A few thoughts on AI automation…

Whenever we automate a task, we actually solve two problems. The first problem is the obvious one that the task itself was solving. The second problem is the new challenge we can now address, given that we’ve freed up our time.

The good thing is that there’s an abundance of problems to work on and value to add. The bad thing is that it’s often not obvious which second problem to tackle next.

It’s scary when you don’t know what the next problem could be, but exciting when you have a good idea and just haven’t been able to get to it yet.

So, whenever you automate a task or workflow, spend time exploring how you and others can benefit from this automation in moving from less interesting to more interesting problems at work. This takes imagination, especially as technology not only replaces tasks but enables us to tackle new tasks we couldn't previously accomplish.

If we ignore what the second problem could be, it’s easy to waste any saved time from automation on low-value activities.