Bookmark: Goodbye digital transformation, hello AI-first business transformation

Embrace AI-first transformation to innovate and streamline business operations, breaking down silos and enhancing decision-making for exponential growth.
A fitting quote from the article is: “AI is pushing for reinvention, innovation, and the exploration of the art of the possible.”
Goodbye digital transformation, hello AI-first business transformation
The article discusses the transition from digital transformation to AI-first business transformation. It argues that the digital transformation approach primarily focused on digitalizing existing models rather than fundamentally transforming business paradigms. Many companies digitized legacy processes, which led to complexity and silos rather than true transformation. The emergence of AI offers a new opportunity to genuinely transform businesses by making processes more efficient and rethinking operations in an AI-centric manner. Unlike the digital revolution that often reinforced inefficiencies, AI demands a reevaluation of how businesses operate and measure success. It necessitates breaking down silos and creating interconnected systems where intelligence flows across functions, enhancing decision-making and unlocking new efficiencies. This transformation requires integrating AI to not only automate but also augment capabilities, moving towards a connected enterprise where AI helps orchestrate workflows and drive strategic impacts. Ultimately, the shift involves adopting a mindset that embraces AI as a core element of business operations, leading to exponential growth and innovation.
The agent-shaped org chart
Every real org has the same topology: principal, role-holder, specialists. Staff AI maps onto it, node for node, and the cost collapse shows up in the deliverables that were always just human-handoff overhead.
AI as staff, not software
Two frames for what AI is doing to work. The tool frame makes tools smarter. The staff frame makes roles unnecessary. Those aren't the same product, the same company, or the same industry.
Knowledge work was never work
Knowledge work was always coordination between humans who couldn't share state directly. The artifacts were never the work. They were the overhead — and AI just made the overhead optional.
The work of being available now
A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.
The practice of work in progress
Practical essays on how work actually gets done.
How do I get my dev team to adopt AI?
A stub on helping mixed-interest development teams find their own useful ways into AI.
Want to learn about agents? Talk to someone who ran an agency.
I spent 20 years running consulting engagements at Fortune 500 companies. Turns out that's the best preparation for running a fleet of AI agents ... because the problems are identical.
Your AI agents need a water cooler
We run a twelve-session AI fleet that coordinates through an IRC breakroom. A friend asked: why are you making AI agents act like humans? The answer turned out to be more interesting than the question.
Bookmark: How openai’’s new ChatGPT agent can do the research for you - access it here
Discover how OpenAI's ChatGPT Deep Research agent transforms research by autonomously gathering and synthesizing information in minutes.
Article analysis: Wharton professor Ethan Mollick says companies must make organizational changes if they want to benefit from AI
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