How should our leadership team write and structure a 90-day Rock around AI automation so it produces a concrete operational result rather than turning into an open-ended technology research project?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Most AI Rocks fail because leadership teams write vague objectives like 'Explore AI tools for customer service' or 'Implement automation in estimating.' Those are research projects, not business Rocks. A Rock must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (SMART), with complete clarity on what done looks like.

To structure an AI Rock that delivers operational results, tie the milestone to a concrete business bottleneck, a documented Core Process, and a verified Scorecard metric.

Follow this four-part standard when drafting the Rock during your quarterly planning session:

- Scope: Identify the single documented process being upgraded. For example: Core Process Number 4, Subcontractor Bid Reconciliation.
- Accountability: Assign one seat on your Accountability Chart to own the outcome. Technology vendors or outside consultants cannot own a Rock. An internal leader must own it.
- Operational Done Statement: State the measurable throughput required by day 90. For example: Deploy an automated extraction workflow for all subcontractor PDF bids, reducing intake cycle time from 72 hours to under 4 hours, with 100 percent of edge cases routed to the lead estimator.
- Milestone Schedule: Set strict checkpoints. Day 30 is data hygiene and prompt testing on historical bids. Day 60 is a live pilot running in parallel with the human estimator. Day 90 is full operational handoff with the updated SOP documented and signed off by the Integrator.

Never allow your team to report on tech features during your weekly Level 10 Meeting. The Rock owner must report exclusively on whether the operational process is on track to hit the efficiency target.