Understand AI.
Put it in context.
How AI changes actual work: the industries, the people, the technology, and the economics behind a useful result.
Explore 41 chapters- Foundations6/12
- By industry7/16
- By role6/20
- Workflows9/45
- Models & technology6/12
- Playbooks7/17
Open to readIn the plan
Find your path
Six ways through the guide, each starting from a question and ending at something you can use. Where a stop says “your”, pick the one that fits. A step the guide does not cover yet is marked as such.
Operator
Where should we start?
- Your industry guideB2B softwareProfessional servicesWholesale distributionBankingInsuranceHealthcareMedia
- Choosing a first AI workflow
- AI economics: where the value actually lands
- Pilot design and acceptance criteria
You leave with →A bounded experiment with an owner
Functional leader
What changes in my department?
- Your role guideSupportProposalsSales operationsFinanceOperationsEngineering
- The workflows it links to ↓
- Pilot design and acceptance criteria
- Change management in your role guideSupportProposalsSales operationsFinanceOperationsEngineering
You leave with →A plan for process and team changes
Employee
What should I learn?
- Your role guideSupportProposalsSales operationsFinanceOperationsEngineering
- What AI changes in a workflow
- Capabilities: prediction, generation, and action
- Skills in your role guideSupportProposalsSales operationsFinanceOperationsEngineering
You leave with →A practical learning sequence
Founder
What could we build or sell?
- A workflow with an unmet constraint ↓
- Constraints in your industryB2B softwareProfessional servicesWholesale distributionBankingInsuranceHealthcareMedia
- How buyers evaluate vendors
- AI-feature unit economics
You leave with →A testable product thesis
Investor
Where might value accrue?
- Your industry guideB2B softwareProfessional servicesWholesale distributionBankingInsuranceHealthcareMedia
- AI economics: where the value actually lands
- Constraints in your industryB2B softwareProfessional servicesWholesale distributionBankingInsuranceHealthcareMedia
- Evidence: what counts as a demonstrated result
You leave with →A diligence question set; each industry guide ends with one
Implementer
What system does this require?
- The workflow you are building ↓
- The architecture it needsRetrievalDocument extraction
- Selecting models for a specific task
- Pilot design and acceptance criteria
You leave with →Requirements and acceptance criteria
The library
Find the question you’re working on.
41 of 41 chapters
Economic effects describe potential benefits, not accounting classifications. Filters combine; industry and benefit filters focus on the linked workflows.
Foundations 6
0114 min read
What AI changes in a workflow
Identify the task and responsibility that change.
Read chapter0214 min read
AI economics: where the value actually lands
Distinguish capacity value from realized financial benefit.
Read chapter0313 min read
Capabilities: prediction, generation, and action
Choose the capability the work requires.
Read chapter0414 min read
Assistance, approval, and autonomy
Choose an appropriate level of system authority.
Read chapter0513 min read
Evidence: what counts as a demonstrated result
Evaluate a deployment or ROI claim.
Read chapter0612 min read
Choosing a first AI workflow
Select a bounded first experiment.
Read chapterBy industry 7
0119 min read
B2B software
Choose promising workflows and identify constraints in b2b software.
Read chapter0217 min read
Professional services
Choose promising workflows and identify constraints in professional services.
Read chapter0320 min read
Wholesale distribution
Choose promising workflows and identify constraints in wholesale distribution.
Read chapter0420 min read
Banking and financial services
Choose promising workflows and identify constraints in banking and financial services.
Read chapter0521 min read
Insurance
Choose promising workflows and identify constraints in insurance.
Read chapter0621 min read
Healthcare delivery
Choose promising workflows and identify constraints in healthcare delivery.
Read chapter0720 min read
Media and entertainment
Choose promising workflows and identify constraints in media and entertainment.
Read chapterBy role 6
0118 min read
Support leaders
Identify which responsibilities and skills change for support leaders.
Read chapter0216 min read
Proposal managers
Identify which responsibilities and skills change for proposal managers.
Read chapter0320 min read
Sales operations leaders
Identify which responsibilities and skills change for sales operations leaders.
Read chapter0419 min read
Finance leaders
Identify which responsibilities and skills change for finance leaders.
Read chapter0519 min read
Operations leaders
Identify which responsibilities and skills change for operations leaders.
Read chapter0619 min read
Engineering leaders
Identify which responsibilities and skills change for engineering leaders.
Read chapterWorkflows 9
0123 min read
AI-assisted support replies for a B2B software company
Decide whether supervised support drafting improves resolution effort.
Read chapter0223 min read
AI-assisted proposals for professional-services firms
Decide whether evidence-backed proposal drafting reduces total effort.
Read chapter0326 min read
AI-assisted purchase-order intake for distributors
Decide whether supervised document intake reduces order-processing work.
Read chapter0423 min read
Software incident triage
Choose what triage work to assist without delegating incident authority.
Read chapter0525 min read
Software customer-onboarding guidance
Evaluate assistance for a bounded onboarding process.
Read chapter0623 min read
Services project knowledge retrieval
Choose how to retrieve permitted experience across client projects.
Read chapter0724 min read
Services meeting-to-action follow-up
Evaluate turning meeting notes into reviewed assignments.
Read chapter0825 min read
Distributor inventory forecasting
Compare predictive methods with existing replenishment forecasts.
Read chapter0924 min read
Distributor product-catalog enrichment
Decide which catalog fields can be proposed and validated.
Read chapterModels & technology 6
0114 min read
Selecting models for a specific task
Design a task-level comparison before choosing a model.
Read chapter0213 min read
Retrieval and source-grounded answers
Choose when retrieval improves the workflow.
Read chapter0313 min read
Document processing and structured extraction
Compare rules, OCR, and model-based extraction.
Read chapter0416 min read
Computer vision in operations
Define image data and quality requirements.
Read chapter0516 min read
Speech systems and voice interfaces
Evaluate recognition and interaction under real conditions.
Read chapter0615 min read
Open-weight and hosted deployment
Compare operational responsibilities and constraints.
Read chapterPlaybooks 7
0115 min read
Pilot design and acceptance criteria
Define the evidence required for an expansion decision.
Read chapter0213 min read
Workflow economics worksheet
Calculate capacity, cost, and realization scenarios.
Read chapter0313 min read
Human review and escalation design
Allocate review effort and authority by consequence.
Read chapter0416 min read
Build, buy, or configure
Compare full lifecycle effort for sourcing options.
Read chapter0518 min read
Vendor diligence
Ask evidence-based questions about capabilities and operations.
Read chapter0618 min read
Staffing an AI pilot
Decide who a pilot needs, and whether to hire, contract, or partner for each role.
Read chapter0717 min read
Choosing and working with an AI partner
Choose a consultant, firm, or freelancer for an AI project and contract for what the pilot measures.
Read chapter