Design, AI, and Wonky Consulting

Yellow suit and sunglasses aside this image is wonderfully dystopian.

Earlier this summer, you may have seen The New York Times article, 'The AI Boom Has an Unlikely Early Winner: Wonky Consultants.' I am excited to announce that I have officially joined the ranks of Wonky Consultants. You might ask why or why now, or you have five minutes to spare, and this popped up in your feed. Either way, thanks for your time.

My favorite quote

"...companies are in desperate need of technology Sherpas who can help them figure out what generative AI means and how it can help their businesses."

Mixed metaphors aside, this isn't my first rodeo at being a guide. I was part of a small team at IBM that hired and trained over a thousand designers to deliver product experiences. In training designers, we also provided the best possible initial conditions for product teams to leverage designers' skills--resulting in a new way of working.

I spent seven years at IBM, leading teams of designers to deliver experiences that harnessed the power of AI. One consistent aspect of my career since IBM has been providing user value by leveraging AI, but the vision and ability to deliver haven't always worked out.

What has changed?

I worked on many digital transformations and shipped experiences to enable cloud migrations. These digital transformations and cloud migrations (not mutually exclusive) are resource-intensive. The initial conditions for leveraging AI are now starting to manifest.

The organizations that wanted competitive advantages were willing to do the hard work. The companies that delivered the technology iterated along with their clients. Many mistakes were made in both R&D and Services when implementing AI, and I learned from them.

And, of course, some organizations simply bought AI capability when they couldn't build it internally.

AI-centric is the new Digital-native

Mergers and Acquisitions are nothing new, as 'Build or Buy' remains a choice for many companies that need to move faster. I look forward to seeing more AI-centric companies acquired by organizations that couldn't figure it out or didn't have the fortitude to make the right trade-offs. With money becoming more expensive these days, many small-footprint, single-purpose companies run on fumes. The time is suitable for a wave of M&A.

I have worked closely with many acquisition companies to figure out how to integrate purposefully into applications and platforms. Bolt-on experiences are evident to end users and consumers alike and can result in more churn than not offering the fancy AI features that competitors do. Integrations are complex design challenges, and I enjoy them.

AI is more than a new feature

You can add AI to an application or a platform, but a point solution isn't a strategy. Many recent AI features are little more than capabilities looking for problems to solve. Achieving feature parity may allow companies to keep up with the competition, but implementing AI (and doing it well) comes at a higher resource cost.

Additionally, delivering something complex in a vacuum only increases overall technical debt. Moving too fast and shipping the wrong thing causes more problems. I see a lot of sloppy, one-off AI delivery. I'm excited about partnering with organizations to design and deliver the right thing at the right time, investing in solving measurable problems.

Getting it right

You can't argue against the investments in the technology. The highlight reel from the NYT is considerable. I recommend reading their article, which includes the following data points:

-About 40 percent of McKinsey's business will be generative AI-related this year.

-1/5 of BCG revenue comes from implementing AI, compared to 0% two years ago.

-IBM has secured more than $1 billion in sales commitments related to generative AI.

-KPMG is targeting more than $650 million in generative-A.I.-related work in the last six months, up from 0 a year ago.

-Accenture booked $300 million in sales last year.

Despite all this spending, the results from implementing generative AI are mixed. A lot of activity and investment with few outcomes. It's what you would expect with any emerging technology perfected while delivered. Gen AI doesn't deliver with precision, but it gets better every day. Data Science is still an experiment at scale.

Yet science is observation and experimentation. I teach visual communication, research, and prototyping. My specialty is purposeful iteration and focused refinement. I can't think of a better time to apply design methodology to drive outcomes.

So what?

As a Wonky AI Consultant, I am confident in driving value along with....other Wonky AI Consultants. I have worked in emerging technology for decades, from ergonomic furniture to Bluetooth and voice menus, enabling interactions between humans and computers. I like making technology accessible so people can focus on solving higher-value problems.

The current economic state of AI is ideal. Many big bets are made that implementing the technology will drive efficiency gains and cost savings; case studies are coming. Efforts of this nature take time. AI is an investment that will start to pay off at scale, and the results will drive increased investment.

So why?

Speaking of cost, a small-footprint consulting firm like Gyroscope can take on projects and efforts that the more prominent players aren't interested in. AI can deliver value without large budgets. It does, however, require large efforts by intelligent people.

I look forward to partnering with organizations that want to explore how to leverage AI to achieve business outcomes. I am eager to work with designers who want to define the future of human-computer interaction, going beyond the current chat-based interfaces for AI tools. There is a lot to be excited about.

I didn't stumble on AI by accident and didn't become an expert after taking an AI class from someone who isn't an educator. Experience is the best teacher, and I have been learning about AI while delivering it for a decade. I look forward to sharing my experiences, relevant content, and point of view on all things Design and AI.