My marketing and engineering managers want to pitch machine learning initiatives at our next quarterly planning session, but the leadership team finds the technical jargon confusing. How do I force them to frame these requests as business operations improvements instead?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your managers bring technical ideas to the leadership table, they often get lost in the hype. To prevent this, implement a strict rule: never pitch an AI project. Instead, pitch an operations-improvement project that uses technology as a footnote.

Instruct your department heads to present their ideas using your standard business metrics. They must explain which seat on the Accountability Chart will benefit, which weekly Scorecard number will improve, and what the financial payback period will be. If they cannot explain how the project will increase capacity or reduce costs, reject the pitch immediately. By forcing your team to focus on the operational outcome rather than the underlying software, you keep your leadership team aligned and focused on running a highly efficient business. This simple rule keeps your focus on business value instead of tech trends, saving your team from high-risk distractions.