Tools for getting data and AI right, in the right order
The checklists, templates and plans I use with clients, free to download. Governance comes before analytics, and analytics before AI. Each one helps you check where you stand.
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For executives and operating partners
Diligence, planning, governance, hiring, vendors and board reporting
AI Readiness Scorecard
Check one AI use case against the six areas that decide whether it pays back, and see which gap to fix first.
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Data & AI Due Diligence Checklist
What to check in a target's data before you sign: 38 checks across seven areas, the evidence to request for each, and the red flags that should change the terms.
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The First 100 Days: Portfolio Company
The sequence for a new data and AI leader in a PE-backed company: find the numbers the board can't trust, name owners, and show one result in dollars by day 100.
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The First 100 Days: Startup
How a startup's first data leader brings order to the Wild West without slowing the team down, and gets ready for the next raise.
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The First 100 Days: Fortune 500
How a data and AI leader in a large company cuts the approval drag on AI while keeping the controls that actually protect the business.
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Data & AI Use Case Prioritization Matrix
Score every data, analytics and AI idea on value and readiness. Ideas whose data has no owner can't land in "do now", however valuable they look.
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18 Questions to Ask a Data Vendor
For data platforms, warehouses, integration tools and BI software. Each question comes with what a good answer sounds like and when to walk away.
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21 Questions to Ask an AI Vendor
For AI applications, copilots and agents. Tests what happens on your data, with your people, after the contract is signed.
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Board-Ready AI Policy Template
A one-page AI policy a CEO can adapt and take to the board: risk tiers, rules for everyone, who is accountable, and what the board sees each quarter.
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Data Governance RACI Template
Who decides, who does the work and who gets told for 27 data decisions, from naming data owners to approving AI for production. Flags every row without exactly one accountable person.
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Data Leader KPI Scorecard
How a CEO, CFO or board can tell whether the data function is earning its budget: 19 KPIs across value, trust, adoption, delivery and risk, with a board summary that writes itself.
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Data & AI Board Update Template
A board deck for the quarterly data and AI update: the ask up front, value as a trend, the scorecard, the AI portfolio and the risks, with guidance in the speaker notes.
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30 Questions for Hiring Your Head of Data
For CEOs, CFOs and operating partners hiring a data leader. Pick the profile you need, then test what predicts success: money, governance, adoption and AI judgment.
Get it free →What level is your data function?
Run four worlds in order, governance to AI, and finish with your level, your scores by area and your next three moves.
Play →For data leaders and their teams
Careers, interviews and the people side of the job
Managing Difficult Stakeholders Playbook
The nine stakeholders every data leader meets, from the CFO who doesn't trust the numbers to the CEO who wants AI by next quarter, and what to do about each.
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Data & AI Interview Question Bank
For candidates from analyst to CDO: the questions that decide data and AI interviews, how to answer each one, what to avoid, and what to ask the company back.
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Data & AI Career Roadmap: Analyst to CDO
What each step from analyst to Chief Data Officer is really judged on, the skills to build, the trap that keeps people stuck, and when you're ready to move.
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What I wish someone had handed me
