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AI Strategy & Investment

Retro black-and-white illustration of five office workers, one holding a rolled blueprint, standing beside a row of small vintage toy robots, looking up at a modernist glass office building precariously balanced on a crumbling rock pedestal. A sign beside the rubble reads

3 min read

To Succeed with AI, Modernize Your Lean Toolkit

Craig Szelestowski: October 7, 2026

Recently Harvard Business Review ran an article titled "To Succeed with AI, You've Got to Nail the Basics".

Retro black-and-white illustration of a woman in a 1950s suit pointing with a stick at a whiteboard process flow of five boxes joined by arrows. A tall stack of papers piles up on the middle box, marking it as the bottleneck. A silver robot holding a wrench and toolbox stands beside her while two men in suits watch, one taking notes. The setting is a vintage office with filing cabinets and a wall clock.

3 min read

Six Things AI Can Do in Your Process Right Now

Craig Szelestowski: September 17, 2026

Most of the AI conversation I hear in government and large companies is either far too abstract ("AI will transform everything") or far too narrow...

AI & Automation AI Strategy & Investment Documents & Approvals Capacity & Demand Practical AI Harnessing AI

Black-and-white retro-style photograph of a Department of Motor Vehicles office. Seven employees stand in a line packed inside an oversized glass bottle, passing paperwork hand to hand toward the narrow neck, where a bored, heavyset older clerk sits at a desk labeled 'Document Review & Approval,' resting his chin on his hand while holding a rubber stamp. A wall sign reads 'All documents subject to review, verification and rubber stamp. Please be patient. Your paperwork matters,' a clock hangs on the wall, and a small desk sign reads 'NEXT!' A caption across the bottom reads: 'Are you opening up the bottleneck step?'

2 min read

AI at the Bottleneck vs. AI Everywhere Else

Ken Eakin: August 19, 2026

Imagine you’ve been charged with improving the performance of a sluggish granting process that has been backlogged for years. Clients have been...

AI & Automation AI Strategy & Investment Backlogs Capacity & Demand Practical AI Harnessing AI

Black-and-white retro-style photograph of a woman lost in a hedge maze, holding a stack of folders with her hand pressed to her forehead in frustration. A robot labeled

2 min read

The AI Investment Trap

Craig Szelestowski: August 10, 2026

Once you build a chatbot for a bad process, something interesting happens. The chatbot develops a constituency. It has a project team, a budget line,...

AI & Automation AI Strategy & Investment Lean Leadership Streamline Before You Digitize Practical AI Harnessing AI

Black-and-white retro-style photograph of a packed conference room. Rows of seated attendees hold up vintage box cameras, photographing a projection screen at the front showing a shaded pyramid chart divided into ranked tiers. Beside the screen, a chrome robot with a round head, glowing eyes, and an antenna gestures toward the chart from a podium, next to a slide projector on a cart. A chalkboard with graphs is visible on the side wall.

2 min read

The Slide They All Photographed

Craig Szelestowski: July 28, 2026

How do you know which slide is the one people care the most about? Easy - it's the one they take pictures of.

AI & Automation AI Strategy & Investment Lean Leadership Streamline Before You Digitize Strategic Planning Practical AI Harnessing AI

Black-and-white retro-style photograph of a robot at a desk, diligently filling out an endless paper form that unrolls off the desk and coils onto the floor. Beside it sits a small, untouched

2 min read

Five Questions to Ask Before You Build a Chatbot

Craig Szelestowski: June 17, 2026

Chatbots are the new shiny object. Many process improvement presentations I’ve sat through lately include a recommendation for a chatbot somewhere....

Lean Green Belt AI & Automation AI Strategy & Investment Chatbots Streamline Before You Digitize Practical AI Harnessing AI