Data & AI
Ask the question before the model
The fastest way to waste a year on AI is to start with the model. The fastest way to make it pay is to start with a decision someone makes repeatedly, slowly, and with incomplete information.
Name the decision
Who decides, how often, and what would change if they were faster or more right? If you can’t name it, you’re building a demo, not a system.
Then earn the model
Once the decision is clear, most of the work is unglamorous: clean inputs, a baseline, and guardrails so the output can be trusted. The model is the last and smallest part. Done in that order, “AI” stops being a slogan and starts being a tool — and you can tell, because someone’s job got measurably easier.