1-2-1: Still waiting for the time back

I spoke to two people this year who build with AI. One told me he's exhausted by the end of every day. The other says he can't stop.

Your team has been using AI for months. Look at your calendar this week and ask whether it got any lighter.

1 Principle

You were promised time back. You got more decisions instead.

When a first draft costs almost nothing, everyone makes more of them. Every extra version is one more thing someone has to decide on. The time you saved making the work now goes on judging it, and that part still comes to you. The one who can't stop is building his own AI running coach. He calls it an addiction. Every prompt gives him something back, so there's always one more to run.

2 Things Top of Mind

#1 The engineer with too many open loops

A neighbour of mine is a software engineer. When we spoke earlier this year, he hadn't written code by hand since the previous December, and he'd never been more productive. He describes what he wants to an AI tool and reviews what it builds. He also told me he's exhausted by the end of every day, and he puts that down to the decisions. He has so many threads running at once that the number of calls he makes in a day has shot up.

This week: At the end of one day, write down every open loop you're carrying: every draft waiting on you, every "let me think about it". Pick three to close first thing tomorrow and three to drop.

#2 Five options where you wanted one

Your head of marketing used to bring you one campaign idea. Now she brings five, all well written, because the tool drafted them in ten minutes. Your ops lead sends two versions of the new process. There's a draft board update in your inbox you didn't ask for. It's all decent work. And all of it is waiting on you.

This week: Change the ask. The next time someone brings you options, reply with one line: "Which one would you pick, and why?" Make their pick the default, and only step in when you disagree.

1 Question

Which decision did you make this week that someone on your team could have made without you?