Faster, cheaper, better.
I’ve been on the front lines of outsourcing almost my entire career. I’ve hired, led, and worked with off-shore software teams and contracting firms for over 20 years. I help my current company work and scale better through automation. And yes, now I’m exploring how AI systems like ChatGPT can accelerate and improve our work.
Maybe that makes me one of the evil ones. Anti-American or anti-human even. Contributing to the downfall of our culture and spiraling into a Player Piano dystopian world.
Spoiler alert: I don’t see it that way. My motto has always been, “If a different person or machine can do my job faster, cheaper, and better, then let’s do that. I’ll find some other way to add value.”
I have always seen it that way because I truly believe that each human has value and purpose. My job is to find purpose and add value where I can. In the case of outsourcing, automation, and AI, it’s being the adult in the room.
For me, using outsourcing, machines, and AI to do work isn’t about replacement. It’s about enhancement. Allowing each of us to contribute more of the things that the humans need to contribute.
New technology has always replaced or removed jobs, but we humans have always found new purpose and better ways to add value.
For example, should “faster, cheaper, better” be the goal?
I guess it depends.
Would an AI ever think to itself, “It depends.”
