Business Strategy • 6 Min Read

The AI Scaling Ladder: Don't Automate Too Fast

The biggest mistake founders make is trying to "replace" themselves on Day 1. Successful AI implementation happens in three distinct stages. Skip a rung, and you will break your business.

Automation is seductive. We all want to push a button and have the work done. But if you automate a broken process, you just get broken results faster.

At May Agency, we preach the Scaling Ladder methodology. You must move a task through three distinct phases of maturity before you can fully hand it over to AI.

Rung 1: Augmentation

Human + AI Sidecar. You do the work, but AI makes you 50% faster. (e.g., Brainstorming ideas, drafting outlines).

Rung 2: Automation

AI Does, Human Reviews. The system generates the first draft (90% done), you spend 5 minutes polishing. (e.g., Friday Reports, Client Replies).

Rung 3: Autonomy

Set and Forget. The system runs in the background via API/Zapier. You only handle edge cases. (e.g., Sorting data, tagging tickets).

The "10-Hour Rule"

Do not attempt to move a task to Rung 3 (Autonomy) until you have spent at least 10 hours doing it manually in Rung 1.

Why? Because you cannot prompt what you do not understand. You need to know the "edge cases"—the weird client requests, the data formatting errors—so you can write instructions to handle them.

How to Audit Your Business

Not sure which tasks to automate first? Use this prompt to conduct an "Opportunity Audit" on your daily to-do list.

OPPORTUNITY_AUDIT.txt COPY
ROLE: You are an Efficiency Consultant. TASK: I will list my daily tasks below. You will categorize them into the "AI Ladder": 1. {Augment}: High creativity/High risk. AI should just assist. 2. {Automate}: Repetitive/Low risk. AI can draft, I verify. 3. {Autonomy}: Pure data logic. AI can run fully. INPUT TASKS: [PASTE YOUR TO-DO LIST HERE] OUTPUT: Create a table with columns: Task, Recommended Rung, Estimated Time Saved.

The Bottom Line

Start at Rung 1. Get comfortable using AI as a "Sidecar" to speed up your writing. Once you trust the output, move to Rung 2. Only when the process is boring and predictable should you move to Rung 3.