Give an AI champion enough protected working time to deliver a defined set of responsibilities, including preparation and follow-up. Estimate that work with the person, agree what moves out of their existing workload, then compare the allowance with actual demand. A percentage of the week is useful only when both sides understand what it buys.
For a peer champion, that might mean helping colleagues practise with an approved tool, maintaining a useful example and passing unresolved questions to the right owner. If you have not agreed that remit yet, start with the champion role and selection guide. Someone leading a department-wide rollout needs a different capacity discussion.
Define the commitment before choosing a number
Microsoft's Power Platform champion guidance says time investment can vary greatly between people and teams. It recommends clear expectations and manager approval where needed. This is guidance for a broader platform community, but the planning question transfers well: which activities are you asking this person to take on?
A program's stage matters too. The University of Arizona's AI Leadership Collaborative specifies four hours a week for campus champions during a six-week summer cohort, then two during the academic year. Those commitments belong to its particular program, which includes building artifacts and serving as a local point of contact. They are not evidence that the same hours will suit your team.
Write down the immediate scope before discussing a weekly allowance:
- People and tasks. Which colleagues and kinds of work will the champion support?
- Activities. Will they run a practice session, answer questions, prepare examples or coordinate with the wider network?
- Availability. When can colleagues expect help, and where should urgent requests go?
- Boundaries. Who owns access problems, policy decisions and production incidents?
Colleagues may bring any of these problems to a familiar peer. That does not make them all champion work. Microsoft's production support framework distinguishes informal maker and team support from help-desk and dedicated support, with a path for solutions whose importance grows. Use that distinction when a helpful peer starts maintaining something the business now depends on.
Record the work that meetings hide
In a January 2026 Reddit discussion, one Reddit user described becoming an AI champion for their company and clients. Repeated lunch-and-learns and basic setup questions competed with their main job. They wanted to help, but worried in a follow-up that gathering learning resources would become another weekly responsibility. The employer and company size were not stated; this is one person's account, rather than a measure of typical workload.
That preparation work belongs in the estimate. So does the time spent checking an example, following up with a learner or finding an owner for a question you cannot answer.
Use a short diary over an initial operating cycle. A week can reveal recurring work; keep one-off launch activity separate so it does not become an assumed weekly commitment. Agree a manageable review date rather than leaving the diary open indefinitely.
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
Activity and purpose | What you did and which task or question it supported. |
Time spent | Active minutes, including preparation and follow-up. Keep waiting time separate. |
Planned or unplanned | A scheduled session, an interruption, or work created by an earlier request. |
Within the remit | Whether you could help, needed another owner, or took on work outside the agreement. |
Result or next step | What the colleague could do afterward, or what remains unresolved. |
Work displaced | Which ordinary task moved, or whether the activity spilled beyond agreed working time. |
Keep entries brief and avoid names, confidential prompts or sensitive work details when they are unnecessary for the capacity decision. Record a task once, even if it fits several categories. The diary should make the workload easier to discuss without becoming a new administrative burden.
Turn the diary into an initial allowance
Group the work into recurring activities, temporary rollout work and requests that belong elsewhere. Estimate the next cycle from those groups. When there is no history yet, use explicit assumptions and check them after the first sessions.
Suppose a purchasing assistant at a catering company is also the department's AI champion. Next week, they will help colleagues draft supplier emails about short deliveries. Learners will compare each draft with the purchase order and the kitchen's delivery record, checking the product, ordered quantity and missing quantity before a buyer approves the email. The champion and purchasing manager plan this work:
| Activity | Planned time |
|---|---|
Prepare a short-delivery example and check it against the order and delivery record | 40 minutes |
Help colleagues draft and check a supplier email | 30 minutes |
Add the questions raised to the supplier-email example | 20 minutes |
Review the approved tool's handling of order tables before the next session | 20 minutes |
Ask the purchasing manager who handles disputed delivery quantities | 10 minutes |
Total planned work | 120 minutes |
There is no reason to copy that total if your duties differ. Preparing a first session can take longer than adapting an existing example. A rollout may create temporary demand; a repeated access problem may need an administrator's intervention. Discuss those differences before increasing the recurring allowance.
Agree what changes in the manager's plan
AI transformation consultant Lauren Morgenstein Schiavone described client pushback on her proposal to protect 20% of each champion's role. Her argument was that managers must remove existing work and make the responsibility part of formal goals. The percentage is her prescription, not a demonstrated optimum. The useful question for your agreement is what the manager will actually change.
A calendar block offers little protection if every previous deadline still applies. Write a short agreement with the champion and their line manager:
- Commitment. Name the activities, the initial hours and when the time is available.
- Tradeoff. Specify the report, meeting or other responsibility that changes, who agrees to that change and any revised deadline.
- Support route. Name the person or team that takes questions beyond the champion's remit or availability.
- Review point. Set a date to compare the allowance, actual work and unresolved demand.
- Change rule. Agree who can narrow the role, change the allowance or pause an activity when priorities conflict.
If the manager cannot release the time, reduce the commitment before announcing it. One supported practice session may be feasible when an always-available peer support role is not. Make that limit visible to colleagues so the champion does not have to renegotiate it with every request.
Review demand before adding more hours
Bring the diary to a regular manager conversation about AI-assisted work. Look at where time went and what help remains needed, then choose the appropriate response:
- Check the scope. Redirect access, policy or production-support work to its owner. Extra champion hours will not resolve missing authority.
- Check repeated questions. A shared example, group session or clearer instruction may help. Include the work needed to create and maintain it.
- Check capacity and timing. If useful peer work still exceeds the allowance, increase supported time, share responsibilities or reduce the people and activities covered.
- Check the next cycle. Record the revised commitment and when you will assess it again. A temporary launch allowance needs an end or review point.
Pair the workload review with evidence of what colleagues can apply after the help. That connects the time commitment to useful practice while keeping other influences visible.
An empty diary needs investigation too. Colleagues may not know help is available, may need a different kind of support, or may not have a suitable task. Filling the hours is not the objective.
Your next step is to bring one proposed remit and one week's activity estimate to the champion's manager. Leave with a specific commitment and a named tradeoff. The people and change guide places that agreement alongside the wider learning and support decisions.
Questions about protected time for AI champions
Is two hours a week enough?
Two hours can cover a limited champion commitment if preparation, the session and follow-up all fit inside it. It will not cover the same work in every team. A purchasing assistant helping colleagues draft supplier emails needs time to check the practice order and delivery record before teaching anyone to use them. List those activities, add an explicit allowance for questions, and agree which existing work moves. Use the activity estimate and calculation as a planning method, then compare your estimate with actual demand.
Should learning and preparation count?
Yes, include learning and preparation needed for the agreed champion responsibilities. Someone teaching supplier-email drafting needs to check that the approved tool handles the order table correctly and that the example's quantities match the delivery record. Preparing that session, answering its follow-up questions and maintaining the example are part of delivering the support. Record them in the workload diary, alongside session time. Agree separately how broader personal development fits into the person's working week.
What if the manager cannot free any time?
Narrow or defer the champion commitment before inviting colleagues to request help. Protected time requires an actual workload change: reserving a calendar slot does not remove an existing deadline. The manager and champion should name what can stop, move or pass to another owner. If nothing can change, do not promise recurring peer support that relies on extra work after hours. Use the manager agreement to document the limit, the support route for colleagues and when the decision will be reviewed.
Should every champion receive the same allowance?
Use the same planning method for everyone, but allow hours to differ when responsibilities and demand differ. A purchasing champion preparing the first supplier-email session has preparation work that a colleague repeating a checked session may not have. Compare duties, preparation, follow-up and unscheduled requests before comparing totals. Make those reasons visible in each manager agreement and give every champion a review date. The demand review helps decide whether to add time, share work or reduce the commitment.
