AI Adoption Roadmap (12-Week Template)

Most AI adoption fails in week 6. The pattern is consistent across the deployments we've shipped: weeks 1–2 are exciting (vendor demos, possibility brainstorms), weeks 3–5 are productive (pilot scope set, vendor selected, contracts signed), and then weeks 6–8 are where it falls apart — the first integration is harder than expected, the security review surfaces an issue nobody flagged at week 2, the team's enthusiasm meets the team's actual schedule. Without a structured exit gate at week 8, the programme silently downgrades from 'AI transformation' to 'we have a chatbot on the website'.

This template builds the week-8 exit gate into the timeline as a hard checkpoint. By week 8, the pilot is either green-lit for full rollout or formally paused with a documented learning. Either is a good outcome. What kills programmes is the unstructured drift between them.

The RACI matrix matters more than first-time adopters realise. Most UK SMEs run AI rollouts with informal ownership — 'the founder is leading it' or 'IT is handling it'. That works in week 1. By week 4 you need explicit roles for compliance review, communications, and external vendor management. The matrix in this template is the same one we use on managed deployments — it's been refined across four real engagements rather than designed in the abstract.

The Notion template is one-click duplicatable and pre-filled with weekly tasks, owner assignments, and decision-log structure. Most teams customise 30–40% of the content for their specific context, which is the right amount — keeping 60–70% of the structure means you don't reinvent the timeline shape, just adapt the specifics.