---
id: "evidence-implementation-timeline"
type: "evidence"
source_timestamps: ["§ Myth 5"]
tags: ["implementation", "timeline", "change-management"]
related: ["claim-implementation-speed", "concept-gen-ai-mvp", "action-mvp-deployment"]
confidence: "medium"
sources: ["attention"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-attention"
originDay: 4
articleStem: "hbr-cl-90-genai-myths-sales-marketing"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/02/5-gen-ai-myths-holding-sales-and-marketing-teams-back"
sourceTitle: "5 Gen AI Myths Holding Sales and Marketing Teams Back"
---
# "Weeks not years" — realistic implementation timeline

## Evidence: "Weeks not years" — realistic implementation timeline

Calibrates [[claim-implementation-speed]] and [[concept-gen-ai-mvp]].

**What's supported:** The MVP framing and "weeks, not years" timeline match how most commercial Gen AI projects are now described:
- AI-powered campaigns launch **~75% faster** than traditional ones.
- Gen AI compresses content/campaign timelines **from weeks to days**.
- Plug-and-play tools, open-source models, and SaaS offerings (e.g., cloud Gen AI platforms) make integration much faster when business processes are well understood.

**The caveat:** Enterprise-grade deployments involving **security & compliance, multi-region data, legacy-system integration, and worker-council negotiations** can take **months to over a year**.

**Realistic pattern:** **Pilot in weeks, scale in months** — with formalized policies for data usage/privacy, model monitoring, and staff training/onboarding. This is the disciplined version of [[action-mvp-deployment]]: timelines depend on scope and governance, but targeted use cases (knowledge retrieval, drafting, campaign support) genuinely land in weeks to a few months.