The use case
One piece of real work, live with real users. The unit of delivery, evidence and learning.
An operating model for enterprise AI adoption
The AdoptionTree™Model
Build capability that stays.
Connect working use cases to lasting organizational capability.
Version 1.0 · September 2026By Willem Knaap · Amsterdam
01The premise
A working use case is a beginning.
Build the ability to do it again.
AI adoption is the ability to turn AI into trusted, governed, used and measurable ways of working. The Adoption Tree Model connects a successful use case to the capability needed to sustain and repeat it.
The business domain
One end-to-end workflow with an accountable owner. The unit of transformation and scale.
The shared foundation
The data, controls, patterns, skills and ownership that every next wave inherits.
Based on the white paper · Executive summary, pp. 2–3
02The model in one view
Visible value above.
Lasting capability below.
Read it as a tree. The branches are the use cases people see and use. The trunk is the temporary Adoption Office that runs them. The roots are the foundation: six blocks of capability the organization keeps. Every use case that goes live feeds the roots, and the next one grows from them.
The foundation enables the use case.
The use case makes the foundation stronger.
Hover or tap a use case to watch what it feeds back into the roots.
The six roots
What the organization keeps, and every next wave inherits.
Mandate & governance
Sponsor, domain owner and decision rights: who may release, scale, stop and accept risk.
Data & knowledge
Approved sources, access, quality and provenance the next wave reuses.
Architecture & integration
An owned foundation with connected systems and replaceable models.
Responsible AI & controls
Intended purpose, oversight, evaluation and release evidence, designed in from the start.
Workforce & coaching
Tasks redesigned with the people who do them; competent use built through coaching.
Measurement & value
Outcomes against a baseline; the value decision, assets reused and ownership transferred.
The six foundation blocks · White paper, pp. 11–12
03The adoption wave
One domain. Six gates.
Evidence at every step.
Each gate is a decision with a named owner and minimum evidence. A wave that cannot show the evidence waits, changes or stops. Select a gate to see what it takes.
Gate 0 · Mandate
Set the conditions before the work starts.
Name the sponsor, domain owner and internal successor. Agree the outcome, budget, boundaries, foundation cap and mandate end date.
- Decision owner
- Executive sponsor
- Evidence to proceed
- Signed charter · baseline · successor named
Gate 1 · Select
Choose one consequential use case.
Select a bounded piece of work within the domain, with real users and a measurable outcome. Establish its intended purpose and complete the applicability screen.
- Decision owner
- Domain owner & product owner
- Evidence to proceed
- Use-case dossier · applicability screen
Gate 2 · Design
Design the work and the controls together.
Define the target workflow, human oversight, architecture, evaluation thresholds, coaching and support. Each control has an accountable owner.
- Decision owner
- Product owner & control owners
- Evidence to proceed
- Target workflow · controls · evaluation & learning plan
Gate 3 · Release
Is it feasible? Release to bounded production.
The use case works as built and runs under its required controls, so it is released to a defined workflow and user group. Monitoring, support, human oversight and rollback are ready.
- Decision owner
- Domain owner & residual-risk owner
- Evidence to proceed
- Signed release pack · live dashboard · support
Gate 4 · Prove
Is it viable? Decide on measured evidence.
Compare outcomes with the baseline and check the business case against what production produced. Decide whether to scale, change or stop, and which reusable assets become maintained defaults.
- Decision owner
- Domain owner & value owner
- Evidence to proceed
- Value evidence · reuse register · next-use-case dossier
Gate 5 · Transfer
Show that internal owners can run it.
Internal owners sign a real release pack and chair the next wave’s mandate and selection decisions. The external team observes in silence.
- Decision owner
- Sponsor, on the verifier’s report
- Evidence to proceed
- Operating manual · transfer scorecard · next-wave plan
Three tracks run alongside delivery
Responsible AI & applicabilityWorkforce adoptionCapability transfer
The reference wave · 24 weeks of working time
- PreMandate · G0
- M1Select · G1
- M2Design · G2
- M3Build · G3
- M4Bounded production
- M5Prove · G4
- M6Transfer · G5
Nothing is built before Gate 1, nothing goes live before Gate 3, no realization decision before Gate 4. Waiting time (procurement, access, reviews) runs on its own clock; plan 9 to 12 months elapsed in a regulated enterprise.
Gate logic and reference calendar · White paper, pp. 13–14, 23
04The capability that stays
The office is temporary.
Internal ownership is the outcome.
A jointly staffed office runs one domain wave. Internal successors are named on day one and take over the rhythm as the wave goes on; an internal Adoption Capability of trained coaches stays.
Exit path · dependency is measured and designed to decline
Read the complete transfer model Named internal roles and routines take over. The Adoption Coach stays. The mandate per domain is two to three waves, with the end date written into Gate 0.
The exit is demonstrated
Can the organization run the next wave?
- Internal teams complete two four-week review cycles without the office, including one without the lead coach.
- Internal owners produce and sign a real release pack without external drafting.
- They chair the next wave’s mandate and selection decisions while the external team observes in silence.
- The value owner has stated the twelve-month run cost and the domain owner has accepted it into a named budget line.
Gate 5 transfers ownership. A 90-day review checks that operation and ownership have held.
Successors named→Internal chairing grows→Transfer is tested→Capability stays
The Adoption Office, coaching and exit test · White paper, pp. 21–22, 27–29
05Value that can be evidenced
Measure what changed.
And what the next wave inherits.
Every measure has an owner, an evidence location and a date. Time saved needs a realization decision: how does it become capacity, service, revenue, risk reduction or another business outcome?
0Mandated→1Selected→2Ready→3Live→4Proven→5Transferred
Health, controls & adoption
Check quality, cost, incidents, oversight, active task use, workarounds, trust and workload in production.
Workflow & value
Compare cycle time, quality, throughput or service with the baseline. Record the business owner’s value decision.
Reuse & transfer
Track assets consumed and produced, internal decision-making, support ownership and the ability to change suppliers.
Seven measurement layers · White paper, pp. 17–20
06The working system
Five tools.
One connected way of working.
The white paper includes five practical canvases. They share identifiers so a use case can be followed from visible work through its foundation, obligations and architecture.
T1
Frontstage Canvas
Map the use case, people, workflow, human oversight and evidence of adoption.
What changes in the work?White paper · p. 34
T2Backstage Canvas
Connect governance, data, architecture, operations and the assets the next wave inherits.
What makes it repeatable?White paper · p. 35
T3Adoption Tree Canvas
Bring visible delivery and the capability foundation into one management view.
Does the whole system connect?White paper · p. 36
T4Regulation Navigator
Record intended purpose, applicability, obligations, accountable owners and evidence.
What applies to this use case?White paper · p. 37
T5Operating Architecture
Map the layers, interfaces, decisions and ownership behind the working capability.
What do we own, connect and reuse?White paper · p. 38
The five tools are included on pp. 34–38 of the full white paper.
07The white paper
Take the model
into your organization.
Forty-three pages of research and working tools: the model, six gates, decision rights, measurement, the transfer test and five canvases. Identify yourself with your work email and the access link arrives in your inbox.
- The model, six gates and decision rights
- Measurement, reuse and a concrete transfer test
- Responsible AI, workforce adoption and coaching
- Five canvases and an illustrative reference wave
Check your inbox
We’ve sent you access to The Adoption Tree™ whitepaper.
The link in the email is personal and valid for 7 days. Not there after a few minutes? Check your spam folder, or .
08A few useful distinctions
Before you start.
Who is the model for?
Enterprise sponsors, domain leaders, product and delivery teams, architects, control owners and workforce leaders who need AI to become a dependable way of working. The white paper is oriented toward the European enterprise context.
Is this a technology platform or a consulting service?
It is an operating model: a way to connect business ownership, production delivery, responsible operation and internal capability. Its tools can be used alongside your existing platforms and governance.
Does every wave need to build a new foundation?
No. Each wave should inherit approved assets and leave useful additions behind. Readiness is assessed before Gate 0. If it is too weak, the first step is a readiness project or a smaller use case.
Does temporary mean every external specialist must leave?
No. A chosen, priced and replaceable specialist can remain. What should decline is dependence on a particular external party to make decisions, challenge them, substitute a supplier or exit an arrangement.
Who pays for it after the office leaves?
A named budget line does, agreed before the handover rather than at it. The cost side is built at the same gates as the benefit side: a candidate envelope at Gate 0, a first run-cost estimate at Gate 2, metered consumption during bounded production, and both halves measured at Gate 4. At Gate 5 the domain owner accepts the run cost into a budget line.
Has the model been validated in practice?
Version 1.0 is a design proposal, published for comment and field evaluation. It combines established ideas; the complete configuration has not yet been evaluated in practice. The reference case is illustrative and the timings are planning assumptions.
Agree what will go live.
And who will run it after.