the method
The Method
> six axes. five phases. one rule.
the six axes
A firm is not a number. It is a shape.
We score six axes, each from 0 to 4, against behavioral anchors — what we can watch someone do, not what sounds right in a meeting. Two firms with the same average can need opposite things. The shape is what tells you which.
01 / 06
Data readiness
level 3 / 4foundation
Is the firm's data digital, structured, centralized, queryable? This is the substrate. Everything AI does, it does to data — and most firms have theirs in five systems and a shared drive. A foundation axis: nothing above it can score higher.
the one rule
A firm's phase can never be higher than its weakest foundation.
Data and governance are the foundation. If either one scores a 1, the firm is Experimenting — no matter how many tools it has bought, how enthusiastic the staff are, or what the average says.
This is the point of the instrument. An average will happily hide a zero. Ours refuses to. It stops firms from stacking tools on a floor that cannot hold them, and it names the one constraint that is actually binding — which is almost never the thing the vendor is selling.
> scored twice, too: what leadership states, and what we observe. When tooling runs ahead of what leadership knows about, that is shadow usage. When governance runs behind it, that is a policy that exists only on paper.
the rule at work · pick a firm
Tools, habits, and a partner who cares — and no rules about client data. The average says 2.5. The phase says zero.
average 2.5 · phase 0
the five phases
- phase 0Unaware
No AI in the firm, and no view on it. Work is manual, records are scattered, and the question has not been asked out loud. The first move is not a tool. It is a conversation about what AI is for here.
> next move: spark + literacy.
- phase 1Experimenting
Individuals use AI on their own. No policy, no approved tools, no record of what client data has gone where. Most firms that believe they are further along are here — the usage is real, the control is not.
> next move: policy + tool selection. the highest-leverage move a small firm can make.
- phase 2Standardizing
Approved tools, a written policy, a named owner. Data is consolidating. Staff know what they may and may not put into a model. The exposure is managed and the firm can now buy with confidence.
> next move: workflow redesign.
- phase 3Integrating
AI is a documented step in how the work gets done, not a shortcut someone takes. Handoffs, review points, and oversight are designed in. The time saved shows up in the schedule, not just in anecdotes.
> next move: rethink the offering and the pricing.
- phase 4Transforming
AI reshapes what the firm sells, not just how it operates. New service lines, different pricing, work the firm could not have taken before. Few firms are here. None get here by starting here.
> the point of the order.