same: a short conversation about the workflow you'd fix first.

Start the conversation Back to resources

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