by John Macdonald | May 8, 2026 | AI, Human, Leadership, Technology, The250
I’ve had 8 agents running at a time needing my attention. I’ve used those agents to generate stacks of documentation, thousands of lines of code, dozens of ideas for solutions with prototypes, and hundreds of bulletized summaries that need to be read. It’s too much.... by John Macdonald | May 5, 2026 | AI, Human, Technology, The250
AI is great at reducing friction. It can take something tedious and make it tolerable. But there is a trap there. Pain is information. Before you automate the status report, ask who reads it. Before you automate the testing, ask what we are trying to learn. Before you... by John Macdonald | May 4, 2026 | AI, Human, Leadership, Technology, The250
Consensus builds comfort. Consensus might be the right approach. You need people on board. You want them to feel safe. You want their status antennae tuned in to the connection. But consensus might have to wait for phase 2 or phase 3. Those people on that side of the... by John Macdonald | Apr 30, 2026 | AI, Leadership, Technology, The250
Throw money at the problem. Spend your way out. Possibly frivolously. More people, more services, more tools. Whatever’s necessary. But spending more money requires an approval chain. Checks and balances. Is this a good idea? Do we have the budget? What if we don’t?... by John Macdonald | Apr 29, 2026 | AI, Leadership, Technology, The250
I see this a lot now. Also, “Here’s the AI summary of…” There are two reasons why people at my company feel compelled to indicate they’ve used AI: It’s AI, so beware. You keep telling me you want me to use AI, so here you go. In a way, it’s kinda like a, “So there!”... by John Macdonald | Apr 27, 2026 | AI, Technology, The250
I’ve purchased 16 cars over my adult life. Twelve of them have been used. I like to buy used cars. For me, I feel like I get most of the new stuff for that model at a better price. I miss out on the latest and greatest, of course, but that’s the tradeoff I make....