If you've adopted AI at your company but haven't seen any tangible results, read this 1990 article: "The Dynamo and the Computer" by Paul David.
When electricity first arrived, factories that "adopted" it barely got faster. They just swapped the steam engine for an electric one and ran everything else exactly as before: same machine layout, same workflow, same management. Electricity in, no real gains out.
The most common mistake with any new technology is to drop it into the old organization and then declare the transformation done.
The real leap came decades later, when each machine got its own small motor. Suddenly machines no longer had to be lined up around one central drive shaft. They could be rearranged around the actual flow of work.
The productivity gains didn't come from electricity. They came from REDESIGNING THE ENTIRE FACTORY around it.
AI is the same. Bolting it onto your existing process gets you a faster steam engine. The payoff comes when you redesign the work itself.
(link to paper in comments)
This is the tough lesson that a lot of people are learning the hard way
AI might have made building apps a lot easier, but it also set the barrier to entry at zero
Because anyone can do it, there is no moat left
The only edge left in the future will be sales and marketing
5. Use the formula: Gratitude + "NO" + appreciation.
This looks like: "Thanks for thinking of me, I can't make it next Saturday because of family stuff. I know it's going to be a good time for everyone."
Use this each time and notice how calm you feel.
4. Use the "I am an adult" mantra: you have to soothe your inner child to break this habit.
Write this down and say it to yourself regularly: "I am free from getting in trouble, and no longer need to beg to be understood or validated.
Think of yourself as an LLM.
Every social interaction, every meeting, burns your tokens.
Unless someone is a paid subscriber to your attention, you are under no obligation to answer low-quality prompts.