In a workshop some things are basic, such as every tool having its moment.
The plane, for roughing down. The chisel, for precision.
You can take 12 mm off a board with a chisel. But it will cost you the whole afternoon, the result will be worse, and you will end up nicking the tool.
“You don’t rough down with a chisel.”
With digitalisation and AI we forget something just as obvious: we pick the tool before the goal.
We start by asking “where do we put AI?”, when the question is “what are we trying to achieve?”.
- Sometimes AI is the best answer.
- Other times it is putting the data in a single digital repository that everyone uses.
- Or standardising, with an operations system, a process that everyone does their own way.
- Or simply sitting down with the team.
When you use AI where it does not belong, the same thing happens as in the workshop: it costs more, the result is worse, and you end up nicking the tool.
AI is an extraordinary tool. But it is still a tool.
The goal first. The tool after.