The Fourth Stage

Series

AI, Without the Jargon

A plain-English series for people who run real businesses: one everyday AI question at a time. No hype, no acronyms.

A 21-day run. One plain-English answer a day, for the people who run real businesses, not AI labs.

Take the whole series (PDF)

  1. Intro The Questions People Actually Ask About AI AI, without the jargon: the introduction. A phone call at a splash pad convinced me to spend 21 days answering one plain-language AI question a day.
  2. Day 01 Count Your Repetitions AI, without the jargon: Day 1. The simplest way to find where AI can help your business: notice what you do over and over.
  3. Day 02 Start With the Pain, Not the Shiny Tool AI, without the jargon: Day 2. The mistake almost everyone makes is picking the tool first. Start from where it actually hurts.
  4. Day 03 Do I Need to Hire an AI Expert? AI, without the jargon: Day 3. Before you hire anyone, understand the one thing no expert can give you: your own expertise.
  5. Day 04 Integration First, Features Second AI, without the jargon: Day 4. The best tool is the one that shows up where your team already works. Power means nothing if it needs a new login.
  6. Day 05 Compare the Cost of the Work, Not the Cost of the Tool AI, without the jargon: Day 5. Everyone asks whether the subscription is worth it. The better question is what the work costs you now.
  7. Day 06 One Metric, Thirty Days AI, without the jargon: Day 6. You know within two weeks whether a new hire is working out. Hold AI to the same standard, and pick the number first.
  8. Day 07 The Factories That Kept Their Belts AI, without the jargon: Day 7. When factories first got electric motors, almost nothing improved. It took thirty years to work out why.
  9. Day 08 Everything In General, Nothing About You AI, without the jargon: Day 8. You tried ChatGPT, it worked, and nothing changed. Here is the step between trying it and getting value from it.
  10. Day 09 The Knowledge That Leaves When People Do AI, without the jargon: Day 9. Teaching AI about your business is a writing job before it is a technology job. The technology is the easy part.
  11. Day 10 Six Cases That Never Existed AI, without the jargon: Day 10. AI mistakes are dangerous because they do not look like mistakes. The wrong answer arrives in the same confident tone as the right one.
  12. Day 11 Customer, Contract, Cash AI, without the jargon: Day 11. If a person reads every line the AI writes, the tool has saved nothing. You have added a step.
  13. Day 12 The Worker Starbucks Fired AI, without the jargon: Day 12. It had been on the job nine months. It was an AI. What happened next is the honest answer to whether AI takes your job.
  14. Day 13 Training Didn't Move Them. Pain Did. AI, without the jargon: Day 13. Eight recruiters sat through AI training twice and never opened the tools again. One question changed it.
  15. Day 14 Proof From a Peer AI, without the jargon: Day 14. Half your team uses AI daily, half have not opened it since training. The gap is experience, not understanding.
  16. Day 15 The Speed Never Reached the Loading Dock AI, without the jargon: Day 15. AI made every step faster and the output stayed flat. The bottleneck was never the work. It was [the space between the work](/ideas/awtj-17-start-at-the-queue).
  17. Day 16 Flying the Plane, Not Designing the Airport AI, without the jargon: Day 16. Do not ask how AI can help your current process. Ask what process you would build if you started today.
  18. Day 17 Start at the Queue AI, without the jargon: Day 17. Look for the bottleneck after the AI step, not before it. The queue is where your redesign begins.
  19. Day 18 Ownership Follows Outcomes AI, without the jargon: Day 18. IT installed the tool, but IT does not miss a target when it underperforms. Give the decisions to the person who does.
  20. Day 19 When the Answer Has Somewhere to Go AI, without the jargon: Day 19. A chatbot answers questions. An agent takes steps. The difference is what you do after the answer arrives.
  21. Day 20 The Clock-Out Rule AI, without the jargon: Day 20. An agent never gets tired, never feels unsure, and never glances at the clock. Three lists have to exist before it goes live.
  22. Day 21 The Technology Was Ready on Day One AI, without the jargon: Day 21. The system worked within hours. The judgment around it took weeks, and that judgment was worth more than the model.