Core question
Should we start with an AI task force?
Short answer
A task force is the right instinct in the wrong sequence. You cannot build an implementation plan by committee without a diagnostic first. Before guidelines and experimentation, you need an honest baseline: what tools are already in use, where the real capability gaps are, and what your governance exposure actually looks like.
A professional services firm recently sent an all-staff email announcing that a task force had formed and that guidelines, resources, and training were coming. More details soon. What struck me was that when the memo went out, the tools were already in the building.
The firm acknowledged something important. Their staff ranged from people with no interest in AI to people already building web applications with it. The team was dividing into adapters and non-adapters. That range is the real problem, and a task force memo does not close that gap.
Before the guidelines and the experimentation, the firm needed a baseline. An honest picture of what tools are already in use, where the capability gaps actually are, what is being considered, and what the governance exposure looks like in practice versus what leadership assumes. Those are three different things, and they rarely match.
The task force is the right instinct. It has a role. The sequence is wrong.