Something weird happened on a client call last week.
We were looking at a workflow they’d spent three weeks perfecting. It was a masterpiece of logic, branching paths, and nested prompts. It was also completely useless because nobody in the actual team had used it once.
I sat there, looking at their tired faces through the Zoom grid, and realised I’d done the exact same thing myself about six months ago.
I’d built this elaborate system for website feedback that was supposed to revolutionise how we handled client requests. It had AI-powered sentiment analysis and automatic ticket routing. It was beautiful.
It was also a massive waste of time. While I was playing with the plumbing, the actual work was sitting in the pipes getting cold.
The High Cost of Perfection in AI Implementation
When we talk about business execution speed, we usually mean doing things faster. But in the world of AI, speed is often killed by the desire to be clever.
We get caught up in the "magic" of what the tools could do, rather than what we actually need them to do right now.
If you are spending more than an hour setting up an automation before you've even tested it manually, you aren't being productive. You are procrastinating with a more expensive set of toys.
I’ve had to swallow my pride quite a few times lately and delete "robust" systems in favour of something a bit more basic. It hurts the ego, but it helps the bank balance.
How to Speed Up Business Execution with AI This Week
If your Friday feels like it’s approaching at Mach 1 and your to-do list hasn't moved, the answer isn't a more complex prompt. It's usually a simpler one.
I’ve found that the biggest wins come from the dull stuff. Here is a small checklist of things you can actually set up today to make next week suck less:
- The "Zero-Draft" Dictation: Stop staring at a white screen. Open a recording tool (I use Otter or even just ChatGPT's voice mode), talk for five minutes about a project, and tell the AI to "turn this into a coherent project outline." It’ll be 80% there, which is 100% better than a blank page.
- Automatic Handover Notes: If you provide website feedback or technical consulting, use an AI tool like Fireflies or Fathom. Don't just record the call. Tell it to extract the technical requirements into a simple Markdown list.
- Time Zone Alignment: If you work with global teams, use a simple AI-assisted scheduling tool. I’ve seen clients lose days of execution speed simply because they were playing "email ping-pong" across eight time zones.
- The Beta Testing Strategy: If you’re launching something new, don't wait for a full build. Use AI to generate five different versions of a landing page headline and run them past a small group of trusted peers.
Fixing Your Website Feedback Loop
One of the most common pain points I see is the "vague feedback" trap. A client says, "I don't like this bit," and the project stalls for three days while everyone tries to guess what "this bit" means.
You can use AI writing assistants to bridge this gap. I've started asking clients to record a quick Loom video. I then run the transcript through an AI and ask it to "Extract specific, actionable UI/UX changes and categorise them by priority."
It turns a ten-minute rambling video into a clear task list for the dev team. It saves hours of back-and-forth and keeps the momentum high.
If you want to read more about making these processes work without the headache, there are more articles on AI that go into the nitty-gritty.
Stop Planning and Start Beta Testing
I used to think that a beta testing strategy required a complex spreadsheet and fifty participants.
Now, I realise that a beta test is just a fancy way of saying "show this to someone before you're ready."
Using AI tools to simulate a user persona can be a great first step, but it's no substitute for a real human. The goal should be to use AI to get your idea into a "testable" state within hours, not weeks.
If you're stuck in the planning phase, you're not actually working. You're just rehearsing. And nobody pays you for the rehearsal.
Building a Workflow That Actually Works
The truth is, I’m still learning how to stay out of my own way.
I still get tempted by the latest "game-changing" (sorry, I promised I wouldn't use that word) tool that hits the market. But the moments where I've actually moved the needle for my own business weren't when I was being clever.
They were the moments when I used a simple automation to get a boring task off my plate so I could actually talk to a human.
If your "AI implementation support" feels like it's taking up more time than it's saving, it's time to simplify. Strip it back to the bare essentials.
If you're finding it hard to see the wood for the trees with your current setup, feel free to book a consultation. Usually, we can find the bottleneck in about twenty minutes.
And if you want to see how this looks when applied to actual outbound efforts, check out SalesM8. It’s built on the principle that the tool should do the legwork, not give you more work to do.
Your Homework for Monday
Don’t try to overhaul your entire business. Just pick one thing.
Choose the one task that you dread every Monday morning. Maybe it's cleaning up data, maybe it's drafting a weekly report, or maybe it's responding to the first wave of emails.
Find a way to let an AI do the first 50% of it. Not the whole thing. Just the start.
You’ll find that once the inertia is broken, the speed follows. And that's worth more than any "perfect" workflow ever will be.
Every Sunday I share practical AI tips to make your week easier at steventann.com. Come say hello.
About the Author
Steven Tann is an AI consultant, author of "You're Selling AI Wrong", and founder of SalesM8. He writes about AI, sales, and running a business from a narrowboat on the English canals. Connect with him at steventann.com.
