Your AI Survival Guide

CHAPTER 4How to Start

The goal of this chapter is to help you be successful with AI projects without having a technical background. Contrary to what most people believe, having a technical background is not necessary. While at some point you may need to bring in technical resources, it's a sliver in time compared to the entire project. The success of your AI project has to do with three things: preparation, people, and perseverance. In this chapter, we go through all three without theoretical nonsense.

We'll discuss a six-phase operational framework; after introducing each phase, we'll discuss how to exactly approach each of the six phases and what needs to be done in each phase.

This chapter, unlike the others, is instructional in nature. It's important for you to note the following:

• The extent of work you need to do within each step of the framework will depend on you and your company culture. By this I mean the level of discussions, decisions, and documentation will vary, so don't get overwhelmed. For example, when deciding which of the five AI strategies is right for you, this may take you several months or half a day. Regardless, I've outlined all five strategies and the readiness assessment to help you select the right one, but how long each step will take depends on your influence and environment.
• Additionally, this chapter is an intensive step-by-step guide. You'll see a lot more flowchart, diagrams, bullet points, sequencing of activities, and more. There's less narration ...