AI readiness checklist

Do you have work worth automating?

AI pays off first on work that repeats every week, follows the same steps most of the time and takes someone hours.

• I can name one task that repeats every week and takes someone hours.
• I know who does that task and roughly how long it takes them.
• The task follows the same steps most of the time.
• The task has a clear finished state, like a sent quote or an entered order.

Is the information within reach?

A tool can only work with information it can reach, so the data a task runs on needs to be digital and in systems you control.

• The information the task uses is digital: email, PDFs, spreadsheets or software.
• Most of it lives in software the business pays for, like accounting, a CRM or a scheduling tool.
• We have admin access to that software, or know who does.
• I could pull ten real examples of the task, start to finish.

Does someone own the process?

A project moves at the pace of the person who can answer questions about the work, so it needs an owner with time for it.

• One person owns the process and can answer questions about it.
• That person can give an hour a week while something is built.
• The people who do the task today are open to trying a new tool.
• Someone on staff already uses ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot for work.

Do you have rules for your data and a number for the cost?

Before any information goes near an AI tool you need to know which of it is confidential, and you need a rough cost for the task to tell whether fixing it is worth it.

• I know which of our information is confidential, such as client files, health records or financial data.
• We have a rule, even an informal one, for what staff may paste into AI tools.
• I can put a rough dollar figure on what the task costs us in a year.
• I have a budget in mind for fixing it.

What your score means

0 of 16

Still to do: Do you have work worth automating? · Is the information within reach? · Does someone own the process? · Do you have rules for your data and a number for the cost?

1. The work, its information or its owner is unclear

   Start by mapping the work

   Pick the task that bothers you most and write down each step, who does it and how long it takes. Any AI project starts from that map, and making it costs nothing.

2. A named task, most of the information and an owner

   Ready for a first project, with some groundwork

   You have the work and most of the information. The unticked statements are the groundwork, and a first project can include it.

3. Every group in place

   Ready for a first project

   You can name the work, the information is within reach and someone owns it. A first project turns one workflow into a working tool at a fixed price from $10,000.

Do you need a paid AI readiness assessment?

You need a paid assessment when the checklist leaves you unsure where AI would pay off, because answering that takes someone watching the work. With me, that assessment is the start of a first project: I shadow how the work really flows, map what’s worth automating and build the first piece, at a fixed price from $10,000.

The AI strategy and roadmapping page covers that work, and what an AI consultant costs covers what moves the price.

Bring your score to a free 45-minute call. I’ll learn how your business runs and where to start, and afterward I’ll send a written proposal for your first project.