System Output Limited By Slowest Component

The slowest part of your system constrains your entire output, especially when adopting AI.

When organizations adopt AI tools, they often focus on accelerating only certain parts of their workflow (typically engineering), while neglecting others. This creates new bottlenecks rather than improving overall productivity.

Key principles for effective AI adoption:

• Systems thinking is essential: Product delivery is a system of interconnected functions (engineering, design, product management, etc.)

  • "Product is an output of design, PMs, and engineering... not to produce code, it's to ship product"
  • "If you just accelerate one part of the system, you're just gonna move the bottleneck to another part"
  • "Your actual product output, the output of the system, doesn't accelerate either"

• Identify and address the true bottlenecks:

  • Often the slowest parts are support functions like IT, legal, and procurement
  • These functions "set the pace of all of this output" and become the limiting factor
  • Executives frequently miss these bottlenecks because they're disconnected from ground-level implementation

• Measure actual adoption across all functions:

  • "Some of the best companies like Shopify and others are measuring actual adoption and usage"
  • Most executives are "incredibly disconnected from the actual AI adoption taking place inside their companies"
  • The gap between executive perception and ground-level reality is often substantial

• Create hard constraints to drive adoption:

  • Set benchmarks like "each function will be one-fifth the size" of industry standards
  • Implement policies like "no new headcount until you prove you can't accomplish this with AI"
  • Establish review requirements such as "I will not review a PRD unless it comes with AI-generated prototypes"

• Address the human element of transformation:

  • Recognize that people fall into three categories: catalysts (early adopters), converts (need structure), and anchors (resistant)
  • The most successful companies set clear deadlines for adoption and are willing to exit those who can't adapt
  • "Cultures thrive on density... the best ones feel like cults" - you can't have significant portions of your company operating in fundamentally different ways