Your First AI Project: A Practical Planning Checklist

A good first AI project improves one repeatable workflow, has a named owner and produces a result you can check. Before buying a tool, write down the problem, the information it needs and the point where a person takes over. This checklist is designed for Australian small and mid-sized businesses preparing their first implementation.

1. Describe the work in one sentence

“We want AI” is too broad to scope. Try: “When a website enquiry arrives, prepare a structured summary for our sales coordinator to review.” That sentence gives the project a trigger, an output and an owner. Leave adjacent tasks outside the first release so you can tell whether the change helps.

2. Capture the current process

Follow several enquiries from arrival to completion. Record where information is copied, who makes decisions and where work waits. Include unusual cases: an incomplete form, an existing customer and an enquiry that belongs with another team. Keep a baseline of handling time and corrections before introducing the new system.

3. Decide whether AI is needed

A fixed rule can often route a form or copy a field without AI. AI becomes useful when the input varies, such as free-text requests that need summarising or categorising. Combine the two when appropriate: let the model suggest a category, then let ordinary workflow rules control the next step.

4. Write the boundaries

• Which sources can the system read?
• Can it prepare a draft, or also send it?
• Who approves a customer-facing action?
• What happens when information is missing or contradictory?
• Who receives a failed task and owns the follow-up?

For the enquiry example, the first version could draft a summary and suggested response while keeping sending permissions with the coordinator. Test with approved sample data before connecting live customer information.

5. Agree what “useful” means

Measure both speed and quality. A faster draft is not useful if staff spend longer correcting it. Track total handling time, missed details, wrong routing and review effort. Agree a review date and a stopping rule if the pilot creates more work than it removes.

A project brief you can reuse

Copy these prompts into your planning document and answer each in plain language:

1. The task and the person responsible.
2. The trigger, inputs and expected output.
3. The tools and approved information involved.
4. The actions that always need approval.
5. The usual cases and exceptions to test.
6. The baseline and the improvement you want to see.
7. The ongoing software, review and maintenance effort.
8. The decision date: improve, expand or stop.

Where to go next

For broader context, the Australian Government’s AI adoption guidance overview points businesses towards planning, governance and risk management resources. This checklist is a practical starting brief, rather than a substitute for a full assessment.

Explore our workflow examples, discuss AI consulting, or move to the pre-launch testing guide once the scope is clear.