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Stop writing an AI strategy. Write down your work first.
Many AI strategies are lists of tools looking for a problem. The organisations getting value start somewhere duller: a clear picture of how work gets done.
The short answer
An AI strategy without a clear picture of the work is a list of tools looking for a problem. Map one area of work as input, transformation and output first; then decide which pieces a person, software or AI should do.
A familiar story: the board asks for an AI strategy. Someone gathers vendor demos, runs a few pilots and writes a slide of use cases. Six months on, there are some licences and little has changed.
The missing middle
AI does tasks. Strategies describe ambitions. Between them sits the thing almost nobody has written down: the work itself. What comes in, what's done to it, what goes out, and who decides.
The duller alternative
- Pick one area, say how an enquiry becomes an invoice.
- Break it into pieces: input → transformation → output.
- For each piece: how often, how long, how well, and who answers for it.
- Only then ask which pieces a person, software or AI should do.
What changes
The question moves from "which AI tool?" to "which piece of work, and how would we know it's better?" You have a measure before you buy anything, and a reason to stop if it doesn't improve.
"We don't have time to map everything"
You don't need to. One area at a time is enough to start, and the first map usually shows where work waits, which is often a bigger win than any tool.
Delegate the doing, keep the deciding. Whoever or whatever does a piece of work, a named person should still answer for it.
Respond
Add your view.
Academics, practitioners, sceptics: tell us where this is right or wrong. Mark reads every response, and the best are published here with your name and role, with our reply.
Where this leads
Start with solid ground
Stratapault builds a digital twin of your technology, logins and data from your own systems, read-only, with an operator beside you. The solid ground any AI plan needs.
Disagree? Good.
Tell us where this is wrong. We publish the best challenges, with your name if you like.
Quote or cite this
Maynard, M. (2026) Stop writing an AI strategy. Write down your work first. digitaltwin.org.uk, 16 Oct 2026. https://digitaltwin.org.uk/articles/stop-writing-an-ai-strategy/