Issue 14 companion · You Bought the Tool and Kept the Old Job
The Capability Fit Check
A new AI capability does not change how people work just by existing. Effort is paid now and value arrives later, and the brain discounts later. Run the capability through this check before you roll it out. If the answers are vague, you have bought another icon for the toolbar. If they are sharp, you have found a step people will be glad to lose.
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What you are opening
Built for this issue. It follows the argument you have just read, one step at a time.
A live status. It tells you what is still blank, because a half-filled sheet changes nothing.
Saved on your device. Close the tab and come back to it.
Prints clean. Take it into the room on paper if that is how the room works.
The Signal
The Capability Fit Check
Issue 14 companion · You Bought the Tool and Kept the Old Job
The Capability Fit Check
A new AI capability does not change how people work just by existing. Effort is paid now and value arrives later, and the brain discounts later. Run the capability through this check before you roll it out. If the answers are vague, you have bought another icon for the toolbar. If they are sharp, you have found a step people will be glad to lose.
'Shelfware' is often a workflow design or mindset problem wearing a procurement costume.
Nothing answered yet
The capability, and what you actually bought
What old job does it replace?
What step disappears the day it arrives?
What decision gets faster or better?
What pain does the user feel BEFORE it arrives?
What impact or value can it add that only the human completes?
The reframe
Stop treating it as a tool outside you. It is a capability within you, a superpower you tap into, the amplifying effect. You do not define its value upfront; the value is what only the human adds on top.
The verdict
Takes hold - it removes a step people already hate
Gets ignored - it politely asks them to add one
The Signal
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