Remember when Lotus 123 arrived?

Most don’t, but I do.

Suddenly, my ‘To Do’ list had babies.

Lotus delivered the opportunity to answer questions that previously had required hours, days and even weeks of work to calculate by hand. That opportunity meant that every man and his dog were asking more questions, and expecting an answer yesterday.

The pattern repeated when Excel blew Lotus out of the water, and it continues as Excel continues to add functionality unimagined a few years ago.

Then, along comes AI, and again repeats the pattern, except, the pattern has been given a huge dose of steroids.

Not only do we and those to whom we report expect those answers immediately, we now also expect that the machine will also ask the questions, and offer alternatives.

Years ago, I learnt the hard way that the lists of jobs to be done my wife put on the fridge for my immediate attention was a trap.

Every time I managed to rub one off, several more appeared at the bottom of the list. Quickly the list became an unmanageable source of conflict, as expectations were so totally different, resources required rarely available, and priorities were both moveable, totally unclear, and seemingly never mutual.

So it has been with digital automation tools from Lotus to AI.

Failure to agree priorities, ensure adequate and appropriate resource availability, and focus aggressively on the agreed priority inevitably leads to conflict, confusion, and sub-optimal performance.

The follow up problem to the explosive growth of AI is that we have surrendered to the ‘instant gratification’ world of Tik Tok.

We want an answer, and we want it now!

This demand for immediacy combined with the massive capability of AI to deliver output unimaginable before Chat hit the headlines is eroding our need, and indeed ability, to think. Superficially, we no longer need to consider the ‘first principles’ aspects of challenges and opportunities that confront us: AI does it for us.

‘Thinking slow’ is not only unfashionable, but seemingly unnecessary.

However, it is my view that those who can ‘think slow’ in the face of the demand for immediacy will win in the end.

Thinking fast and slow in blogs used

Failure to agree priorities, ensure adequate and appropriate resource availability, and focus aggressively on the agreed priority inevitably leads to conflict, confusion, and sub-optimal performance.

You do not have to be using AI tools to know the timeless truth of that statement.

However, it is my view that those who can ‘think slow’ in the face of the demand for immediacy will win in the end.