By Johannes Sundlo — People AI Evangelist. I help leaders and HR teams turn AI into adoption that sticks, through keynotes, workshops and change programs.
Most AI pilots don’t fail because the technology was wrong. They quietly die because they were set up to prove a tool instead of build a habit. Here’s how to run an AI pilot that actually leads somewhere.
Why pilots quietly die
- They’re disconnected from real, daily work — a demo, not a workflow.
- There’s no owner with the time and mandate to carry it.
- Success was never defined, so nobody can say if it worked.
- The first rough results get read as “AI doesn’t work here.”
A pilot that leads to adoption — step by step
- Pick a real, repeated task. High-frequency, low-risk, and genuinely annoying to a specific team. Frequency compounds the payoff; low risk lets people learn without fear.
- Name an owner and give them air cover. One person accountable, with protected time and a leader shielding them from ‘prove the ROI by Friday’.
- Define success up front. Pick 2–3 measures: time saved, usage without being told, and whether quality holds. Write them down before you start.
- Build it into the workflow. Put the AI step inside the existing template or checklist — not a separate tool.
- Run it for a few weeks, then decide. Keep, kill, or expand based on the measures — not on vibes or politics.
- Tell the story. Share the concrete result widely. That’s what turns one pilot into organisation-wide pull.
How to know your pilot is working
The clearest signal isn’t a glowing survey — it’s people using the AI step without being reminded, and the human editing getting lighter over time. When usage spreads on its own, you’ve got real adoption, not a demo.
A pilot is step one. For the full system around it, see the hub guide on AI adoption that sticks, plus AI for Leaders on backing pilots from the top.
Turn one pilot into real momentum
A keynote to set direction or a workshop to design your first AI pilots together — with a clear path from pilot to adoption.
