Where should Lean and AI actually go across your operation?
Score each workflow on two axes — Lean maturity and AI opportunity — and see your whole operation on one map, not one process at a time. Edit the workflows below to match your own.
Score your workflows
Each axis is scored from three questions, not one gut-feel slider — expandLean maturity or AI opportunity on any row to rate it. Add any function leadership raises as you go — it doesn't need to be on this list to start.
AI opportunity →
Standardize first Don't automate chaos
Scale AI here first
Fix the basics first
Stable — hold
Lean maturity →
Scale AI here first"Green light — scale it, the guardrails are already there."
Standardize first"Don't automate chaos — fix the process, then free the AI."
Stable — hold"It's fine as-is — leave it, put the budget elsewhere."
Fix the basics first"Ground zero — standard work before either Lean or AI."
How this decides: high Lean + high AI opportunity is where an agent pays back fastest and safely — the process is already standardized, so the AI has a reliable baseline to work from. High AI opportunity with low Lean maturity is the dangerous quadrant: automating an inconsistent process just makes the inconsistency faster. Low AI opportunity with high Lean maturity is fine as-is — leave it. Low on both means the priority is process work, not AI, full stop.
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