AI-DLC Stack › 02 — PILOT SELECTION

AI-DLC Pilot Selection & Portfolio Segmentation Tool

Which project should be your first AI-DLC pilot — and what comes after it?

Score up to 12 candidate projects or teams across six weighted dimensions to produce a ranked pilot shortlist, an automatic Wave assignment, and a portfolio segmentation view for sequencing adoption beyond the first pilot.

12 Candidates6 DimensionsMission-Critical Hard GateExcel WorkbookNo Macros
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AI-DLC Pilot Selection & Portfolio Segmentation Tool
$69 USD · one-time purchase

Delivered as an Excel workbook. Download immediately after purchase.

Format Excel .xlsx  ·  Pages 5 tabs  ·  Macros None
Get the Pilot Selection Tool → ← Back to AI-DLC Stack

■ Instant download  ·  ■ No macros  ·  ■ Excel 2016+

The Problem

The single biggest determinant of whether an AI-DLC pilot succeeds is which project it runs on first — and most organisations choose it by convenience, not evidence.

A pilot chosen on executive preference rather than codebase suitability, team readiness, and blast radius either fails for reasons unrelated to the methodology, or succeeds on an unrepresentative project whose lessons do not transfer.

🎯
No structured filterPilot candidates get debated in a steering committee meeting with no weighted, evidence-based scoring behind the choice.
🚧
Mission-critical systems slip throughA compelling composite score can quietly justify piloting an unproven methodology on a system with no rollback path.
🕐
Readiness mistaken for scoreTeam Readiness and Stakeholder Availability are routinely over-estimated by sponsors who are not close to day-to-day delivery, and a strong-looking candidate stalls mid-pilot.
🗺️
No plan beyond pilot oneWithout a portfolio view, there is no defensible answer for what Wave 2 looks like once the first pilot concludes.
How It Works

Six weighted dimensions. One hard gate.

Score up to 12 candidates on a 1–5 scale across six dimensions. Business Criticality is hard-gated — no composite score can override a no-rollback risk decision.

01
Codebase SuitabilityArchitecture clarity, test coverage, documentation quality, modularity
25% weight
02
Team ReadinessAI tool familiarity, appetite for new rituals, prior AI-assisted delivery exposure
20% weight
03
Business CriticalityBlast radius if the pilot goes wrong — scored on an inverted safety scale, hard-gated at Tier 1
15% weight
04
Requirements ClarityHow well-defined and stable the business intent is going in
15% weight
05
Stakeholder AvailabilityWhether Product Owner, QA, and Ops can genuinely attend synchronous Mob sessions
15% weight
06
Expected Learning ValueHow representative this candidate is of the wider portfolio — whether lessons transfer
10% weight
Key Term
Pilot Wave
A staged sequencing category — Wave 1, Wave 2, Build Readiness First, or Excluded — Mission Critical — assigned automatically from composite score, a readiness gate, and a mission-criticality hard gate, rather than composite score alone.
What’s Inside

Every tab, explained.

Open the workbook and know exactly where to go and what to enter.

TAB 1
Instructions
The six dimensions, the inverted criticality scale, and how the hard gate works
TAB 2
Settings
Organisation, assessor, Wave 1 capacity, and the Mission-Critical Exclusion Toggle
TAB 3
Candidate Inputs
Up to 12 candidates with system description, criticality tier, sponsor, and delivery lead
TAB 4
Scoring Matrix
Score all six dimensions per candidate; composite score and Pilot Wave calculated automatically
TAB 5
Dashboard
Wave summary, ranked shortlist, portfolio segmentation quadrant, and readiness gaps panel
Ranked Shortlist
All active candidates ranked by weighted composite score
Pilot Wave
Wave 1, Wave 2, Build Readiness First, or Excluded — Mission Critical
Segmentation Quadrant
Codebase Suitability × Team Readiness, plotted for multi-year sequencing
Readiness Gaps
Specific pre-pilot action items for otherwise-ready Wave 1 candidates
Who It’s For

Built for the people who choose what gets piloted first.

Programme & Portfolio Managers

Replace convenience-based pilot selection with a scored, repeatable instrument that produces a defensible shortlist in one session.

VPs Engineering & Enterprise Architects

Score Codebase Suitability directly and confirm the hard gate before a mission-critical system is ever put in front of a steering committee.

CIOs & Steering Committees

Review a ranked shortlist and Wave assignment that already accounts for blast radius and team readiness, not just headline score.

Frequently Asked

Questions buyers ask before choosing pilot one.

What is the AI-DLC Pilot Selection & Portfolio Segmentation Tool?

A structured, evidence-based filter that scores up to 12 candidate projects or teams against six weighted dimensions to produce a ranked pilot shortlist, an automatic Wave assignment, and a portfolio segmentation view for sequencing adoption beyond the first pilot.

Why is Business Criticality hard-gated instead of just scored?

Because a compelling composite score should never be able to justify piloting an unproven methodology on a mission-critical, no-rollback system. The hard gate excludes Tier 1 candidates from Wave 1 by design, unless explicitly overridden with documented executive sign-off.

Should this run before or after an AI-DLC readiness assessment?

After. A readiness assessment establishes whether the organisation is positioned to adopt AI-DLC at all. This tool then determines which specific candidate should run first, once that baseline is established.

AI-DLC Pilot Selection & Portfolio Segmentation Tool

Score up to 12 candidate projects or teams across six weighted dimensions to produce a ranked pilot shortlist, an automatic Wave assignment, and a portfolio segmentation view for sequencing adoption beyond the first pilot.

Get the Pilot Selection Tool →