Teaching is like consulting
Discover how teaching and consulting share a common approach, emphasizing understanding and implementation for effective learning and growth.
It’s generally thought that teachers know everything and consultants know nothing. When you learn from a teacher, it’s through that you’re learning what they know. And when you get help from a consultant, you’re supposed to know that they are basically just project managing things, but they don’t really know more than you do.
The reality is that both follow a similar approach.
Teachers typically use others’ materials as the basis for what they teach. What you‘re getting is 1) their help with your understanding of the materials, and 2) their interpretation of the materials.
Consultants, similarly, use original materials. There are many “third party” research companies that produce studies, recommendations, etc. Like academic materials. Just having access to this is not sufficient. You need a “teacher” to be able to fully use the materials. Consultants help you 1) understand the materials, and 2) figure out how to implement the recommendations for your organization.
All too often, teachers are supposed to know everything, and consultants are thought to know nothing. In reality, teachers and consultants, good teachers and consultants, are much more similar than different.
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.
Your process was built for a different speed
When work changes velocity, governance systems don't just fall behind. They become theater. And theater is worse than nothing—it gives you the feeling of control without any of the substance.
Universities missed the window to own AI literacy
In 2023 the question of who would own AI literacy was wide open. Universities spent two years forming committees while everyone else claimed the territory. Then a federal agency published the guidance higher education should have written.
Why college students turned from being down on remote learning to mostly in favor of it - EdSurge news
Discover why college students shifted from skepticism to support for remote learning, revealing insights about instruction quality in education.