Each phase addresses one of the five failure modes above. The sequence matters — Phase 01 determines whether the rest of the engagement should happen at all, and what it looks like when it does.
Phase 01
Assess
The four-axis readiness diagnostic
AI readiness. Which workflows are candidates — and which would amplify dysfunction. Insurance & compliance. Where current AI usage already creates exposure. Operational readiness. Tribal knowledge, handoffs, accountability — what's reproducible and what isn't. ROI mapping. Hours, dollars, and risk reduction modeled before Phase 02 starts.
Phase 02
Clean
Document. Standardize. Assign.
SOPs that humans actually follow. Handoff protocols. Decision trees. Process owners named in writing. The work that makes the next two phases possible — and the work most consultants skip.
Phase 03
Automate
Add AI where it earns its keep
Only the workflows that survived Phase 01. AI assistants, prompt libraries, CRM and project-management integrations. Human review checkpoints by design, not by accident.
Phase 04
Control
Defensible by construction
AI usage policy, data-handling rules, vendor review, incident response, model and tool inventory. Staff training that gets used, not filed. Board-readable risk reporting.
Phase 05
Scale
Run it without us
Internal owners, dashboards, a quarterly review cadence. The operation no longer depends on Mike, on you, or on whoever happens to be holding the institutional memory this week.