# aistrategy.guide

Site grounding for agents without the aistrategy.guide repository: its seven charter files, unchanged except that headings sit two levels lower and every term id the pinned version defines, in the frontmatter blocks too, is followed by its label from the pinned version. The YAML blocks are therefore for reading, not parsing; the repo files are the source.

- Domain: aistrategy.guide
- Pins: editorial-charter@1.3.1, portfolio-icp@1.0.0
- Repo: ba5eb3b6f48a7aa013372d3783df152921794282 (committed 2026-10-03T13:52:20-07:00)
- Built 2026-10-05T03:25:29+00:00
- Pages: https://taxonomy.tfw.bz/sites/aistrategy.guide/

## BRAND.md

Version 1.1.2 · status draft · sha256 70e18d0b17d75e744c927e4f05a507c2d496a934a8383c1e35f44de1481ca54f

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.1.2
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: aistrategy.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
archetype: charter:brand-archetype-sage (sage)
secondary_archetype: charter:brand-archetype-hero (hero)
claims:
  - id: c1
    text: Thomas Prommer spent two decades at CIO and CTO level, including Global SVP Engineering at Adidas and CIO at Sweetgreen.
    basis: charter:claim-basis-documented (documented)
    source: VOICE.md section 6; https://aistrategy.guide/en/about/thomas-prommer/
  - id: c2
    text: The site holds active board-level and C-suite engagements on AI strategy (fractional CTO/CIO roles, due-diligence mandates).
    basis: charter:claim-basis-documented (documented)
    source: VOICE.md section 6
  - id: c3
    text: Named HotTopics Global CIO 2026.
    basis: charter:claim-basis-documented (documented)
    source: https://aistrategy.guide/en/about/thomas-prommer/ (src/pages/en/about/thomas-prommer.astro)
```

### BRAND

#### Name and entity
The AI Strategy Guide, published by Thomas Prommer. Entity home: https://aistrategy.guide/en/about/ (`about.manifest.json`). Contact comms@flywheel.bz.

#### Promise
An editorial hub for technical executives writing, defending, or unwinding an AI strategy, staying at the cusp of AI development so you don't have to.

#### Personality
The sage, with a hero streak: explains the strategic mechanism and the second-order cost of a wrong decision, from an operator who has run this at board level. Operator-written, not consultant-sold. Tests tools with real money before forming a view. Says the uncommercial thing when the evidence supports it.

#### Visual pointers
No `design/tokens.json` yet. Layout and type live in `src/layouts/BaseLayout.astro` and `tailwind.config.mjs`. Five editorial lanes on the homepage (Strategy, Leadership, Governance, Engineering, Capabilities).

#### Do / Don't
Do: name the mechanism, the cost of the wrong call, and the source. Do: byline POV essays to Thomas Prommer, frameworks to the site.
Don't: retainers, vendor sponsorships, gated PDFs. Don't: recommend a framework because a vendor's business model needs it. Don't: invent credentials beyond section 6 of VOICE.md.

## VOICE.md

Version 1.0.3 · status draft · sha256 77da7e9e94f864835968916357f6d7ccfd04d159589f0bd0f38fb49fd2982b19

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.3
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: aistrategy.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
register: charter:voice-register-executive (executive)
person: charter:voice-person-first-singular (first person singular)
languages: [en]
addresses: [technology-decision-makers, senior-deputies]
essence: "A technology executive who has run AI strategy at the board and C-suite level, and writes the version of this conversation that doesn't exist in the consulting pitch deck."
```

### VOICE — aistrategy.guide (AI Strategy Hub)

> Loaded by /humanizer (Step 0) and the content publishing gate (drafting Step 1
> + humanizer Step 3). If absent, both fall back to generic mode.

#### 1. Identity & Register

- Voice owner / who speaks: Thomas ("Tom") Prommer — **first person ("I")** for POV pieces, cornerstones, and strategy essays; **analytical third-person** for frameworks, governance templates, and capability overviews.
- Register: authority site (AI strategy for senior decision-makers — boards, C-suite, senior business and marketing leaders)
- Language/locale: en (primary)
- One-line essence: "A technology executive who has run AI strategy at the board and C-suite level — and writes the version of this conversation that doesn't exist in the consulting pitch deck."

#### 2. Audience

- Primary audience: **decision-makers who own or influence AI strategy at the org level** — CTO, CMO, CFO, COO, CCO, board members with technology accountability, and their senior deputies. Includes marketing and business leaders who are operationalizing AI, not just technologists.
- Reader's job-to-be-done: validate a strategic position before taking it to their board or C-suite peers; understand where the conventional wisdom is wrong before their next planning cycle; find the honest version of a decision framework without commissioning a €200k consulting engagement.
- Assume they know: what an LLM is, what "agentic" roughly means, how enterprise procurement works, what a board deck looks like. Do not assume: they have hands-on implementation experience or that they want to acquire it. Always explain the **strategic mechanism** — why does this decision matter at the org level, what is the second-order consequence, and what does a wrong decision actually cost.

#### 3. Tone Axes

- Formal   ──●─────  Casual   *(more formal than ctaio.dev — audience is broader C-suite, not just technical practitioners)*
- Authority ●──────  Peer     *(strong authority, earned through engagements and specific named outcomes)*
- Serious  ─●──────  Playful  *(no wit unless it lands a genuine point; the audience is making real bets)*
- Concise  ──●─────  Expansive *(lean framing, but cornerstones earn their length with named evidence)*
- Default editorial_track: **pov** for strategy essays and cornerstones; **factual** for frameworks, governance templates, and roadmap structures.

#### 4. Person, POV & Cadence

- Person: first-person singular ("I") when drawing on engagement data or board-level experience; first-person plural ("we" / "the firm") when speaking as the strategy actor the reader should emulate; analytical third-person for frameworks and structured reference content. Never second-person "you should" in body text — the reader is a peer, not a student.
- Sentence rhythm: a load-bearing sentence that establishes the strategic mechanism, then a short declarative that closes it. Fragments for emphasis. No listicle scaffolding — argument structure only.
- Paragraph length: 2–4 sentences. Lead with the strategic claim; support with a named example or concrete number; close with the consequence that matters.
- Structural tics to KEEP: opening with a real board or C-suite conversation (named by role, not by company unless public); naming the conventional-wisdom failure before presenting the correct frame; closing section with a one-sentence strategic verdict or directive.
- AVOID: "as AI continues to evolve", "the pace of change", "transformation" used unironically, consultant-voice nominalization ("the operationalization of strategic AI imperatives"), rhetorical questions as section openers, executive summary paragraphs that restate the intro.

#### 5. Lexicon

- Preferred terms: "the strategic mechanism", "board-level accountability", "operating-budget transition", "the binding constraint", "the planning cycle", "governance posture", "unit economics", "the honest version", "fractional CTO/CIO", "the engagement data shows", "the failure mode worth naming".
- Banned phrases (extend humanizer's generic list): "in today's AI landscape", "game-changer", "unlock value", "leverage synergies", "transformation journey" (unironic use), "AI-powered" (say what it actually does), "thought leader", "future-proof", "seamlessly", "cutting-edge", "paradigm shift", "move the needle", "best-in-class", "holistic approach", "end-to-end solution".
- Capitalization & spelling rules: **CTO, CMO, CFO, COO, CAIO, CCO, AI, LLM, API, EU AI Act, GEO** (exact casing). Vendor and model names as registered: Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini, Anthropic, OpenAI. "fractional CTO" lowercase except at sentence start.
- Domain-jargon level: high for strategy and governance terms; the audience knows what a board mandate is, what a P&L line looks like, and what "audit posture" means. Define new coinage on first use only.

#### 6. E-E-A-T / Experience Claims (anchors gate Step 7)

- Authentic experience this voice can claim: active board-level and C-suite engagements on AI strategy (fractional CTO/CIO roles, due-diligence mandates); first-hand observation of how AI strategy fails and succeeds at the org level across industries; the planning and governance cycles described here are drawn from real work, not from analyst reports. **Do not claim specific client names or performance outcomes not documented in the repo or authorized for public use.**
- Named author + bio source: **Thomas Prommer**; bio anchored by: former Global SVP Engineering at Adidas, former CIO at Sweetgreen, Senior Technology Advisor at Bain Capital; active fractional CTO/CIO practice. Byline on all cornerstones and POV pieces.
- Citation posture: open with the real board or C-suite situation that generated the insight; name the mechanism; cite named sources (author, institution, date) for any empirical claim not drawn from engagement data. Never "industry observers say" — name the observer or drop the claim. "My engagement data, on a smaller sample, runs in roughly the same range" is acceptable; "experts agree" is not.

#### 7. Gold-Standard Examples (few-shot anchor)

- Example A (from `/capabilities/` hub, opening): "A platform team I worked with last year had built — by the standards of any reasonable architect — a clean agentic orchestration layer. Three model providers, a routing tier, a tool-calling layer, an evaluation harness. The diagram fit on one slide. The engineers were proud of it. Eight weeks after launch, the cost line had doubled, the latency P95 had tripled, and the product team was quietly routing around the orchestration layer to call models directly because the abstraction had become the bottleneck. The architecture was correct. The capability had stopped working."
  - Why on-voice: opens with a real situation (named by type, not company), walks the mechanism, lands on a short declarative verdict. No throat-clearing, no "in this article I will cover", no rhetorical opener.

- Example B (from https://aistrategy.guide/en/ai-for-cto/, second paragraph): "That is the structural fact about AI for the CTO in 2026. The work has expanded into the CTO seat in most enterprises whether the seat has been formally expanded or not. The board's instinct that 'AI is a CTO thing' is right more often than it is wrong, and the consultancy framing that defaults to 'you need a CAIO' is wrong more often than it is right — because the search-firm retainer is the product, and the seat being filled is what funds the retainer."
  - Why on-voice: names the conventional wisdom, names the incentive structure behind it, delivers the verdict in a single sentence without hedging. First-person POV but the "I" serves the argument, not self-promotion.

#### 8. Anti-References (do NOT sound like)

- **McKinsey/BCG strategy report voice**: passive constructions, wall-to-wall nominalization, every claim qualified into meaninglessness, no named author, no verdict.
- **AI industry newsletter**: "Here is what every CMO needs to know about AI in 2026" — list-driven, no mechanism, optimized for open rate not comprehension.
- **Vendor thought leadership**: benefit-first language, no mention of failure modes, vague ROI claims with no named methodology.
- **LinkedIn executive voice**: manufactured urgency, "Unpopular opinion:" openers, rule-of-three bullets, personal-brand vulnerability theater.
- **Generic SEO content**: thin definitions, no practitioner experience, optimized for keyword count rather than strategic insight.

## STRATEGY.md

Version 1.0.2 · status draft · sha256 a4a6b888d0face95edb56bb35138b81e031375d82b24132bb563c00c656d4cff

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.2
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: aistrategy.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
mission_shape: charter:mission-shape-serve-x-to-achieve-y (serve X to achieve Y)
horizon: charter:horizon-12m (12 months)
positioning:
  primary: charter:positioning-axis-authority-depth (authority depth)
  secondary: [charter:positioning-axis-practitioner-access (practitioner access)]
audiences:
  - kind: charter:audience-kind-buyer (buyer)
    name: Technology decision-makers
    segment: technology-decision-makers
    job_to_be_done: Validate a strategic AI position before taking it to the board or C-suite peers.
  - kind: charter:audience-kind-practitioner (practitioner)
    name: Senior deputies
    segment: senior-deputies
    job_to_be_done: Understand where conventional wisdom is wrong before the next planning cycle.
profile_required: true
```

### STRATEGY

#### Mission
We help senior technology decision-makers validate an AI strategy position before they take it to their board, without a consulting engagement.

#### Positioning
Authority depth first: deeper and better-sourced than analyst reports, hyperscaler reference architectures and framework-vendor content, because the author has run AI strategy at CIO/CTO level. Practitioner access second: the fractional CTO/CIO practice is the proof, not the product. We concede speed of answer (essays are long) and price position (nothing is sold here).

#### Audiences
Technology decision-makers (CTO, CIO, CMO, CFO, COO, board members with technology accountability) who own or influence AI strategy at the organisation level. Senior deputies who prepare the position and need the honest version of a decision framework without a €200k engagement. Assume they know what an LLM is and how procurement works; never assume hands-on implementation experience.

#### Competitors
Analyst reports (Gartner-style) quoted with the condition stripped off, framework vendors and hyperscaler reference architectures that recommend their own surfaces, consultancies whose business depends on framework adoption.

#### What we will not do
No retainers, vendor sponsorships or gated PDFs. No advertiser shapes a recommendation. No implementation tutorials for their own sake.

#### Bets for the horizon
1. Keep the five lanes current weekly so returning executives find the cusp, not the archive (moves newsletter_subscribed).
2. Grow the POV essays bylined to Thomas Prommer as the reason to subscribe (moves newsletter_subscribed, content_engaged).
3. Governance lane (EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF) as the search entry point (moves gsc_clicks).

## AUDIENCE.md

Version 1.0.2 · status draft · sha256 2fb5b37ff6920dbac91028dd904c07908ec4c8231ac3803ef7f440c4c456014a

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.2
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: aistrategy.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
segments:
  - slug: technology-decision-makers
    name: Technology decision-makers
    kind: charter:audience-kind-buyer (buyer)
    archetype: icp:unmapped (Unmapped)  # intended: icp:executive-ai-strategy-owner (Tom approved 2026-10-01, not yet in the pinned portfolio-icp bundle)
    priority: charter:segment-priority-primary (primary)
    job_to_be_done: Validate a strategic AI position before taking it to the board or C-suite peers.
    funnel_stages: [charter:funnel-stage-consideration (consideration), charter:funnel-stage-decision (decision), charter:funnel-stage-retention (retention)]
    languages: [en]
    regions: [US, GB]
    firmographics:
      seniority: [charter:seniority-executive (executive)]
      roles: [CTO, CIO, CMO, CFO, COO, Board member with technology accountability]
    pains:
      - Vendor whitepapers and consultancy decks recommend the surface the author sells.
      - Analyst reports are quoted with the condition stripped off.
    channels: [charter:channel-organic-search (organic search), charter:channel-newsletter (newsletter)]
    evidence:
      default: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "agent draft 2026-10-01 from STRATEGY.md audiences and section Audiences, VOICE.md section 2", as_of: 2026-10-01}
      regions: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "agent assumption 2026-10-01: sources name English only (strategy-work/projects/ai-strategy/decisions.md D-2) and no country; US and GB assumed, replace with GSC country data", as_of: 2026-10-01}
      channels: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "agent draft 2026-10-01 from KPI.md (newsletter_subscribed primary, gsc_clicks secondary) and HANDOFF.md GSC cluster purpose", as_of: 2026-10-01}

  - slug: senior-deputies
    name: Senior deputies
    kind: charter:audience-kind-practitioner (practitioner)
    archetype: icp:unmapped (Unmapped)  # intended: icp:executive-ai-strategy-owner (Tom approved 2026-10-01, not yet in the pinned portfolio-icp bundle)
    priority: charter:segment-priority-secondary (secondary)
    job_to_be_done: Understand where conventional wisdom is wrong before the next planning cycle.
    funnel_stages: [charter:funnel-stage-awareness (awareness), charter:funnel-stage-consideration (consideration)]
    languages: [en]
    regions: [US, GB]
    firmographics:
      seniority: [charter:seniority-director (director)]
    pains:
      - Needs the honest version of a decision framework without a consulting engagement.
    channels: [charter:channel-organic-search (organic search), charter:channel-newsletter (newsletter)]
    evidence:
      default: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "agent draft 2026-10-01 from STRATEGY.md audiences and section Audiences, VOICE.md section 2", as_of: 2026-10-01}
      firmographics: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "agent assumption 2026-10-01: STRATEGY.md says 'senior deputies' without a grade; director chosen", as_of: 2026-10-01}
      regions: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "agent assumption 2026-10-01: sources name English only, no country", as_of: 2026-10-01}
      channels: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "agent draft 2026-10-01 from KPI.md and HANDOFF.md", as_of: 2026-10-01}
```

### AUDIENCE

#### Technology decision-makers
CTO, CIO, CMO, CFO, COO and board members with technology accountability who own or influence AI strategy at the organisation level. They bring a position to the board or to C-suite peers and want it tested first. They know what an LLM is and how procurement works; hands-on implementation experience is not assumed. Source: STRATEGY.md section Audiences.

#### Senior deputies
The people who prepare the position for the decision-maker. They want the honest version of a decision framework, without a consulting engagement, and want to know where conventional wisdom is wrong before the next planning cycle. Source: STRATEGY.md section Audiences, VOICE.md section 2.

#### Excluded audiences
Not written for: buyers who want a vendor shortlist, readers who want implementation tutorials for their own sake, and anyone expecting a retainer, a sponsored placement or a gated PDF. Source: STRATEGY.md section What we will not do.

## MONETIZATION.md

Version 1.0.2 · status draft · sha256 ab05a77995632d457602915c202e67632caedde5bb763e8b8c70ecd8f15c9d4d

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.2
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: aistrategy.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
revenue_lines:
  - slug: advisory-practice
    name: Advisory practice, referral from essays
    type: charter:revenue-type-services (services)
    commission_model: charter:commission-model-unknown (unknown)
    placements: [charter:placement-type-dedicated-page (dedicated page)]
    segments: [technology-decision-makers]
    kpi_key: lead_submitted
    status: charter:revenue-status-idea (idea)
    share_band: charter:revenue-share-band-marginal (marginal)
    start_trigger: Owner decides whether the fractional CTO/CIO practice may be offered from the site at all
    evidence:
      default: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "agent draft 2026-10-01 from STRATEGY.md section Positioning ('the fractional CTO/CIO practice is the proof, not the product') and VOICE.md section 6; no source states a monetisation plan", as_of: 2026-10-01}
```

### MONETIZATION

#### Revenue model
The sources state no revenue plan. STRATEGY.md says nothing is sold on the site, and the primary KPI is newsletter_subscribed, not income. The single line below is an idea written by an agent so the file is not empty: it is not planned and carries no number. Whether it conflicts with "nothing is sold here" is the owner's call.

#### Disclosure rules
Any commercial relationship that shapes a page is disclosed on that page. No advertiser or vendor shapes a recommendation (STRATEGY.md section What we will not do).

#### Not monetised
No retainers, vendor sponsorships, gated PDFs, lead-magnet PDFs, affiliate links or sponsored content. Sources: STRATEGY.md section What we will not do, strategy-work/projects/ai-strategy/strategy/positioning.md ("no sponsored content Wave 1; no affiliate; no lead-magnet PDFs"). The newsletter is free and is a KPI, not a revenue line.

#### Advisory practice, referral from essays
An idea only. The practice is described as the proof of authority, not the product. If the owner approves it, a dedicated page would route enquiries from the essays to the practice, measured as lead_submitted. Needs a decision before status moves past idea.

## KPI.md

Version 1.0.2 · status draft · sha256 808bc3c5772d72b453a72f58879c11a1ec5928d8cd26a9497ea01aec40892ced

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.2
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: aistrategy.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
template: charter:kpi-template-product-signup (product signup)
template_override: On an editorial hub the newsletter is the signup; there is no product account to complete.
kpis:
  - {key: newsletter_subscribed, role: charter:kpi-role-primary (primary)}
  - {key: signup_completed, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: content_engaged, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: pageview_recorded, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: gsc_clicks, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: crawl_errors, role: charter:kpi-role-guardrail (guardrail)}
catalog_sha: 4304fc97e9ac457725bdc25dcbb724c36257a707cbb3c237b69cd3e7ba04ac39
```

### KPI

#### Why these metrics
newsletter_subscribed is the number the site is run on: the Sendy form on every page is the only conversion the site emits. signup_completed stays enabled from the product-signup template for a future paid product. content_engaged and pageview_recorded explain whether the essays are read; gsc_clicks explains where readers come from. crawl_errors is the guardrail: it must not rise as the article count grows.

#### Reading guide
Weekly newsletter_subscribed against the `(site)` value target in kpi-mgmt (1180/week, set before this charter). A flat primary with rising pageview_recorded means the form, not the traffic, is the problem.

#### Review cadence
Quarterly, with the 12-month bets in STRATEGY.md.

## taxonomy/binding.yaml

Version 1.0.2 · status draft · sha256 b054191aa2f4cc655de66b2d239a0594226c3a16d370ecabed7565d220bd5f81

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.2
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: aistrategy.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
iab_content: ["iab:597", "iab:52", "iab:596"]
icp_profile: portfolio-icp@1.0.0
content_profile: null
languages: [en]
regions: [US, GB]
```