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 6

  1. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Burnout 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.

  2. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Your Team Isn't Split by AI. It's Split by You.

    A 2026 survey says AI is splitting tech workers into thriving and struggling. The bigger truth: which side they land on is mostly about their manager.

  3. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Continuous Discovery Has an Infrastructure Problem, Not a Willpower Problem

    Most teams fail at continuous discovery, but not from lack of discipline. It's missing infrastructure – and that's a fixable problem.

  4. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Diligence Is Getting Longer, Not Deeper

    M&A due diligence has stretched from four months to nearly seven. Longer hasn't meant deeper – and that gap is where deals quietly break.

  5. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    The AI Rule You Built For Just Got Repealed

    The AI rules firms spent two years preparing for are now being repealed and pre-empted. Compliance built on a moving target needs a new approach.

  6. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Who Becomes Senior When AI Does All the Junior Work?

    AI is automating the junior work that used to turn people into seniors. So who becomes senior once the training ground is gone?

  7. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Your Prioritization Framework Is Theater

    Leadership overrides the prioritization framework most of the time. The score was never the decision – the conversation is.

  8. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    The Diligence Gap: Why Nearly Half of Dead Deals Now Die in the Data Room

    What kills M&A deals has shifted from financing to what buyers find in the data room – and earnings quality is the fastest-rising killer.

  9. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Thirty Years of Agile and Software Success Is Still Stuck at 31%

    After decades of Agile, cloud, and better tools, software still succeeds about 31% of the time. The bottleneck was never the tooling.

  10. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Your Team Doesn't Trust You, and the Data Says You Can't See It

    Trust in leadership is at multi-year lows, worst in tech – and the leaders who own it are the last to see it. The cost isn't who quits.

  11. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    The Verification Gap: Your Developers Don't Trust the Code They're Shipping

    Developers don't trust AI-generated code – and ship it anyway. The verification gap is a management problem, not a model problem.

  12. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Epistemic Debt Is the New Technical Debt

    Technical debt is code you still understand. Epistemic debt is when AI writes so much of your system that no one does – and it's the more dangerous one.

  13. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    I'm Not a Coach. That's the Point.

    As AI commoditizes knowledge and effort, judgment becomes the scarce skill. Joe Hudson teaches you to build it. A consultant is someone who already has it.

  14. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Your Product Strategy Wasn't Built for Things That Make Their Own Decisions

    Fieldway's take on the 2026 'Agentic Product Evolution' study (IJCA; 10 enterprise implementations, 25+ product leaders): most product strategies still use

  15. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Due Diligence Now Has to Catch AI-Washing, Not Just Check the Tech

    Fieldway's take on PwC's 2026 M&A outlook: roughly a third of 2025's 100 largest deals cited AI in their rationale, and PwC now calls AI due diligence

  16. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    Intent Is the New Constraint: Where Engineering Craft Moved in 2026

    Fieldway's take on the Goldratt-style argument running through 2026 commentary (berme.io; Linear's CEO; Theory of Constraints): as agents thin out the

  17. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    The Real Threat to Boutique Advisors Isn't the Big 4. It's In-House.

    Fieldway's take on the 2026 Management Consulted rankings, which for the first time added an Internal Consulting category (and put a government agency, DOGE

  18. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    The Death of the Billable Hour Was Always Going to Be an AI Story

    Fieldway's take on the 2026 outcome-pricing shift (Inc 6-trends + AlphaSense): clients can now see the deck took an afternoon, so consulting is moving off

  19. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    AI-Washing Just Became a Legal Liability, Not a Credibility One

    Fieldway's cross-audience take on the 2026 enforcement wall: the SEC has charged firms for misrepresenting AI capabilities ('AI-washing'), 2026 exam priorities

  20. Field Notes

    Consulting Operations

    The Squeezed Middle: Why the Consulting Market Is Splitting in Two

    Fieldway's take on the 2026 consolidation data (AlphaSense + Consultancy.eu deal flow + Management Consulted rankings): the top 5 firms now hold ~40% share and

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