Solo Episode
AI Activity, Output, or Impact? How to Escape AI Theater
Most AI programs start by measuring activity: licenses, prompts, token usage, and pilots. Some move on to output: more code, content, or analysis. Neither tells you whether the business moved.
In this solo episode, I explain the three levels of AI adoption: activity, output, and impact. The common trap is local productivity. One team can produce more while end-to-end delivery gets slower because the real constraint is somewhere else.
The practical test is simple. Name the business outcome that is stuck, identify the constraint holding it back, and ask whether AI is moving that constraint. If you cannot answer that, you are probably measuring AI theater.
Chapters
00:00 From AI activity to impact
03:59 Why more output can make flow worse
07:24 Use AI at the business constraint
Read more
Why Your AI Effort Has Activity But Not Impact
More on moving from AI activity to impact
Rather read it? I wrote this one up: Why Your AI Effort Has Activity But Not Impact
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