A working guide
The five questions to answer before your business spends a naira on AI
Most companies start their AI journey by commissioning a strategy document. The document is not the problem. Starting with a document is.
Keep the four-page PDF for your next leadership conversation.
Sit your leadership team down with these five questions instead. Answer them honestly and you will leave the room with something better than a strategy: a short list of specific things worth doing.
What do your people actually do all day?
Not the org chart version, the honest one. Map where the paid hours go, then look for repetition, retyping, and waiting.
Where does information sit and wait?
List every queue where work waits for a person to read, sort, or summarise. Rank those queues by hours burned each week.
If you had the answer instantly, what would change?
Name the decision each use case would change and the person who would act differently. No decision, no project.
What do your people and customers already trust?
Prefer tools that attach to how people already work. Be suspicious of tools that require them to become different people first.
Who owns the follow-through?
Write one person's name next to each use case before spending anything. If you cannot, you are not ready.
What happens after the five
Worked through honestly, the five questions leave you with real queues, real decisions, and real owners. That is a strategy. It just does not look like a document.
Somewhere between the board meeting and the document? Write to hello@mikeoladapo.com.