What Does AI Accelerate? Double Once, Then Give the Time Back to Life
My work points went from 36 to 75 in one quarter with AI. Then I held that level and spent the saved time on the gym, dancing, and a shipped side project.
Everyone says AI speeds up a lot of things. But did you ask what exactly it speeds up?
I see it from two sides. A company measures the time from saying an idea out loud to shipping it. A person measures productivity. Productivity has many dimensions, and the one I use most is how much I finish each week or each two weeks.
Two sides
After the doubling
In Q2, the work points I finished went from 36 to 75. In Q3, I held the same level and did not push higher.
Some people ask why I did not keep growing. My answer is that I spent the saved time somewhere else. I returned to a regular routine of gym and dancing, and shipped a game side project. Before, one job was enough to wear me out. Now, in the same working hours, I run my full-time job and a side project.
Two honest notes. First, the work points measure only my own work, not the whole team. Second, one sprint in Q3 has no record. So I do not claim that Q3 grew again. I only say that it held.
The real question
Speed itself is not the point. The point is where the saved time goes. If you spend it on more of the same work, you only run harder.
That time fits the important but not urgent work in The Golden Age of Quadrant Two.
Where the saved time goes matters more than how much time you saved.
Related: see what to do with the saved time, revisit Back to First Principles, or go back to the series overview: Will AI Take My Job?