Oh wow - this resonates HARD! The part about experimenting and uncertainty... let me add something I learned the painful way:
Know what's worse than uncertainty? The illusion of certainty!
Last year, was SO convinced about this fancy AI solution for product catalog management (because hey, AI solves everything, right??). Spent weeks building beautiful presentations, getting everyone hyped... (I actually wrote about finding that AI sweet spot here: https://thoughts.jock.pl/p/ai-tools-guide-2025-practical-implementation-creators )
And then... reality hit! The ACTUAL problem wasn't even AI-related - we just had messy data and inconsistent processes! Talk about a face-palm moment
But you know what? These "failures" taught me something SUPER valuable:
Start. Small. Period.
Like... microscopic small! That 15-minute rule you mentioned? GENIUS! I now have this sticky note on my monitor: "Could this be solved with a spreadsheet?" (embarrassing how often the answer is yes...)
Because here's the thing - we're all learning this AI stuff together. Like, ALL of us! Even the "experts" are just people who've failed more times than we have (and lived to tell about it!)
Quick story: Last month, tried implementing this "simple" AI chat for customer service. Two weeks in, realized we hadn't even documented our basic response templates! Sometimes you gotta crawl before you can... AI?
Oh wow - this resonates HARD! The part about experimenting and uncertainty... let me add something I learned the painful way:
Know what's worse than uncertainty? The illusion of certainty!
Last year, was SO convinced about this fancy AI solution for product catalog management (because hey, AI solves everything, right??). Spent weeks building beautiful presentations, getting everyone hyped... (I actually wrote about finding that AI sweet spot here: https://thoughts.jock.pl/p/ai-tools-guide-2025-practical-implementation-creators )
And then... reality hit! The ACTUAL problem wasn't even AI-related - we just had messy data and inconsistent processes! Talk about a face-palm moment
But you know what? These "failures" taught me something SUPER valuable:
Start. Small. Period.
Like... microscopic small! That 15-minute rule you mentioned? GENIUS! I now have this sticky note on my monitor: "Could this be solved with a spreadsheet?" (embarrassing how often the answer is yes...)
Because here's the thing - we're all learning this AI stuff together. Like, ALL of us! Even the "experts" are just people who've failed more times than we have (and lived to tell about it!)
Quick story: Last month, tried implementing this "simple" AI chat for customer service. Two weeks in, realized we hadn't even documented our basic response templates! Sometimes you gotta crawl before you can... AI?
Very interesting. But is this approach proven? Are there studies that show it works? Thanks
Facts facts more facts
This is helpful, thank you.