# Before you put AI on the rota, agree where the business is going

> AI agents need an owner, a log and a reviewer. They also need a direction. Why a shared vision comes before AI in a small business, from Dan Cluderay.

Published: 2026-10-22
Author: Dan Cluderay

AI makes you faster in whatever direction you're already going. Agree what the business is trying to do, which numbers show it's working and which jobs get in the way, before any agent goes on the rota.

On 21 October SME Today published five rules for small firms putting AI agents to work. Give every agent a named owner. Log its work against real tasks. Record who reviewed it. Compare its time with a person's time. Stop any agent that nobody is checking.

I agree with every one of them. They are the same rules you would use for a new member of staff. But there is a step that comes before them, and most firms skip it.

## Nobody can check work against a goal that isn't written down

An owner can only judge an agent's work if they know what good looks like. A reviewer can only sign something off if they know what the business is trying to achieve. If the direction lives in one person's head, every review is a guess.

Simply Business's SME Insights report this year found 47% of UK small firms now use AI, more than double the 22% a year before. It also found 39% aren't sure how AI could be useful for their business. I don't read that as a technology problem. I read it as a direction problem. If you can't say what the business is trying to do, you can't say what any tool is for.

## AI makes you faster, in whatever direction you're already going

That is the part people miss. AI doesn't choose a direction. It speeds up the one you have. If the team doesn't agree where the business is heading, the agents will make that disagreement faster and harder to see. If they do agree, AI can take the business somewhere it couldn't reach before.

## Three questions to answer first

Get the people who run the business in a room and agree three things.

1. **What are we trying to do this year?** One or two sentences. Grow online sales. Cut the time from order to despatch. Stop running out of the lines that matter.
2. **Which numbers tell us it's working?** Pick a few you already have, and agree what each one means. "Money" can mean sales, gross profit or what's left at the end of the month. Decide which one you mean.
3. **Which jobs get in the way?** The chasing, re-keying and checking that eat the week.

Write the answers down where everyone can see them.

## Then put the agents on the rota

The third list is where your first agent goes. Now the SME Today rules work properly. The owner knows what good looks like. The reviewer can check the work against the goal. And when you compare agent time with human time, you're measuring the work that moves the business, not just the work that was easiest to hand over.

I've written before about [writing down what your AI can touch](/insights/write-down-what-your-ai-can-touch/) and why [the best results come from the boring jobs](/insights/ai-on-the-boring-jobs/). This is the step above both. Agree the direction first. Then decide what the AI can touch, and which boring jobs it takes on.

It's also how we're building [Bud](/bud/), our AI assistant for operations: it starts by learning how the business works and what it's trying to do, before it does anything.

If you'd like help getting the direction written down and turning it into the first job for an agent, [get in touch](/contact/).

## Sources

- SME Today, Putting AI agents on the rota: five rules for small businesses, 21 Oct 2026: smetoday.co.uk/technology/putting-ai-agents-on-the-rota-five-rules-for-small-businesses/
- Simply Business, SME Insights Report 2026, Sep 2026, read 22 Oct 2026: simplybusiness.co.uk/resources/sme-insights-report/