Principle One
Problems over Requirements
If you cannot name the problem in one sentence, you do not understand it yet. Start with who feels the pain.
The requirements document becomes sacred. Reality becomes inconvenient.
The AIDA Manifesto
Where AI & Data Move from Promise to Impact
By JP Schoeffel
Enterprise AI and Data fail at scale because we run them like procurement programs. They succeed when we run them like products.
The Four Principles
Every failed AI & Data program shares the same root causes. These four principles address each one.
Principle Two
Discovery over Procurement
Discovery is how you buy evidence. Use what exists, prove value, earn the right to engineer.
A discovery sprint is not a cost. It's insurance against eighteen months of expensive guessing.
Principle Three
Value over Transformation
Transformation asks: are we on track? AIDA asks: did the track lead anywhere worth going?
You run hard. You spend a lot. You generate heat. You do not move.
Principle Four
Capability over Dependency
If your AI strategy depends on consultants, it's their strategy, not yours. Build the muscle inside.
You are paying someone else to become good at your business.
AI & Data do not become real through strategy. They become real through ownership, evidence, and impact.
Read the Manifesto
Discover how to run AI and Data like a product, not a procurement project.
The full manifesto is available online with zero signup. Read chapter by chapter, navigate quickly, and jump straight to the sections you need.
Reading time: ~36 min8,995 words
Put AIDA into Practice
Move from principles to execution with practical tools for leadership teams and product owners.
AIDA Self-Assessment
12 diagnostic questions to identify whether your AI and Data program is process-driven or product-led, with a clear score and action path.
Take the AssessmentCase Study Template
A guided editor to capture discovery, evidence, outcomes, and the ownership model needed to scale AI and Data as a product.
Start a Case StudyThe AIDA Playbook
Companion to The AIDA Manifesto, the operating system for turning AI & Data into impact.
This is not a methodology. It’s a discipline: prove value fast, then scale what works.
More tools are coming for governance, portfolio prioritization, and time-to-value acceleration.
About the Author
JP Schoeffel
Head of AI & Data
This manifesto is written from the perspective of a practitioner who has spent 30 years building, shipping, and operating technology in environments where reality does not negotiate.
The author's path crosses disciplines on purpose:
Ten years ago, the technology wasn't ready. Five years ago, it was almost there. Now it is.
AI and Data will define the next decades. Most companies will waste the opportunity - not because they lack talent, but because they keep using a procurement mindset to build a learning capability.
- A PhD in Quantum Physics, trained in first-principles rigor
- An MBA in Strategic Management, trained in how organizations allocate resources and make decisions
- Six years in strategy and marketing consulting, learning exactly how transformation theatre is sold and why it persists
- Two decades as a technology founder, building sales and marketing automation products that had to deliver value to survive
- Operating a hedge fund and an algorithmic trading research company, where the feedback loop is brutally honest: your model works or it loses money
- Leading AI and Data in a Swiss enterprise, applying product thinking to the hardest environment: a large organization optimized for process
"Ten years ago, the technology wasn't ready. Five years ago, it was almost there. Now it is."
Let's talk about your AI & Data program
If this manifesto resonated, I'd welcome a conversation.