I don't think AI will make your processes go faster
The article argues that AI is unlikely to significantly speed up business processes, emphasizing that process optimization efforts often focus on the wrong areas. The author revisits classic management books to highlight the importance of understanding bottlenecks, such as in software development. Simply adding more people or assuming AI will solve delays is an oversimplified and ineffective approach.
- ▪The author re-read 'The Toyota Way' and 'The Goal' to gain insights into effective process optimization.
- ▪A Gantt chart is used to illustrate that software development is typically the longest phase in a project timeline.
- ▪Common responses to delays, such as adding more staff or relying on AI, are often misguided and fail to address root causes.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
15 May 2026 • 5 min readI don't think AI will make your processes go fasterBusiness-Layer ProcessesI have the feeling that every organization out there is, at least partially, focusing on process optimization, something that often happens when the market is down. These days there is also the AI angle to the entire thing, and the unrealistic expectations that follow it.To come fully prepared for this, I’ve decided to re-read two absolute classics in this space: The Toyota way & The Goal 1. I’ve read both of these books in college, but re-reading them made me realize that a lot of these process optimization exercises are too simplistic in nature, and often misunderstand what to focus on.The visual bottleneckLet me show what I mean.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Hacker News (Newest).
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