Research, practical frameworks and guidance for businesses, filed under Business owners.
A custom AI assistant is worth it only for a job that repeats weekly, uses the same company files each time and has a describable standard. Here is the three-question test, a comparison table and a copyable Setup Card.
Official surveys in the UK and US show the smallest firms use AI least. If you run a business with fewer than ten people, your first move is not a policy or a program. It is the Small Room Test: could the work carry on if the one person who knows AI were away for two weeks?
Surveys from PwC, Gallup and the UK government show AI use rising while access to learning lags. The Access Grid is a one-page table that shows which roles in your team lack a tool, permission, protected time or someone to ask.
When someone resigns, the first question is whether AI can cover the seat. The evidence says AI is reshaping roles faster than it removes them. Use the Backfill Test: four questions to answer in writing before you refill, redesign or close the role.
A ten-question test to find out whether your business files are ready for AI: one named document, one owner and one check date per question, with a sheet to copy and a move for every result.
A small shop, café or restaurant should use AI before the holiday rush only on repeat jobs a person can check in seconds. Here is the Freeze Line, a copyable jobs table and a four-week plan.
Business owners often try AI on the work that looks impressive while their own backlog holds everyone up. Here is the Waiting-On-Me Rule, a five-day audit sheet, and a worked example for choosing where to begin.
AI can help with hiring, but the risk starts when it ranks, scores or rejects people. Draw the Sort Line, name an owner for every step below it, and copy the hiring sheet and candidate notice.
Most owners do not know what AI training to buy. Run the Gap Test on one job: is the gap skill, permission, time or judgment? Then fill in a one-page brief and decide what to train, fix or skip.
Most surveys count how many businesses use AI. None count how deeply your own team does. This ten-minute setup and two-minute conversation check, with a copyable sheet, shows whether your team's AI use is deep or only widespread.
Headcount stays flat when a team starts using AI, so nobody thinks the job changed. This guide gives you the Core and Margin Rule and a one-hour role review sheet you can copy for every role in your business.
Family firms adopt AI faster than they decide who answers for it. Here is a rule for splitting owner decisions from manager decisions, a decision rights sheet you can copy, and a worked example for a hypothetical 40-person firm.
