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AI Adoption Roadmap · Appendix D

The 50 By Friday AI Roadmap.

A five-stage decision framework for understanding where your organization is today, what evidence it needs next, and how to move forward with purpose.

Developed by 50 By Friday AI Published Format Organizational decision map Framework 50 By Friday AI Roadmap
Explore the roadmap

The Roadmap

One journey. Five different decisions.

AI adoption does not happen through one purchase, one project, or one leadership decision. It develops through a sequence of organizational choices.

  1. 01
    Discover

    Understand the work.

    Identify a meaningful organizational problem.

  2. 02
    Assess

    Examine readiness.

    Know what must be strengthened before implementation.

  3. 03
    Prioritize

    Make the choice.

    Select the project most likely to create value and learning.

  4. 04
    Build

    Run the project.

    Implement a focused pilot and measure what changes.

  5. 05
    Scale

    Apply the learning.

    Improve the organization and decide what comes next.

Scale does not end the roadmap.

Every completed project creates new information, new capabilities, and new opportunities. That learning returns the organization to Discover.

How to Use It

The roadmap is a guide, not a race.

Its purpose is not to push every organization toward implementation. Its purpose is to help leaders make the next decision with greater clarity.

Begin Where You Are

Your organization may already understand its workflows but still need to evaluate readiness. Another organization may have completed a pilot and need to decide whether to expand.

Start with the decision currently in front of you.

Advance Through Evidence

Enthusiasm is not enough to move from one stage to the next. Each stage should produce enough evidence to support the next organizational decision.

Progress should be visible, explainable, and measurable.

Return When Conditions Change

New leadership, changing workflows, new regulations, employee feedback, or unexpected project results may require the organization to revisit an earlier stage.

Returning is not failure. It is responsible adoption.

The Decision Gates

Know what must be true before moving forward.

Each stage answers a different organizational question. The evidence created during that stage becomes the foundation for the decision that follows.

01

Discover

Which problem deserves our attention?

The decision

Decide whether an organizational challenge is important enough to investigate further.

Move forward when
  • The current workflow has been observed and described.
  • The people affected by the problem have been identified.
  • The impact can be explained in terms of time, cost, quality, experience, risk, or capacity.
02

Assess

Are we prepared to act responsibly?

The decision

Decide whether the organization has the leadership, people, workflow, data, and measurement foundations needed to begin.

Move forward when
  • A leader is prepared to sponsor the work.
  • The workflow is understood well enough to be improved.
  • Data and information needs have been identified.
  • Readiness gaps are visible and can be addressed.
03

Prioritize

Is this the right project to pursue now?

The decision

Choose the initiative that offers the strongest balance of organizational impact, feasibility, support, and learning value.

Move forward when
  • The project is connected to an important organizational outcome.
  • The scope is achievable within a reasonable period.
  • Success can be measured against a known baseline.
  • The organization understands why this project should come before the alternatives.
04

Build

Can we run a disciplined pilot?

The decision

Decide whether the organization has a clear enough plan to implement, learn, measure, and adjust without losing sight of the original problem.

Move forward when
  • Project ownership and responsibilities are defined.
  • The timeline, pilot boundaries, and expected outcomes are documented.
  • Employees know what is changing and what support they will receive.
  • Risks, governance needs, and measurements are included in the plan.
05

Scale

What should we expand, improve, or stop?

The decision

Decide how the organization should apply what it learned, whether through expansion, refinement, a new project, or a deliberate decision not to continue.

Move forward when
  • Results have been compared with the original baseline.
  • Employees and stakeholders have shared what worked and what did not.
  • Lessons have been documented for future projects.
  • The organization can sustain ownership, training, measurement, and governance.

Roadmap Toolkit

Use the right tool for the decision in front of you.

The appendices are not additional reading assignments. They are working tools designed to help teams move from discussion to evidence.

Appendix A Assess

AI Readiness Scorecard

Evaluate leadership, culture, workflows, data, employee readiness, governance, measurement, and strategy.

Complete the scorecard
Appendix B Discover + Prioritize

AI Opportunity Discovery Worksheet

Define the challenge, examine the current process, describe success, and evaluate whether the opportunity deserves further investment.

Evaluate an opportunity
Appendix C Build

AI Project Planning Canvas

Convert a selected opportunity into a structured project with defined ownership, milestones, risks, training, and measures.

Plan the project
Appendix D All Stages

The 50 By Friday AI Roadmap

Use this page to orient leaders, identify the organization's current stage, and agree on the next decision that needs to be made.

Use it with your team

Leadership Discussion

Use the roadmap in one focused conversation.

This framework can help a leadership team move from a broad AI discussion to a clear organizational next step.

  1. 01
    Name your current stage.

    Which decision is actually in front of the organization today?

  2. 02
    Review the evidence.

    What do you already know, and what still needs to be learned before moving forward?

  3. 03
    Choose one next step.

    Select one action, one owner, and one reasonable date for continuing the work.

End the conversation by asking:

“What is the next thoughtful step we can take?”

Your Next Step

Progress begins with clarity, not speed.

You do not need perfect data, unlimited resources, or every answer before beginning. You need a meaningful problem, an honest understanding of your organization, and a willingness to learn.

Begin with Discover Check Your Readiness Return to the full roadmap series
One project. One lesson. One improvement at a time.

Last reviewed:

The 50 By Friday AI Roadmap is an educational framework for organizational planning. It does not replace formal legal, regulatory, security, financial, procurement, or technical review.

← Previous appendix Appendix C: AI Project Planning Canvas

Turn a selected AI opportunity into a structured implementation plan with clear responsibilities, milestones, risks, and measures of success.

Return to the full series → The AI Adoption Roadmap

Explore the complete guide, revisit a stage, or return to the worksheets and planning resources included throughout the series.