A clear scope
The pilot should name one recurring workflow, its current bottleneck, the agreed intervention, and the points where a person remains responsible.
Observable evidence
The team should be able to see what was prepared, reviewed, executed, changed, or stopped. Evidence is more valuable than a polished demonstration.
A real decision
The customer and Second Chair should finish with a shared decision: stop, continue operating the workflow, or expand carefully into an additional justified area.
Worked example: a follow-up preparation pilot
Agree a bounded opportunity queue and the owner who will review proposed next steps. Record whether drafts are accepted, substantially rewritten, or rejected, plus the time spent reviewing them. The pilot must be useful in the real queue, not just in a demonstration.
Decide before expanding
Continue when the agreed evidence supports the value and the owner can operate the review process. Revise the scope when useful outputs still require excessive intervention. Stop when permissions, accuracy, or operational value do not meet the agreed standard.
Keep the result inspectable
A useful close-out states the scope, observation period, volume, measurement method, exceptions, limitations, and next decision. Separate observed outcomes from projections. Do not present an illustrative example or a forecast as a customer result.
Put the guide into practice
See how a focused pilot works, or explore the workflow pilot examples to find a scope your team can assess.