The AI Maturity Journey
Understanding how organisations can progressively hand over more responsibility to AI systems, moving from simple assistance to genuine partnership.
Strawman
AI as Your Assistant
At this level, AI helps individual people do their jobs better. It's like having a capable junior colleague who can handle routine tasks under your direction.
What This Looks Like in Practice
A marketing manager might use AI to draft initial versions of campaign copy
A developer might use it to generate boilerplate code or write test cases
A project manager might have AI summarise meeting notes into action items
Key Insight
The human remains firmly in control, reviewing and refining everything the AI produces.
Why "Strawman"?
The name "Strawman" reflects that this capability, whilst useful, is fragile. It depends entirely on the human directing it, and the AI cannot connect its work to what others in the organisation are doing. Each person works with their own AI assistant in isolation.
Woodenman
AI Connecting the Dots
Here, AI starts orchestrating work across multiple people and processes. Rather than helping individuals in isolation, it begins managing the flow of work between them.
What This Looks Like in Practice
AI automatically routes customer issues to the right team
Updates relevant documentation when changes occur
Notifies stakeholders and tracks resolution through to completion
Understands how different roles connect and keeps everything synchronised
Key Insight
The AI handles coordination and routine decisions whilst humans focus on exceptions and judgment calls.
Why "Woodenman"?
The name "Woodenman" suggests something sturdier than straw but still requiring human oversight at key decision points.
Iron Man
AI as Your Operating System
At this most advanced level, AI essentially runs standard operations autonomously. Humans set the strategy, define the boundaries, and handle genuinely novel situations, but AI executes the day-to-day work independently.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Business requirement changes automatically propagate through systems
Processes update themselves, retraining relevant models
Documentation adjusts and compliance is verified automatically
Human oversight focuses on governance rather than execution
Key Insight
Like the suit in the films, the AI system responds to human intent, protects against errors (compliance and security built in), and executes with precision and speed no human could match.
Why "Iron Man"?
The "Iron Man" metaphor is deliberate. The human provides direction and handles situations requiring creativity or ethical judgment; the AI handles everything else.
The Key Insight
Most organisations today operate somewhere between no AI adoption and early Strawman. The framework helps leaders understand that AI transformation is not a single leap but a progression. Each level builds capabilities and trust that make the next level possible.
Important: Attempting to jump directly to Iron Man without the foundations of Strawman and Woodenman typically fails because the organisation lacks the data infrastructure, governance frameworks, and cultural readiness that the earlier levels develop.