โ† Back to The GenAI Playbook
MING Labs ยท Framework 04

Operating Model for GenAI โ€” Canvas

Company: ____________________ Date: ____________________

Strategy

Quarterly
"What and Why" โ€” 1-2 people. C-level sponsor + AI lead.

People

Who makes portfolio & kill decisions?
Name / role:

Responsibilities

Set portfolio, allocate budget, make kill decisions, quarterly review
Key decisions this layer owns:

Enablement

Continuous
"How and With What" โ€” 2-3 people. Not a department.

People

Who evaluates tools, sets standards, trains?
Name / role:

Responsibilities

Tool evaluation, standards, context infrastructure, training (not one-off)
Current gaps:

Execution

2-week sprints
"Build and Run" โ€” in business units. Squad: 1 owner + 1 builder + 2-3 users.

First Squad

Owner + builder + users for first initiative
Names / roles:

Current Initiative

What is this squad building? What's the 6-week target?
Use case + target:

Domino Strategy โ€” Scaling Sequence

Map your departments from lowest resistance to highest. Each win unlocks the next through peer proof. Fill in department names.
1st โ€” Lowest Resistance
Department
Process-driven, data-rich
โ†’
2nd
Department
Adjacent, sees proof
โ†’
3rd
Department
Two wins โ†’ confidence
โ†’
4th
Department
Higher resistance, peer proof
โ†’
5th โ€” Enterprise
Department
Board sees the pattern

โš  Anti-Pattern: The CoE Trap

15-person Center of Excellence that becomes a bottleneck. Enablement should be 2-3 people max.

We have this risk

โš  Anti-Pattern: The Platform Tax

Spending 10ร— more on AI platforms than on training the people who use them. Tools without training = waste.

We have this risk

โš  Anti-Pattern: The Frog Problem

"If you want to drain a lake, don't ask the frogs." Governance blocking instead of enabling.

We have this risk