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The Human-First AI Series

The AI Pilot Handbook

A Practical Framework for AI Projects That Actually Ship and Deliver Real-world Value

A practical field manual for directors and project leads at SMEs running their first AI pilot. Cuts through hype to deliver a real-world framework: RATES for candidate scoring, the Verification Tax concept to measure true ROI, and a 30-day playbook that forces a clear Scale, Kill, or Pivot decision.

The organisations extracting value from AI share one trait, and it isn't bigger budgets or better tools - it's the boring, unglamorous preparation work this book walks you through step by step.

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The AI Pilot Handbook book cover

What's inside

  • Score pilot candidates with the RATES framework (Repetitive, Annoying, Time-consuming, Error-prone, Scalable) and identify high-impact tasks in under 15 minutes.
  • Run a structured 30-day pilot with baselines, golden test sets, and weekly calibration cycles, avoiding "Pilot Purgatory" and reaching a defensible Scale/Kill/Pivot recommendation.
  • Calculate your Verification Tax - the cost of reviewing, correcting, and validating AI output - to distinguish genuine time savings from busy work that merely shifts elsewhere.
  • Evaluate vendors using the Four Tests (Sovereignty, Training, Data Retention, Reference) and build a Vendor Evidence Pack from publicly available documentation.

Who this is for

Directors, operations managers, and project leads at SMEs (5-50 employees) with deep business process knowledge but limited formal AI experience. You've probably played with ChatGPT, but you've never run a structured AI project. You're pragmatic, results-focused, time-poor, and sceptical of hype. Your staff are already using AI tools informally, you need to show ROI quickly, and you want to avoid the common traps that cause pilots to drift indefinitely.

What to read next

An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Using AI

Need the fundamentals first? The Beginner's Guide covers the AI basics before you put a team on them.
Learn more

Use AI, Stay Human

Want the strategic positioning layer? Use AI, Stay Human pairs naturally with the Handbook - the Handbook runs the pilot, Use AI Stay Human protects your expert moat.
Learn more

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Let's turn this into results for your business

  • A short call about where you are and what you want to do with AI
  • A clear view of the fastest path from book to results in your team
  • No hard sell - just an honest conversation
Alastair McDermott

25 mins · Free · No obligation

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