0-2 gates
Keep it in discovery
The team has not narrowed the operating surface enough to protect budget or trust.
Reader tool
AI workflow readiness checklist.
Six gates for deciding whether an industrial AI pilot is ready for production budget, narrower instrumentation, or a harder evidence review.
3-4 gates
Instrument before scaling
The workflow may be useful, but the handoffs, metrics, or authority boundary need work.
5-6 gates
Prepare the production memo
The pilot is close enough to test against real operating evidence and stakeholder review.
Gate 01
1 pointWorkflow Surface
Can the team name the exact workflow AI will change?
Pass signal
The workflow is narrow enough to describe in one sentence and owned by one operating team.
Weak signal
The proposal names a broad function like maintenance, dispatch, service, or procurement.
Rewrite the pilot around one recurring handoff, review queue, exception list, or decision meeting.
Gate 02
1 pointException Owner
Who owns the exception when the model is wrong or uncertain?
Pass signal
Every low-confidence output has a named human owner, escalation path, and response expectation.
Weak signal
The team talks about human-in-the-loop review without assigning the actual loop.
Assign one accountable role before expanding model access or asking for production budget.
Gate 03
1 pointSource Trail
Can a reader trace the recommendation back to source records?
Pass signal
The output carries links or references to work orders, claims, photos, notes, tickets, or approvals.
Weak signal
The system produces polished summaries but hides the records behind the summary.
Make source traceability a launch requirement, especially for safety, warranty, and procurement use.
Gate 04
1 pointAuthority Boundary
What is the system explicitly not allowed to decide?
Pass signal
The team has written boundaries for safety, claims, dispatch priority, purchase approval, or customer promises.
Weak signal
The pilot language drifts from recommendation to approval without a governance change.
Define the no-go decisions before vendor demos create pressure to automate too much.
Gate 05
1 pointOperating Metric
Will the metric prove a better workflow, not just model activity?
Pass signal
The metric captures avoided rework, cleaner escalation, fewer schedule changes, or faster review.
Weak signal
The team tracks usage, model accuracy, or dashboard views without tying them to operating improvement.
Pick one measure the budget owner already cares about and instrument it before scaling.
Gate 06
1 pointProcurement Evidence
Could this survive a serious budget, security, or safety review?
Pass signal
The pilot has documented owners, evidence, failure modes, data boundaries, and rollback steps.
Weak signal
The business case depends on demo screenshots, generic ROI claims, or vendor case studies.
Turn the pilot into a decision memo before it becomes a procurement conversation.
Weekly operating memos
Use the checklist, then get the next workflow memo.
StackDrafter turns the lowest-scoring gates into practical memos on dispatch, warranty, uptime, procurement, safety, and field adoption.
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