article
What makes an AI use case worth pursuing?
A concrete blueprint for connecting leadership training to the next investment decision.
Originally published September 13, 2026 · Updated September 17, 2026
A workshop can produce a long list of AI ideas. A useful blueprint makes the choice clearer: which problem matters, how AI could help, and what you still need to learn before investing.
Begin with the problem your organization owns.
Start with a decision, service, or workflow that matters to the people responsible for results. Describe what happens today. A policy search that repeatedly interrupts experienced staff is specific. A general desire to become more innovative is too broad to evaluate.
For each candidate, record who does the work, who depends on it, what information it uses, and where the difficulty occurs. This gives leaders something concrete to prioritize after the training.
Make the idea specific enough to examine.
Help staff find the right policy and its source.
- The problem
- Staff repeatedly ask experienced colleagues to locate and interpret routine policy information.
- The proposed use
- An assistant that finds approved guidance, cites the source, and flags questions that need a person.
- The information needed
- Current policies, clear document owners, access rules, and representative staff questions.
- Who owns the decision
- The department responsible for the policy, with IT and information owners involved.
- How to evaluate it
- Compare time to find an answer, correctness, source quality, and the effort of checking the result.
- The next step
- Check source quality and permissions before scoping a prototype.
Illustrative example, not a client deliverable or a claim of measured results. The priorities and evidence come from your organization.
Compare the candidates using the same questions.
Does the problem matter? Connect it to an organizational priority and identify the person accountable for it.
Can the necessary information support it? Check whether sources exist, are current, and can be used for this purpose.
Could the proposed change fit the workflow? Include the people who will use and review it. Count review effort as part of the work.
What would show that it helped? Choose evidence that can be compared with the current approach.
Use the blueprint to make the next decision.
A prioritized idea still needs a readiness check. You may discover that documents need an owner, systems need connecting, or the existing process needs clarification before development would help. Those findings define the work required.
The next step might be a focused assessment, department session, or small prototype. Agree what that step must establish, who makes the decision afterward, and what would justify stopping.
Put your leadership team’s ideas into a blueprint.
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