Maturity route: where you are and what to do next

Five stages for working with cheap intelligence, from a first look to managed agent systems. This is not a course with deadlines. A stage takes as long as it takes. You move on when you meet a criterion, not when a calendar says so. Version: 2026-07-09.

Find your stage in the "you are here if" line. Do the stage steps, make its artifact, then check the transition criterion. You can mark completed tools in My Profile. It stores the data only in your browser.

Trust runs through every stage. It is not a sixth stage or a test of whether something is "authentic." Whenever the cost of a mistake is high, name a second channel, independent support, and the person who owns the decision before you act. You can start with the Trust Compass at any point.

Stage 0: get oriented

You are here if: you have opened an AI assistant only a few times, or not at all. "Agent" and "prompt" still feel like someone else's words.

Steps: start from zero, including which AI assistant to open first, your first 15 minutes, and safety. Then read the method map. You can also use the book in an hour.

Artifact: your first conversation with AI, using the rule "do not take it on faith, check it."

Move on when: you can explain the green, yellow, and red task baskets in your own words, and why a draft gets cheaper while checking does not.

Stage 1: understand your work

You are here if: you have tried AI but do not know what it means for your own role.

Steps: choose your role in the catalog, then use the three value levers, week inventory, usefulness level, five deficits audit, and cognitive-debt tracker. Bring them together in the integrated audit.

Artifact: a written diagnosis of what is getting cheaper, your weak spot, and your durable value. These are steps 1 to 8 of the Volume 1 workbook.

Move on when: you have written down the weak spot and durable value, and still agree with them one week after filling in the page.

Stage 2: build a system and make a first move

You are here if: you have a diagnosis, but AI at work still means "I sometimes ask a chat."

Steps: use the personal harness builder, turn a repeated move into a skill, the weak-multiplier canvas, and a 90-day plan for one task.

Artifact: a 90-day plan and a repeatable way of working, such as a template, a check, or time set aside in your calendar. See the filled Marina example.

Move on when: a 30-day check shows a change in your own measure, not simply that the work feels more interesting.

Stage 3: team and processes

You are here if: you are responsible for more than yourself: a team, a function, or a business.

Steps: use the process maturity check, Human Review Matrix, agent contract, the SME staff map, and Can an agent see me?. Work through the workshops with your team.

Artifact: the first agent under a contract: boundaries, escalation, an owner, and a stop threshold. See Sergey and Olga.

Move on when: you have built an evaluation set, the agent meets it for two runs in a row, and you set the stop threshold before scaling. The Klarna review shows what can happen when you skip that step.

Stage 4: managed agent systems

You are here if: the first agent is working and your question is now how to manage change as a system.

Steps: run process scoring for the next round, use change gates, add training in the loop, and choose a route for a manager or a business.

Artifact: change moves through gates, not a calendar. Every process has a stage, a measure, and a next gate.

Next: this stage has no graduation. It is a way of working. Keep up with living pages and what to watch.

See your position and completed tools in My Profile. For new Practicum material, see the change log.