Essay 05

Who should own the first AI process

You picked something to try, and now everyone is waiting to see who is in charge of it. Nobody wants to say it out loud, but if this part is vague, the project drifts.

Once you have picked the process, the next decision matters more than the tool: whose name goes next to it.

The default at a company of 50 to 500 people is to hand it to IT, or to whoever seemed most excited in the vendor demo, or to a newly titled AI lead. Each of those is understandable. Each tends to produce a pilot that looks fine in a meeting and changes nothing about how the work gets done.

The owner of the first AI process should be the person who already owns the process. The one who answers for it today when it is late or wrong.

Why the existing owner

They know where the work actually breaks. The documented process and the real one are rarely the same. The person who runs it knows which step gets skipped on Fridays, which customer always needs a second look, and which report nobody reads.

They are measured on the outcome. If turnaround improves or errors fall, it shows up in their numbers. That gives them a reason to retire the old step instead of running both.

They have authority over the routine. Someone from outside the team can suggest changes. Only the owner can say: starting Monday, we do it this way.

What IT should own instead

IT still has a real job: access, security, which systems the tool can touch, and what happens to the information that goes into it. That is a gate and a support role, not ownership. Write it down that way so nobody is confused about who calls the result.

What you, the owner of the company, should own

Your part is narrower than most owners expect. Pick the process. Name the person. Protect a few hours a week of their time so this is not stacked on top of a full job. Ask about it on a regular schedule. Make the call at the end of the trial.

If you take the process on yourself, it will move when you have time, which is not often.

Who should not own it

• A committee. A committee can advise. It cannot change a Tuesday routine.
• The vendor. Their job is to keep the account. Your job is to change one process. Those overlap, but they are not the same.
• The most enthusiastic person in the building, if they do not do the work. Enthusiasm is good for finding ideas. It is not the same as answering for the result.
• Someone new brought in from outside to handle AI. A new person has no authority over existing routines and spends the first months learning them. Add that role later, once you know what you actually need.

How to tell you picked the right person

The right owner can answer these without looking anything up:

1. How many times does this process run in a normal week?
2. Where does it usually get stuck?
3. Who gets the output, and what do they complain about?
4. What would you stop doing if this step took care of itself?

If they hesitate on most of these, they are near the process but not responsible for it. Keep looking.

What to give them

• A one page brief: the process, the measure, the date you will decide.
• Protected hours on the calendar, not good intentions.
• A named contact in IT for access and data questions.
• A small spending limit they can use without another round of approvals, enough to try a tool or a few seats without waiting weeks.
• Permission to stop the old step once the new one holds up.

That last item is the one that gets left out. Without it, people keep doing both, and the project quietly turns into extra work.

On Monday

Write the name next to the process. Tell that person directly, not in a group email. Put a half hour check in on the calendar every week for the next month. Then stay out of their way between check ins.