Hi Reader,

Son: why is the AI "4.8"?

Me: That's so you know how far along it is, and to tell you when it's better.

Like right now we have Pax 10.5 (his name is Pax)
Later this year we'll have Pax 11.
He'll be bigger. Stronger. Smarter.

Maybe better? For sure different.

he laughs and smiles
I feel like a cool dad

Pax: Cool 😎

Numbers are just numbers. But they give you a map.

Labels for where you are. Labels for where you want to get to.

That's what version numbers are for.

And here's the thing: your company has one too. You just can't see it yet.

I built the map

For the last year I've been studying and interviewing companies about how they're actually moving on AI.

300+ companies. 97 firsthand interviews. The wins and the losses both.

From that, we built a maturity model. We call it Pacemark.

It shows you where you are across six dimensions: Strategy, Data, Tech, Workflows, People & Culture, and Governance. And it gives you a precise map to the next level.

All of it is coded to real data. (That's data-nerd speak for: it has receipts. We're not making this stuff up.)

It takes the guesswork out of where to step next.

What this looks like for an engineering or construction firm

Most firms I work with can't name where they actually stand. AI is "everywhere," and the answer to "where are we, really?" is a shrug.

The model turns the shrug into a picture.

Your Data dimension might be a level 3 because your project files are organized and searchable. Your Governance might be a level 1 because nobody's decided what's allowed near client data on a proposal. Your Workflows might be a level 2— a few people using AI on RFPs, nothing systematized.

That's a starting line you can run from.

You're here now. Soon you'll be there. (Pax is 10.5. Soon he'll be 11.)

If you lead a team

Earlier I said your company has a number you can't see yet. Here's how to see it.

I built a free self-assessment. Eight minutes, six dimensions, your score on screen when you're done. Find your number.

And if you want a hand getting from where you are to the next level— that's the work I do. I work with professional service firms on exactly this, a lot of them engineering and construction shops. One hour a week. Your actual workflows. Your proposals, your project files, the unglamorous stuff that runs the business.

Let's talk.

Keep building,

-Dan

P.S. A few weeks back I wrote about the one role every firm needs and almost nobody has— the AI builder. The maturity model is the map; the builder is the person who walks it. Same picture, zoomed in.

P.P.S. Coming up on LinkedIn I'm doing a little funeral series— the tools I've retired because Claude Code now does the job. First up: R.I.P. Zapier. Fourteen automations, one codebase.