---
id: "action-align-cost-benefit-silos"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ How Can Organizations Pick the Best Gen AI Projects?", "\\\"2. Choose projects that are practical", "quick wins", "and politically aligned.\\\""]
tags: ["project-selection", "budgeting"]
related: ["concept-political-alignment-projects"]
action: "Select AI projects where financial costs and business benefits sit within the same department."
outcome: "Faster project approval and execution due to eliminated cross-departmental political friction."
speakers: ["Tom Davenport", "John J. Sviokla"]
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-cl-95-6-disciplines-genai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2024/07/the-6-disciplines-companies-need-to-get-the-most-out-of-gen-ai"
sourceTitle: "The 6 Disciplines Companies Need to Get the Most Out of Gen AI"
---
# Align Project Costs and Benefits

**Action:** Select AI projects where financial costs and business benefits sit within the same department.

**How:** When selecting Gen AI projects, ensure the budget paying for the implementation belongs to the same organizational unit that will reap the business benefits, avoiding political friction.

**Expected outcome:** Faster project approval and execution due to eliminated cross-departmental political friction.

Implements the [[concept-political-alignment-projects|political-alignment criterion]] within [[framework-gen-ai-project-selection]].