The 
™ for Enterprise AI
Galapagos turns enterprise AI from pilots, and motion without progress, into measurable outcomes — by fixing the human, organisational and delivery failures that kill transformations.
40%+ of agentic AI projects are expected to be cancelled by end‑2027.
Cost. Value. Risk controls. Hype mismatch. Source: Gartner (2025)
AI is failing for the same reasons transformations fail.
New tools. Same failure modes. Enterprise‑scale outcomes need an execution system — not more pilots.
Hype meets cost
Gartner predicts 40%+ of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by end‑2027 due to escalating costs, unclear value, or inadequate risk controls.
Expectations vs results
FT reporting highlights that the AI rollout is messy — adoption, change, and proving ROI are hard in the real world.
70% failure rate
McKinsey’s widely cited framing: ~70% of transformations fail — typically for leadership, engagement and execution reasons, not because the strategy slide deck was wrong.
The framework doesn't change.
Galapagos fixes the execution mechanics that kill programmes:
AI hasn’t created a new class of delivery problems — it has simply made the old ones show up sooner (and more publicly).
So Galapagos doesn’t “become” something else. It stays what it is: an execution system that removes the human, organisational and delivery failure modes.
- The Island stays The Island: geographic isolation from BAU drag, with real interfaces to risk, security, architecture and finance.
- MMMSS stays MMMSS: Many More Much Smaller Steps — because AI value only becomes real when it’s shipped into real workflows.
- Integration Specialists stay Integration Specialists: ensuring what’s built on The Island reintegrates cleanly back into the parent organisation (process, operating model, controls, adoption).
What I help with
Clear, pragmatic support across strategy, governance and delivery — with an emphasis on building AI-ready foundations rather than hype.
Strategy & Governance
Decision-ready options, risk-aware roadmaps and governance that accelerates rather than blocks delivery. I translate complex technology into board-level clarity.
Product & Platform Delivery
Operating model design, agile-at-scale patterns, and coaching to ship high-quality outcomes consistently. From roadmap to release.
AI-Ready Foundations
Data architecture, controls, and adoption approaches that make AI initiatives safe, useful and scalable. Practical implementation, not slide decks.
AI hasn’t created new failure modes — it has simply exposed them faster. Galapagos fixes them with an execution system, not more pilots.
Evolving from digital transformation to digital acceleration
The original Galapagos playbook — why transformations fail, and what to do instead.
Transformations fail for human and execution reasons.
AI programmes are failing for exactly the same underlying reasons — just faster. The Galapagos Framework is the execution system that fixes the operating model, governance and delivery mechanics.
Everything you know about AI programmes and transformations is wrong.
- Multiple parallel streams of work gets you to your end goal faster — WRONG.
- Running an AI delivery programme from inside BAU will work — WRONG.
- Running an AI delivery programme in a matrix management structure — WRONG.
- More communication is better — WRONG.
- More governance layers reduces risk — WRONG.
- Pilots are progress — WRONG.
- Young, enthusiastic and ambitious teams deliver success — WRONG.
- You must avoid failure — WRONG.
The execution system behind successful enterprise AI and transformations
The Galapagos Framework is an execution system for enterprise change that applies directly to AI because the failure modes are the same: human, organisational, and delivery.
- A discreet, dedicated innovation environment free from existing business drag (The Island).
- Fast evolution through Many More Much Smaller Steps (MMMSS): thin slices, shipped frequently, measured properly, and adjusted relentlessly.
- Protection from corporate gravity: experimentation is safe, learning is continuous, and only what works survives to the next stage.
Why "Galapagos"?
- The use of "Galapagos" is, of course, in reference to the Galapagos archipelago where Charles Darwin conducted some of the research that led to the writing of the "Origin of Species".
- Darwin's ideas on evolution were not a flash of inspiration but rather developed over time and not along a linear trajectory.
- Furthermore, Darwin did not work in isolation but rather collaborated with other naturalists to refine his work.
- The relevance of "geographic isolation", transformations following a non-linear trajectory and collaboration are some of the key themes of The Galapagos Framework©.
Request a proposal
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Brian Harkin
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