Monday is a 20-minute portfolio standup where each owner reports one number: hours saved or errors avoided last week. If the number is zero for two consecutive weeks, we stop the work.
Midweek, teams configure or tune their tools, adjust prompts, test connectors and trial add-ons.
Fridays are for users. We sit with them, watch the tool in action and capture where it helps and where it gets in the way.
Prioritization stays plain and practical. We score the backlog by reach, impact, confidence and effort. We drop anything that requires new data we cannot legally or ethically obtain. We prefer steps that remove manual work over flashy features that add complexity. Platform development only enters the picture when hosted tools cannot deliver.
Funding follows the work, not the hype. I divide the budget into three segments: foundations (identity, data access, observability, policy enforcement); short trials with out-of-the-box tools, capped at four weeks; and scale-ups built on top of those tools once business owners prove their value. The rule is simple: no scale-up without an owner, a measure and a rollback plan. Subscription costs sit in the same dashboard as cloud and labor, so no one is surprised.
Two practices keep us honest. First, a one-page summary leaders can read without context: use case, owner, weekly value, cumulative value, risk notes and next decision date. Second, a red button culture: if a tool misfires in a way that could harm a colleague or disrupt a workflow, anyone can pause its use.