A Playbook for AI Costs That Fits on One Page

Workshops don't run shops

I tried. People nodded. Nothing changed.

The playbook was pretty. It had principles. Principles don't click send. A page with four bullets does, if it's on the wall. Tape beats SharePoint. I know how that sounds. I also know what gets used.

If the playbook needs a facilitator, it's not a playbook. It's a class. Classes are fine. They're not how a 12-person office ships work on a Monday.

Why teams ignore the policy

It's long. It's late. It's not theirs.

The intern used a personal account because official login bounced. Policy said don't. Reality said get the email out. Reality won. Fix login. Then write four bullets. That's governance for a small team.

Make the page theirs. Ask the dispatcher what they'd actually follow. If they laugh, shorten it. If they add a line about photos, add the line. Ownership is not a footer with a date.

Costs hide in seats you forgot

Idle seats. Dead names.

People who left. Plugins nobody can explain. A second workspace from a trial. Audit like truck keys. I found two dead names. That's on me. Cancel this week. Don't wait for the annual 'true-up' email. Those emails are designed to be boring so you pay.

Same for 'we'll use it next busy season.' Busy season will use whatever is already open. If it's not open now, it won't open then. Cut it.

• Tools.
• Data.
• Reviewer.
• Kill date.

Read it out loud

If it sounds fake, it is.

Standup. Read the four bullets. If people look at their phones, it's fake. Shorten. Read again. When they argue with a bullet, you've got a real page. Argument is engagement. Silence is a drawer.

Print last month's bill. Put it next to the page. Awkward works. Awkward is cheaper than a surprise from a client about who saw a file.

What not to put on the page

Slogans. Vendor names as identity.

You are not 'an AI-first team.' You are a shop that sometimes uses tools. The page should sound like that. If marketing wants a slogan, they can have a different page. Not this one.

Don't list 19 tools. List the ones that may see client text. The rest can live in a password manager without a speech.

Monday

Four bullets. One owner. Tape.

Write it by hand if you have to. Hand looks like a person cared. Then assign the owner who already gets blamed when something ships wrong. That's the right owner. Give them the right to say no. If they can't say no, the page is decoration.

Check Friday if the tape is still up. If it's on the floor, tape it again. That's the whole implementation plan. I wish I were kidding.

SharePoint graveyard

The pretty playbook lives there. The wall has four bullets. Guess which one changed a send. I wish I were more professional about this. I'm not. Tape is the deploy tool.

If you must use a doc, print it. Print is halfway to tape. Halfway is better than a link nobody opens.

Ask the dispatcher

What would you actually follow. If they laugh, shorten. If they add photos, add photos. Ownership is not a footer date. It's a laugh in a room. I chase the laugh now. It's data.

If they won't talk, the page isn't theirs. Don't tape a stranger's page. That's how posters fade.

True-up email

Designed to be boring so you pay. I cancelled three plugins before the email. One yell. Six weeks unused. Yell faded. Don't wait for boring mail. Boring mail is a business model.

Next busy season will use what's already open. If it isn't open now, it won't open then. Cut.

Slogans

You are not AI-first. You are a shop that sometimes uses tools. The page should sound like that. Marketing can have another wall. Not this one. This one is for no.

Nineteen tools on a list is a catalog. Catalogs don't get followed. Client-text tools only. The rest can live unnamed in a password manager.

Friday tape check

If it's on the floor, tape it again. That's implementation. I wish this were a joke. People take down what they don't like. That's information. Put it back and ask why. Why is the next version of the page.

If it stays up for a month, you might have a real page. Then you can talk about a second page. Not before.

If You Only Do One Thing

Put the four costs on one page. Send it to whoever pays. Ask which line they'd cut first. Their answer is your roadmap. Your roadmap is not a slide. It's a cut.

I sent mine as a photo of a napkin. Finance still understood. Napkins scan better than decks sometimes.

What I Won't Do

I won't hide tokens inside 'platform.' Platform is a blanket. Blankets hide the $400. I want the $400 ugly and labeled.

The Napkin Math

Tokens. Seats. Wrappers. Time. I put dollars next to each. Time was the one nobody wanted to price. I priced it anyway at a boring hourly. Suddenly the 'cheap' tool was the expensive one. Boring hourly is a weapon. Use it.

Finance didn't argue the hourly. They argued the wrapper. Good. Wrappers are optional. Tokens aren't. Seats aren't. Time isn't. Wrappers can die this month.

Where I Taped It

Next to the coffee machine, not the wiki. People who pay invoices also drink coffee. Wikis are where playbooks go to sleep.

Someone took a photo and put it in Slack. That's fine. Slack is a copy. The tape is the source. If Slack disagrees with the tape, the tape wins.