Racing on a treadmill: AI and the illusion of progress

Sprinting full speed.. as fast as you can! just to stay in the same place. 🫠

That’s exactly what working in tech feels like right now.. especially with AI.
You push to integrate new tools. You update your workflows. You try to be proactive. Only to wake up the next morning anddd..

~A new model drops. 🙃
~A new prompting method goes viral. 🙃
~Someone rewrites the rules again. 🙃

And suddenly, your momentum feels off..
Like you're moving.. but not really..?
Feeling that you’re just keeping up, not moving forward.

Racing ourselves with so much anxiety. What's the f*ing rush?

And I don't think this race affecting individuals only.. it's also distorting how teams and companies think about progress.

• Shipping to “stay relevant” instead of serving real need

• Adopting tools to look modern rather than solve problems

• Prioritizing speed over clarity, velocity over direction.. Well, this one isn't new, just multiplied...🙃

I’ve felt it in myself. I’m hearing it from teams I admire.
Everyone’s exhausted. Not because we’re slow, but because the system never pauses enough to let us recalibrate.
Some of the best product calls I’ve seen lately came after a team slowed down. Paused. Asked harder questions.

So let's not kid ourselves.. this is a tough moment. Let’s talk about that side too, and not just the shiny demos and “productivity wins.”