Johann Baard

For founders and the people who answer to boards

Governance, risk and AI, ranked by what bites first.

Every organisation has a list of things that could go wrong. Most never rank it. I have spent my career pulling those risks out of audit files, procurement records and new AI rules, and putting the worst one at the top so it gets fixed before it costs money.

Johann Baard, admitted attorney and governance consultant, Cape Town. Six years on Australia's air traffic management replacement.

Impact
Likelihood
Every risk gets a square. The red ones get fixed first.

What is coming

Next AI rule deadlines

Dates under the EU AI Act as changed by the AI Omnibus. Red is under 90 days away, amber is within a year. Count is from today.

    Put the next deadline on your own site, free.

    Source: the AI Omnibus, published in the EU Official Journal on 24 July 2026, as summarised by the Future of Privacy Forum. Last checked 9 November 2026. Check the primary text before you act.

    What I have built

    Tools that do the ranking for you

    Each one takes a messy question and gives back a ranked list you can act on.

    AI Compliance Radar

    Live

    Give it your product's web address. It shows which AI rules you are likely to trigger and builds a Gap Register you can work down, one deadline at a time.

    Run a free scan →

    Everything Wrong

    Free

    Paste in a business idea. You get back a ranked register of what is most likely to kill it, and the moves to make about it. About a minute.

    Try it →

    Dual Lens company analyses

    On request

    A company read through two lenses: the numbers, and how the organisation actually behaves. Done so far on Pick n Pay, Sasol, Tesla and Nutun.

    Ask for one →

    AI regulation scoper

    In build

    Tells you what your AI system probably triggers, which duties are likely in scope, and which primary source to check. Join The Heat Map to hear when it opens.

    Johann Baard

    Where the habit comes from

    I rank risk for a living

    I am a South African admitted attorney, but law is a small part of what I do. Most of my work has been governance, audit, procurement and turning around organisations that had stopped seeing their own problems. AI has made that work urgent again, so I build tools for it.

    • 1994
      Constitution-writing processMember of a presidential task group under President Mandela.
    • Arivia.kom
      Head of Governance and Chief Audit ExecutiveBuilt the enterprise risk system that pulled audit findings, staff attrition, procurement breaches and card overspend into one ranked list.
    • OneSky
      Probity and procurement strategy, AustraliaSix years on the joint civil and defence programme, around $900 million, replacing the country's air traffic management system.
    • Now
      GRC and AI toolsBA LLB, Stellenbosch. Building AI Compliance Radar and the tools above.

    The Heat Map

    One short email a month. The AI rule deadlines on the way, coloured by how close they are, and the one risk I would fix first if I sat on your board. Written by me, for founders and the people who answer to boards.