We’ve seen this movie before. Organisations are so keen for return on their AI investments, they compel their workforce to utilise AI tools, which leads to perverse outcomes.
A recent example is Amazon setting a target for staff to use internal AI tools. To meet the target, and to consume AI tokens, some individuals have apparently automated unnecessary activities. This phenomenon of tokenmaxxing improves the rank on an internal leaderboard.
Obviously, this spurious use of AI tools wasn’t the intent. Such unintended consequences are an example of Goodhart’s Law:
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”
Rather than set targets, organisations ought to consider the underlying needs and purpose of their workforce and jointly discover solutions that will alleviate their problems.
The most impactful problem-solution fit might not even be technological. Often it is related to some misaligned combination of purpose, priorities, coordination, and process.
So rather than succumbing to pressure and becoming fixated on rolling out ill-fitting AI tools, genuinely partner with your workforce to develop sustainable solutions to their challenges. The set of solutions may or may not include AI tools.
The work I do helps managers and teams identify the mismatch between purpose and tools. It leads to a deeper appreciation and a set of interventions which genuinely enable greater individual and team performance.
The rule of thumb is to focus on purpose & people, process and tools, in that order of importance. It’s not to repeat the bad movie plot of compelling AI usage by any means.