NOTQIN Path-to-Pilot — Team Orchestration 2026
One sentence. Five people, two parallel sales tracks, one outcome — first MAD-paid pilot signed AND deployed on a customer site.
What changed today (2026-05-24). Founder is no longer solo. Team = Ahmed + Elwalid + Imrane + Oussama + Mouad. Pilot strategy switched from “Auto Tier-2 narrow” to parallel push (Auto Tier-2 + CBAM warm-intros), first MAD contract wins focus. Timeline is critical-path-driven, not date-driven — the plan tells us the date.
What this doc IS. The working PM artifact for this push. Live, edited weekly, re-baselined every wave.
What this doc is NOT. A strategy doc (see NOTQIN Project Management OS + NOTQIN Go-to-Market OS). Not a thesis (see NOTQIN Industrial Intelligence Operating Thesis 2026). It is the execution layer that turns those into shipped customer outcomes.
0. North Star — the binary success test
First MAD-paid pilot signed AND deployed on a customer site.
Decomposed to a falsifiable definition of done — all six must be true:
- ✅ Signed MSA + Pilot SOW (Moroccan legal entity, MAD-denominated, CNDP-compliant data clauses).
- ✅ First invoice issued in MAD.
- ✅ Telemetry flowing from real customer equipment to a NOTQIN-controlled broker (not a simulator).
- ✅ At least one customer human is logged in to factory-app weekly.
- ✅ At least one decision (downtime root cause / quality alert / OTIF risk) is exported as evidence the customer keeps.
- ✅ Customer has agreed (in writing or recorded) to be a reference for pilot #2.
If 5/6 → it’s a paid POC, not a pilot. Don’t claim victory.
1. Team & role contracts
Real names, real ownership. RACI applied — one Accountable per workstream, never two.
| Person | Role | Accountable for | Consulted on | Time commitment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahmed Ben Ahmed | Founder / CTO / CEO | Data infrastructure · product · WS-A · WS-F · pilot SOW signature · cash | All workstreams | Full-time |
| Elwalid | AI lead | AI / decision layer · WS-B · Smartex Agent · Stages 5/7/9 of the thesis | WS-A integration, WS-E data | TBC |
| Imrane | GTM / Marketing lead | WS-C Auto Tier-2 outreach · WS-D CBAM warm intros · brand voice · demo script | Pricing (Ahmed signs), legal language (Ahmed signs) | TBC |
| Oussama | OT engineer (student, IA + OT context) | WS-E sector-pack hardening (auto focus) · simulator validation · customer-site OT integration prep | WS-A architecture | TBC (set in Wave H) |
| Mouad | OT engineer (student, IA + OT context) | WS-E sector-pack hardening (CBAM/steel focus) · MQTT/Sparkplug B conformance · field-readiness checklist | WS-D customer-site reality checks | TBC (set in Wave H) |
Decision rights. Ahmed signs anything that creates a legal, financial, or customer-facing obligation. Everything else flows to the workstream Accountable. Disagreements bubble to Friday demo, not to chat.
Trust-build window. First 2 weeks (Wave H) — light deliverables, heavy on cadence. Goal: prove the rituals work before stacking real customer pressure on them.
2. Workstreams — six parallel tracks
Every workstream has an Accountable, a definition-of-done, and a Wave-H “first concrete deliverable” so nobody has to invent what to do tomorrow.
WS-A — Data Infrastructure & Product (Accountable: Ahmed)
- Mission. Make the NOTQIN stack deployable to a customer site in <1 day, with telemetry, factory-app, and audit log running.
- Wave-H deliverable. Productize the existing customer droplet deploy (
packages/sector-packs/*→ live customer URL) into a documented runbook + smoke test. - DoD for pilot. One-click provisioning from sales sign-off; customer logs in within 24h of contract; OT-IT segmentation diagram approved by customer’s IT.
WS-B — AI / Decision Layer (Accountable: Elwalid)
- Mission. Make the system useful — turn the canonical event model (§5 Stage 4 of the Operating Thesis) into baseline dashboards (Stage 5) + causal hypothesis cards (Stage 9). No black-box ML in pilot #1.
- Wave-H deliverable. Read OI Thesis §4–5. Spike the Smartex Agent on the canonical event model, output one downtime-Pareto + one OEE dashboard against the auto simulator.
- DoD for pilot. Seven baseline dashboards (Thesis §5 Stage 5) green against real customer data + one causal hypothesis card surfaces at least one non-obvious correlation during pilot Week 2.
WS-C — GTM Auto Tier-2 (Accountable: Imrane)
- Mission. Convert the AMICA Tier-2/3 narrow thesis into a paid Diagnostic, then a Pilot.
- Wave-H deliverable. Read NOTQIN Go-to-Market OS + NOTQIN GTM — Aeronautics & Automotive + Feasibility Study — NOTQIN Auto Tier-2 Scorecard 2026. Fill rows 4–12 of AMICA Tier-2 Target List 2026 with named contacts from AMICA directory + Kerix.
- DoD for pilot. 5-day discovery sprint completed (8–12 calls), 2 LOIs for paid Diagnostic at 50–100k MAD, 1 signed Diagnostic SOW.
WS-D — GTM CBAM Warm-Intros (Accountable: Imrane, with Ahmed on warm-intro asks)
- Mission. Parallel-track on the CBAM wedge — YNNA Steel (urgent Jan 2026), Sonasid, OCP Safi via OCP Group.
- Wave-H deliverable. Map warm-intro paths for the 3 CBAM accounts. Identify who in our network (Ahmed Ratnani, advisor pool, UM6P) can open which door. Draft 3 personalized opening emails.
- DoD for pilot. At least 2 of 3 CBAM accounts in active discovery (call booked + qualifying info exchanged) by end of Wave J.
WS-E — OT Engineering (Accountable: Oussama (auto) + Mouad (CBAM/steel))
- Mission. Make the sector packs field-ready — not just simulator-correct. Bridge between WS-A architecture and the realities of a Moroccan plant floor.
- Wave-H deliverable.
- Oussama: audit the auto sector pack vs Morocco UNS Standard v0.2; produce a gap list + fix PRs.
- Mouad: audit the CBAM/steel sector pack against the YNNA Steel overlay; produce a field-readiness checklist (network ports, PLC protocols expected, sample-rate budget).
- DoD for pilot. Field-readiness checklist green against customer’s actual environment within 48h of site visit; zero unknowns at deploy time.
WS-F — Brand / Legal / Trust (Accountable: Ahmed)
- Mission. Don’t lose deals on hygiene. Finish the NOTQIN rebrand, file CNDP declaration, ship NDA + MSA templates, register trademark.
- Wave-H deliverable. NOTQIN rebrand wave-1: vault prose pass (every doc title done, but bodies still say “Smartex” in places — sweep). Tools & subscriptions doc filled with actual costs.
- DoD for pilot. NDA + MSA templates exist (lawyer-reviewed), CNDP declaration filed, NOTQIN trademark filed at OMPIC, brand sweep complete in code repo + sales screenshots.
3. Critical path — what actually controls the date
The pilot-live date is gated by one sequential chain. Everything else is parallel and only matters if it slips off the critical path.
Discovery sprint (WS-C/D)
→ 1 Diagnostic SOW signed (WS-C/D + WS-F legal)
→ Diagnostic delivered (WS-A + WS-B + WS-C)
→ Pilot SOW signed (WS-F + Ahmed)
→ On-site OT integration (WS-E + WS-A)
→ Telemetry live (WS-A)
→ First decision exported (WS-B)
→ MAD invoice issued (Ahmed)
⇒ NORTH STAR
Critical-path owners by stage: Imrane → Imrane → Ahmed → Ahmed → Oussama/Mouad → Ahmed → Elwalid → Ahmed.
Parallel (non-critical, won’t slip pilot if late): brand rebrand prose sweep, advisor recruiting, LinkedIn cadence, PFE study guides, public site polish, trademark filing (start, don’t gate on it).
Critical-path enemies to fight in standup every Monday:
- WS-C/D not getting calls booked → discovery slips → everything slips
- WS-F not having NDA ready when prospect says “send paperwork” → 2-week leak
- WS-E discovering at site visit that the customer’s PLCs speak a protocol we don’t support → fatal stall
4. Wave plan — 2-week sprints, named outcomes
Wave naming continues from NOTQIN Project Management OS §8 (last shipped = G). Dates assume kickoff Monday 2026-05-26.
| Wave | Dates | Theme | Forcing outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| H | 2026-05-26 → 06-08 | Foundation lock | Team cadence working · WS-A runbook · AMICA target list rows 4–12 done · sector-pack audits in PR |
| I | 06-09 → 06-22 | Discovery sprint | 8–12 Auto Tier-2 calls + 3 CBAM warm intros booked · NDA template exists · 2 LOIs for paid Diagnostic |
| J | 06-23 → 07-06 | Diagnostic #1 | 1 Diagnostic SOW signed (50–100k MAD) · Diagnostic delivery starts · brand sweep done |
| K | 07-07 → 07-20 | Diagnostic delivered + Pilot SOW | Diagnostic report shipped · Pilot SOW negotiated · MSA + CNDP filed · field-readiness checklist green |
| L | 07-21 → 08-03 | Site deployment | OT integration on-site · telemetry flowing · factory-app deployed on customer droplet |
| M | 08-04 → 08-17 | Pilot live + invoice | First decision exported · first MAD invoice issued · reference-agreement signed |
Honest read of this calendar. If Wave H is clean and Wave I lands 2 LOIs, first MAD invoice by mid-August 2026 is realistic. Any slip in discovery (Wave I) is a 1-for-1 slip on pilot-live. Brand-decision drama or legal blockers in Wave F can also leak a wave each.
Re-baseline rule. At the end of each wave, review against the critical path. If we slipped, name the cause in the Friday demo, decide whether to recover (compress next wave) or accept (slide M out). Don’t pretend.
5. Risk register — top 7, tied to action
Inherits R1–R5 from NOTQIN Project Management OS §6. New team-era risks added.
| # | Risk | Severity | Owner | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Customer #0 still zero (Smartex Customer State) | 🔴 25/25 | Imrane (lead), Ahmed | The whole plan IS the mitigation. Every wave checks for progress on the critical path. |
| R5 | Founder-leverage / single-thread on Ahmed | 🟠 high | Ahmed | This doc + 5-person team is partial mitigation. Cap Ahmed at WS-A + WS-F. Refuse to pick up WS-B/C work. |
| R-team-T | New, untested team — first 2 weeks decide cadence quality | 🟡 medium | Ahmed | Wave H = light deliverables, heavy on rituals. Friday demo is mandatory. |
| R-brand-B | NOTQIN rebrand mid-flight — sales conversations muddied | 🟡 medium | Imrane + Ahmed | Lock brand voice + 1-line “what NOTQIN is” in Wave H. All outbound after 2026-05-31 uses NOTQIN only. |
| R-legal-L | CNDP not declared → can’t legally process customer industrial data | 🟠 high | Ahmed | File CNDP declaration in Wave I (parallel with discovery). Block: pilot SOW cannot be signed without it. |
| R-OT-O | Customer-site OT integration surprise (unsupported PLC protocol / IT refuses access) | 🔴 high | Oussama / Mouad | Field-readiness checklist before site visit. Site survey is part of Diagnostic, NOT pilot — kill bad fits early. |
| R-exam-E | Founder exam period 2026-05 / PFE defense | 🟡 medium | Ahmed | See Exam Period Operating System 2026-05. Imrane carries WS-C/D outreach when Ahmed in exam-mode; Elwalid keeps WS-B autonomous. |
6. Cadence — the only rituals that ship pilots
Three meetings, all short. Anything else is optional.
Monday standup (45 min, async-OK in writing)
- Each workstream: last week shipped · this week planned · blockers.
- Critical-path check: are we still on track for the current wave’s forcing outcome?
- Ahmed reads the Smartex Deep Research Playbook §16 cadence — any overdue research surfaced as nag.
Wednesday Imrane outreach review (15 min)
- Pipeline status: how many calls booked, how many replied, how many ghosted.
- Next-action review on each named account in AMICA Tier-2 Target List 2026 + CBAM 3.
- If pipeline is stalling → escalate to Friday demo, don’t wait.
Friday demo + review (60 min)
- One workstream demos something working (rotates).
- Team reviews critical-path progress vs wave plan.
- Re-baseline if needed.
- Trust-build moment — surface and address frictions early.
Wave-end re-plan (every 2 weeks, end of each wave)
- This file gets rewritten — wave table updated, risk register reviewed, retrospective notes added.
- Use the
retroskill.
7. Single source of truth — where things live
| Artefact | Source | Why |
|---|---|---|
| This plan | This file in the vault | PM canon |
| Strategy | NOTQIN Project Management OS + NOTQIN Go-to-Market OS | Pre-existing canon |
| Thesis | NOTQIN Industrial Intelligence Operating Thesis 2026 | Tagging every deliverable to layer + stage |
| Pipeline | AMICA Tier-2 Target List 2026 + (TODO) 04_Strategy/CBAM Warm-Intro Tracker.md | Imrane’s working files |
| Code | C:\Users\21260\IdeaProjects\smartex (repo rename pending — separate wave) | Source of truth for product |
| Discovery-call notes | 03_Research Intelligence/Discovery Calls/<company>-<YYYY-MM-DD>.md (one per call) | Sales evidence trail |
| Customer-facing docs | Google Drive (TBC — set up in Wave H) | Shareable, not in vault |
| Daily coordination | Discord / WhatsApp (TBC — pick one in Wave H kick-off) | Speed of chat |
| Decisions of consequence | 04_Strategy/Decision Log.md (TODO — currently embedded in OS docs) | Don’t lose forks |
8. First-week (this week, 2026-05-26 → 06-01) concrete starts
Per person, no negotiating. If you can’t ship this in 5 working days, escalate Monday.
Ahmed
- Hold team kick-off call. Walk through this doc + the NOTQIN Industrial Intelligence Operating Thesis 2026.
- Pick the coordination tool (Discord vs WhatsApp), create the channel, post the standup template.
- WS-A: write
packages/deploy/customer-runbook.mdcovering droplet provision → sector-pack deploy → smoke test. - WS-F: NOTQIN prose sweep across NOTQIN Project Management OS, NOTQIN Go-to-Market OS, NOTQIN GTM — Aeronautics & Automotive (titles done, bodies pending).
- Fill Tools & Subscriptions with actual MAD costs + renewal dates.
Elwalid
- Read NOTQIN Industrial Intelligence Operating Thesis 2026 §4 + §5 end-to-end. Write a 1-page “what I’d build first” note in
01_Project Portfolio/NOTQIN Ecosystem/AI Spike Notes — Elwalid.md. - WS-B: spike the Smartex Agent against the canonical event model. Output: one downtime-Pareto + one OEE dashboard from the auto simulator.
- Surface 3 questions about the canonical event model that the thesis doesn’t answer — feed into Friday demo.
Imrane
- Read NOTQIN Go-to-Market OS, NOTQIN GTM — Aeronautics & Automotive, Feasibility Study — NOTQIN Auto Tier-2 Scorecard 2026.
- WS-C: fill rows 4–12 of AMICA Tier-2 Target List 2026 with named contacts (AMICA directory + Kerix + LinkedIn).
- WS-D: draft warm-intro asks for YNNA Steel, Sonasid, OCP Safi (who in our network opens which door).
- Draft 5 cold-email opening lines using the §0 six target questions of the Operating Thesis.
- Lock the brand 1-liner: “NOTQIN is the data-driven decision layer for Moroccan industrials — ___.” — bring to Friday demo.
Oussama
- Audit
packages/sector-packs/auto/against Morocco UNS Standard v0.2. Output: gap list in01_Project Portfolio/NOTQIN Ecosystem/Sector Pack Audits/auto-2026-05.md. - Open PRs for the top 3 gaps. Don’t wait for sign-off.
- Validate the auto simulator runs the Operating Thesis §5 Stage 4 canonical event model.
Mouad
- Audit
packages/sector-packs/cbam/(and/or steel pack if separate) against the YNNA Steel overlay in Morocco UNS Standard v0.2. - Output: field-readiness checklist template at
01_Project Portfolio/NOTQIN Ecosystem/Field Readiness Checklist v1.md(network ports, PLC protocols, sample-rate budget, IT/OT segmentation diagram). - Open PRs for the top 3 gaps in the CBAM pack.
9. What we are explicitly NOT doing during this push
Discipline. Anti-list to protect the critical path.
- Not building investor deck v1 (gate = first paying contract anyway).
- Not building the public NOTQIN site beyond interim ahmedbenahmed.com landing.
- Not co-authoring the Ahmed Ratnani whitepaper (Phase 3 — aero credibility, post-2-customers).
- Not adding sector packs (textile, cement, agrifood) beyond auto + CBAM until pilot #1 is live.
- Not chasing GIMAS aero targets until first auto/CBAM reference exists.
- Not running ML / predictive maintenance demos beyond control-chart-level SPC (Thesis §5 Stage 6 is the floor — Stage 7 is post-pilot).
- Not over-investing in brand visuals beyond a 1-line story + working logo.
Action items
- 2026-05-26 (Mon) — Team kick-off call. Walk this doc. Confirm role acceptance, time commitments, coordination tool. (Ahmed)
- 2026-05-26 — Post first standup template in team channel; set Mon/Wed/Fri recurring slots. (Ahmed)
- 2026-05-31 — All §8 first-week deliverables shipped or flagged. (All)
- 2026-06-01 (Mon) — Wave H mid-point check: cadence working? blockers? Re-baseline if needed. (Ahmed)
- 2026-06-07 — Wave H close: retrospective using
retroskill; rewrite §4 wave table with H actuals + I commitment. (Ahmed) - 2026-06-09 — Wave I kickoff: discovery sprint starts. Imrane has 5 calls booked by Friday or escalate. (Imrane)
- 2026-06-22 — Wave I close: target = 2 LOIs for paid Diagnostic. Decide Wave J commitments. (Ahmed + Imrane)
- 2026-06-22 — CNDP declaration filed (deadline before any Diagnostic delivery touches real customer data). (Ahmed)
- Ongoing — Weekly:
MEMORY.mdentry per signed Diagnostic / pilot milestone. (Ahmed)
Open items
- Time commitments for Elwalid / Imrane / Oussama / Mouad — full-time? Part-time student hours? Confirmed in kick-off call, recorded in §1.
- Equity / compensation model — verbal? Sweat equity letter? Lock before Wave I closes (don’t enter discovery with this ambiguous).
- Coordination tool — Discord vs WhatsApp vs Slack. Pick Monday.
- Customer-facing brand — is NOTQIN ready to put on a cold email by 2026-05-31? If not, fall back to “Ahmed Ben Ahmed — industrial intelligence” personal-brand cold email until lock.
- Tertiary pilot wedge — UM6P-affiliated lighthouse (via Ahmed Ratnani) was rejected as primary path. Keep as silent backup if both Auto + CBAM stall by Wave J?
- Decision Log —
04_Strategy/Decision Log.mddoesn’t exist yet. Create in Wave H so we don’t lose the forks ahead. - Field-readiness checklist v1 — Mouad ships in Wave H. Reviewed by Oussama (auto perspective) before Wave I discovery calls reference it.
See also
- NOTQIN Industrial Intelligence Operating Thesis 2026 — the why and what this plan executes against
- NOTQIN Project Management OS — PM canon (PMBOK + BMC + waves)
- NOTQIN Go-to-Market OS — GTM canon (3-audience funnels, pricing, demo)
- NOTQIN GTM — Aeronautics & Automotive — sector override for the WS-C track
- Feasibility Study — NOTQIN Auto Tier-2 Scorecard 2026 — the narrow thesis behind WS-C
- AMICA Tier-2 Target List 2026 — Imrane’s WS-C working file
- NOTQIN Pilot Playbook — Trust Ladder rungs + MUST-NOTs for the pilot itself
- NOTQIN Customer Engagement Playbook — ICP + 5-stage funnel for discovery
- NOTQIN Critical Artefacts — Dependencies & Tracker — the 15-artefact dep graph
- Smartex Customer State (memory) — R1 baseline (zero paying customers, real Stage 0–1 prospects)
- Exam Period Operating System 2026-05 — founder bandwidth overlay