AI Strategy · Organizational Alignment · Sprint Methodology

Your team has AI tools.
What they need is a direction.

I help organizations cut through the noise and figure out exactly where AI fits into how they build, ship, and operate. In days, not quarters.

Formerly: Google · Riot Games · Tableau

Kim Castillo
About

Hi, I'm Kim.

I'm an independent AI strategy consultant and program leader with 15+ years helping technical teams figure out hard problems. I spent the last four years at Google working on the DORA Report, the research program that tracks how engineering organizations actually adopt new technology, including AI. I also built Gemini's user research community from the ground up.

Before that: Riot Games (Trust & Safety platform, 180 million players), Pluto TV (ad tech infrastructure that helped take revenue past $1B), Tableau (agile coaching across 140+ engineering teams), and AT&T (one of the first 10 teams in the company to ship Docker and Kubernetes in production).

I look at team dynamics, delivery, and the end user all at once. That's unusual. Most people optimize for one. I've found that AI initiatives stall when the three get out of sync. They move fast when they don't.

I'm based in Los Angeles. I work with organizations of all sizes, from small product teams to 500-person orgs navigating what AI actually means for how they work.

Technical Program Management AI Adoption Research Agile Coaching Cross-functional Facilitation Product & Engineering Operations Organizational Change
Services

What I offer

I offer structured, short-term engagements designed for founders and leaders who need clarity fast. No need to hire a full-time strategist or sit through a six-month consulting project.

The AI Northstar Sprint

Signature Offer · 3 to 5 days

Most teams don't lack AI tools. They lack alignment on where they're headed and why. The Northstar Sprint is a focused, structured engagement that gets your team to a shared AI strategy, grounded in your actual delivery context, your users, and where the technology is today.

We start with a discovery call. If it's a fit, I spend 3 to 5 days embedded with your team: interviews, working sessions, and synthesis. You get a deliverable you can actually use.

  • A clear AI opportunity map for your product or organization
  • Alignment across engineering, product, design, and leadership on where to focus first
  • A concrete set of next steps your team can act on immediately
  • Honest assessment of where you're ready and where you're not

Advisory Retainer

Ongoing Strategic Support · Monthly

For teams that want a thought partner beyond the sprint. I work with a small number of organizations on a retainer basis. I show up when it matters, staying close enough to the work to give you real input, not just frameworks.

Reach out to talk through what that could look like.

How It Works

The AI Northstar Sprint

Three phases. One clear outcome: an AI strategy your organization can actually execute. Built on alignment, not assumptions.

1

Assess

Before we talk about tools, we talk about reality. I run a structured diagnostic across your organization to understand where you are on the AI adoption curve, where the friction points live, and what foundational questions haven't been asked yet. Most organizations think they know what they need. This phase surfaces what they actually need.

2

Align

AI fails when teams build in silos. This phase is about getting the right people in the room, across functions and across levels, and reaching shared clarity on goals, priorities, and guardrails before anyone builds anything. I design and facilitate the conversations that create organizational alignment. The kind that sticks after the engagement ends.

3

Activate

Now we build. With goals clear and teams aligned, we design the AI workflows, tools, and systems that actually fit your organization. You leave with a strategy document, a replicable framework, and a clear set of next steps your team can own, with no dependency on me to execute them.

Selected Work

Selected work

Google Cloud

2022 – 2026

DORA Report

Took over a research program that was nearly shut down and rebuilt it into the industry's most-cited annual report on software delivery and AI adoption. Led the program's pivot to AI-assisted development research in 2025, its first strategic shift in 10 years. Generated $35M in marketing-sourced pipeline, drove 35,000+ asset downloads, and landed coverage in Gartner, CNN, and Business Insider. Named one of Google Cloud Platform's top 5 gated assets and won best DevOps report from DevOps.com.

Google Cloud

2022 – 2024

Gemini in Cloud: User Research Community

Built the Gemini UX Research Community of Practice from zero during the earliest phase of Google's AI push. In six months, aligned researchers across Cloud verticals and stood up a quarterly insight program that shaped product teams and strategic workstreams. Quarterly rollups averaged 7,000+ views.

Riot Games

2021 – 2022

Central Player Dynamics

Led delivery for the platform serving 180 million active players globally. Shipped ML-based detection systems for player safety, managed a $2.5M voice moderation vendor decision, and implemented Safety-by-Design frameworks adopted across multiple game studios.

Speaking

Selected

Talks & Panels

  • SAFe Summit 2018: "Winning over the Skeptics of Scaled Agility"
  • Agile 2019: "How to Facilitate Code Reviews as a Less Technical Coach"
  • DORA webinar series for global sponsors, including Copia and Broadcom
Testimonials

What people say

Kim's early advocacy for studying AI as a core technical capability was visionary, leading to breakthrough research while maintaining rigorous integrity. Any company would be lucky to have Kim's rare blend of strategic leadership and gritty execution.
Dustin Smith Quantitative UX Researcher, Google
Managed Kim directly
Kim had a reputation at our company for being able to go into particularly challenged teams and influence positive change, even with relatively short coaching assignments.
Nicole Williams SVP, Product and Product Delivery, TelevisaUnivision
Managed Kim directly at Pluto TV
Kim recognizes systemic and context problems as well as those forming from within team interactions, and then does a good job at enrolling people to address those problems.
Arlo Belshee Fractional CTO, Distinguished Engineer
Teams loved her and sought her out due to her genuine passion for meeting people where they were and creatively helping to get their needs met.
James Baker Founder, Intentional Society
Worked with Kim at Tableau
Work with me

Work with me

I take on a small number of engagements at a time. If you're thinking about AI strategy and want to talk through whether a sprint makes sense for your team, I'd love to hear what you're working on.

Book a call →