Field Notes
Practical writing for product leaders and boutique advisors – on deciding what to build, answering the hard questions, and running a sharper practice.
Consulting Operations posts, page 5
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsA Consulting Firm Is Giving Away Free AI Strategy Reports. Boutique Advisors Should Pay Attention.
West Monroe now gives away the strategy report boutique advisors bill for. Its own AI chief says that proves what's actually still worth paying for.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsTelling People You Use AI Might Lose You Their Trust
A study of 4,000+ people found saying you used AI cost trust more than staying quiet – even when the work itself was identical.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsYour Delivery Dashboard Might Be Measuring Nothing Anymore
AI didn't break your delivery metrics. It made most of them meaningless – and the one you think is still safe might not be either.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsAI Cuts the Easy 80% of Coding in Half. The Hard 20% Barely Moves.
AI cuts routine coding by up to half but under 10% on hard problems. If your bottleneck is the hard 20%, more AI throughput won't move your ship date.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsProduct Managers 'Obsolete by 2030'? What the CPO Report Gets Right - and Dangerously Wrong.
A survey of 1,500 CPOs says the product manager is obsolete by 2030. The data underneath shows something narrower: the constraint moved, not the role.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsAI Slows Developers Down at First. The Ones Who Push Through Come Out Faster.
The same developers who were 19% slower with AI in 2025 measured faster a year later. Judging AI at month one measures the dip, not the destination.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsYour AI Agents Don't Have a Model Problem. They Have a Knowledge Problem.
Only 10% of enterprises get AI agents to production. The blocker isn't the model – it's the knowledge layer, and the trust that collapses without it.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsAI ROI Is 2x a Culture Problem, Not a Tools Problem
Microsoft's 2026 data says culture and management explain 2x the AI impact of individual effort. More seats won't fix an ROI problem that's organizational.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsAI Writes Code 30% Faster. Your Review Queue Just Got 4.6x Slower.
AI-generated pull requests wait 4.6x longer for review and pass far less often, so faster coding didn't speed up delivery. The bottleneck just moved.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsTech Was Never Stable. Find Your Place to Stand.
Tech workers call the industry "chaotic." It was never stable — and AI, oddly, makes the churn easier to stand in. Here's how to keep your footing.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsThe Cheapest Way to Wreck a Team Is a Bad Manager.
Managers are the single biggest driver of burnout — and the most neglected. Stafford Beer explains why, and why fixing it is the smartest business move.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsDon't Start a Company. Claim Ownership Instead.
The survey says founders are the happiest people in tech. The lesson isn't "go start a company." It's that autonomy — not the title — is the real medicine.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsAI Is Coming for the Spreadsheet, Not the Insight.
Designers and researchers are the most anxious about AI. It's coming for the spreadsheet, not the insight — and that changes what you should do next.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsNobody's Coming to Save Your Career. That's the Good News.
Nearly everyone in tech is ambivalent about AI. The number that matters: 64% are excited, only 33% hopeful. Here's why that gap is good news.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsCutting Management Layers Isn't the Same as Cutting the Work
Companies calling layoffs "simplification" rarely redesign who does the coordination work a manager used to do – and that gap is measurable.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsHalf Your Team Is Already Pasting Client Secrets Into Ungoverned AI
Half of knowledge workers use unsanctioned AI tools; 39% have pasted confidential documents into them. For a discretion-based firm, that's existential.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsThe Robot Isn't the Threat. The Squeeze Is.
Only 22% of tech workers fear being replaced by AI. Far more fear the squeeze — more work for the same pay. It's answerable, from both sides.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsAI Didn't Make Me Faster. It Made Me Right More Often.
82% of tech workers say AI made them more productive. Whether it made the work better is a choice — and the research shows exactly how the two paths split.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsThe On-Ramp Didn't Close. It Just Stopped Being Free.
Most tech workers wouldn't recommend their field to a newcomer. The on-ramp is narrowing — but it's a filter, not a wall, and here's how you still get in.
Field Notes
Consulting OperationsBurnout Isn't a Motivation Problem. It's a Pace Problem.
Tech burnout just became the majority experience — but people still like the work. It's a pace problem, and a lot of it is one you can stop imposing.
Browse by month
November 2026 · October 2026 · September 2026 · August 2026 · July 2026 · June 2026 · May 2026 · April 2026
Get the Fieldway newsletter
Field notes on the craft and business of running a lean advisory practice. One short email every morning.