Operating Rhythm
Operating model in one paragraph
Enterprise AI is the platform Hub: it builds, governs and supports the AI capability. The ATO is the spoke, a senior role inside the function that owns delivery and bridges Enterprise AI to the function. Champions form the second Hub inside the function, a peer community across sub-teams who drive adoption, pilot agents and surface use cases. The ATO connects the two hubs. Use-case work flows through the ATO. Bugs, security issues and platform feedback flow up directly so the platform learns fast.
Slack channels
| Channel | Visibility | Members | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| #enterprise-ai-collab | Public | All GitLab team members | Team-member engagement channel. Questions, FAQs, intake support. |
#enterprise-ai |
Private | Enterprise AI team | Internal Hub working channel. Roadmap, platform issues, governance, escalation routing. |
#ent-ai-ato |
Public | Enterprise AI plus all ATOs | Daily working channel for Hub-ATO collaboration. Default mode for async. |
#ent-ai-champions |
Public | Champions across all spokes plus ATOs plus Hub | Cross-spoke Champion community. Learning and consistency, not work intake. |
Cadence
The cadence is deliberately stepped: lighter while we are small, heavier as we scale. Async-first throughout, with formal forums kept slim.
Daily
Async-first in #ent-ai-ato. No mandatory standups across the cohort.
Weekly
- AI Engineer to ATO sync. Minimum once weekly between each ATO and their assigned AI Engineer. More during the launch of a new spoke or an active build (typically two to three times a week), daily during a production push. Async in Slack between syncs. Assignments are reviewed quarterly.
- ATO to function leadership team. The ATO joins their function’s leadership meeting where appropriate, with a standing agenda slot, so AI work surfaces to the wider function exec team alongside the exec sponsor.
Every two weeks
- ATO to exec sponsor. Updates and reactive prioritisation as priorities evolve.
- ATO Council. All ATOs plus Enterprise AI representation. 60 minutes. Mandatory. Show-and-tell, platform updates, shared problems, cross-spoke learnings. This is the de-siloing forum, and it naturally grows in scope and value as more ATOs join.
- Champion to ATO sync. 30 minutes. In-function intake and coaching. Daily async happens in
#ent-ai-championsbetween syncs.
Monthly
- Champion demo or share-out across the function, hosted by the ATO with Champions presenting.
- Otherwise reserved. Things move too fast in AI for monthly reviews to be the primary lever.
Quarterly
-
Quarterly Business Review. Director, Enterprise AI plus ATO plus exec sponsor. 30 minutes, two or three slides:
- Backwards: use cases shipped, adoption, value delivered.
- Forwards: planned use cases, dependencies, resourcing.
- Other: process improvements, feedback, asks.
Slim and punchy. No death by slides.
Champion model
Why Champions. ATOs cannot personally drive every use case in a 200+ person function. The Champions Hub extends reach into sub-teams and creates a peer community of practice inside the function.
Nature. Champions are not direct reports to the ATO. They are a peer community within the function. The ATO is their bridge to Enterprise AI, not their manager.
Selection. The ATO selects Champions with sub-team manager sign-off. One per sub-team or squad. 5 to 10% time, formally agreed with the manager.
What they do.
- Identify and qualify use cases in their team.
- Pilot agents and workflows.
- Coach teammates inside their sub-team.
- Surface friction and feedback back to the ATO.
Cadence. See the Cadence section above for the full schedule. In short: ATO to Champion sync every two weeks with daily async in #ent-ai-champions, a monthly Champion demo across the function, and a quarterly cross-spoke Champion show-and-tell run by Enterprise AI.
Routing rules.
- Use-case requests, ideas and project work: Champion to ATO. Never direct to Hub.
- Bugs, security issues and platform feedback: Champion to Hub directly (via
#ent-ai-championsor Serval).
Decision rights
| Decision | Owner |
|---|---|
| Use-case prioritisation in a function | ATO, guided by the exec sponsor’s org priorities and company objectives. Larger or cross-functional calls escalate to the Exec Sponsor. |
| How a solution is built (technical approach and best practice) | Enterprise AI, partnering with the ATO. |
| Platform and tooling choices | Enterprise AI |
| Security, data, and governance review | Enterprise AI (accountable platform reviewer with published SLAs) |
| Success metrics in a function | The function’s own business metrics. The ATO is responsible for moving them. The Hub aggregates across spokes. |
| Replatforming bespoke tools onto the standard stack | Enterprise AI |
| In-function builds (Champion or individual contributor) | ATO gates for alignment to centralised strategy and standards |
| Champion selection in a function | ATO, with sub-team manager sign-off |
| ATO hiring | Five-step loop; see AI Transformation Owner |
Escalation path
When something is on fire (broken use case in production, security incident, platform outage affecting a spoke):
- ATO (or Champion if the ATO is unavailable) raises via Serval.
- Serval routing triggers a notification in
#enterprise-ai. - Hub on-call acknowledges and triages.
- Hub feeds back into the originating channel (
#ent-ai-atoor#ent-ai-champions).
For non-urgent issues, default to async in #ent-ai-ato first.
Resourcing target
Each AI Engineer pairs with up to two ATOs (a 1:2 ceiling). During the early phase of a spoke (typically the first quarter) we pair closer to 1:1 to accelerate ramp-up. As a spoke matures and a delivery rhythm sets in, the same AI Engineer can support a second one without losing depth.
Related
- Hub & Spoke & Hub - the strategic narrative.
4bdc9cca)
