Most failed AI initiatives were predictable — the warning signs were visible before a dollar was spent. A good adoption checklist surfaces them early, when they’re cheap to fix. Here’s the checklist, and how dgm works through it. (dgm implements osFoundry, a separate company’s platform — we are not osFoundry.)
Before you start: readiness
- Clear goals. What business outcome are you actually after?
- Data accessible and reasonably clean for the use case (see how to prepare your data for AI).
- The right first use case — high ROI, feasible, well-bounded (see how to pick the right AI use case first).
- A baseline metric captured so you can prove ROI later.
During: build it right
- Integration plan — how AI connects to your real systems and workflows.
- Governance and security — access controls, human oversight, and any compliance requirements.
- Model and vendor flexibility — avoid lock-in.
- A pilot with real users and clear success criteria (see how to run a successful AI pilot).
Around it: people and measurement
- Change management and training — the biggest predictor of whether AI gets used (see change management for AI adoption).
- Measurement against your baseline (see how to measure AI ROI).
- An operating plan — who maintains and improves it after launch.
The items teams skip (and shouldn’t)
Three checklist items quietly sink projects: data readiness, governance, and change management. They’re less exciting than the tool, so teams skip them — then discover the data isn’t usable, there’s no oversight, or no one adopts the system. Don’t skip them.
Use it to start small
The checklist should lead you to one high-ROI use case, proven before scaling — not a company-wide big-bang launch. Phased adoption, guided by the checklist, is how AI actually succeeds.
How dgm helps
dgm runs this checklist as part of its $399 assessment — readiness, first use case, integration, governance, change, and measurement — then implements at $3,999/month with no per-seat fees. If you’d rather explore the platform yourself first, go straight to osFoundry; if you want the checklist worked through and delivered, that’s where dgm comes in.