Dead Idea #004

July 21, 2026Work

Productivity is the goal.

Saving ten hours is useful. Removing ten days from the path between decision and outcome is different.

Jason WojahnAdapted from an earlier public note by Jason Wojahn.

Dead Idea — an assumption that stopped being true.

Most companies measure AI using productivity.

  • Hours saved.
  • Tasks completed.
  • Code produced.
  • Tickets resolved.

Those are useful numbers. I am not sure they are the most important ones.

If every employee becomes 20 percent faster but work still waits for:

  • A meeting.
  • An approval.
  • Another function.
  • A committee.
  • A handoff.
  • A quarterly planning cycle.

Then the company may have created productivity without creating much organizational advantage.

What dies

Productivity as the ultimate measure of AI value.

What survives

  • Efficiency still matters.
  • Cost still matters.
  • Individual productivity still matters.

Where the value moves

Toward execution throughput. How quickly can the organization move from idea, to decision, to coordinated action, to measurable outcome?

The competitive advantage of the next decade may not be which company has the most intelligence. Everyone will have intelligence.

It may be which company can convert intelligence into action fastest without losing quality, governance, or accountability.

Written by Jason Wojahn. AIorDie is a personal publication about what breaks when software starts doing the work.

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