McKinsey's 2026 AI survey, read from a 30-person firm
Nearly every company now uses AI, and the share seeing profit from it has barely moved in a year. Smaller firms trail on agents. Where that gap comes from.
Insights
Notes from running our own companies.
What we learn putting sales follow-up, back office systems and AI to work, first in our own businesses and then in our clients'.
- 3 min read
- 3 min read
Which facts in your AI's memory has anyone checked?
AI tools treat every fact you give them as equally true. A fact with no source, date or owner is a guess with good manners. Give each one a status.
- 3 min read
Can you read what your AI remembers about your company?
AI memory features remember things you never asked them to and forget things you needed. A business needs memory it can open, edit and audit.
- 3 min read
More AI apps, the same re-explaining: notes on tool sprawl
Most firms now run several AI tools, and each one has been told a different version of the business. Count them, then decide where the context lives.
- 3 min read
Your team feels faster with AI. Has anyone timed it?
In a 2025 trial, experienced developers were 19% slower with AI while believing they were faster. Why the feeling and the clock disagree.
- 4 min read
Workslop has a price, and the reader pays it
AI-made work that looks finished but is not costs the person who receives it close to two hours. Where that cost lands and what cuts it.
- 3 min read
The 95% AI pilot number says less than you think
Everyone quotes MIT's 95% figure. Few quote the reason the report gives for it, and that reason is the useful part for a business owner.
- 3 min read
The first six pages of a company memory, in order
You do not need a knowledge base to give your AI tools and your team a shared memory. You need six short pages, written in the right order.
- 3 min read
Write the onboarding pack once, for new hires and your AI
What a new hire needs in week one is almost exactly what an AI tool needs before every task. One document can do both jobs.
- 3 min read
We already tried that: keeping lessons where AI can read them
Teams and AI tools both repeat failed experiments when lessons live in memory instead of on paper. How a short learnings log changes that.
- 4 min read
Plugging AI into your shared drive finds stale answers faster
Connecting an AI assistant to all your documents feels like giving it company knowledge. It mostly gives it your archive. What a memory adds on top.
- 4 min read
Label every product claim: live, seed or roadmap
AI-written sales copy blends what you sell today with what you plan to sell. A three-label rule keeps the promises honest for people and AI.