The Operator's AI Field Guide
One page. The mental model for putting AI on a business without hiring a data team: find the constraint, build the smallest tool that moves it, keep a human in the loop, repeat.
Most operators bounce off AI because they start with the tool instead of the constraint. Flip it.
1. Find the constraint, not the use case. The question is never "where can I use AI?" It's "what's the one thing capping this business?" Run the Constraint Finder. AI is a lever — you still have to put it under the right rock.
2. Build the smallest thing that moves it. Not a platform. A prompt, a script, a single workflow. If it can't ship this week, it's too big. Shrink it.
3. Keep a human on the trigger. The pattern that works in real companies: AI drafts, a person approves, then it sends. You get the speed without the blow-ups.
4. Measure in hours and dollars. "It's cool" is not a result. "It saved Karen six hours a week" is. If you can't name the number, you built the wrong thing.
5. Compound it. One working tool a month beats one grand strategy a year. Stack small wins. That's the whole game.