The lines under "How it sounds" are typical phrasing we wrote, not quotes from clients or interviews.
How it sounds
- “Usage is up, so it must be working.”
- “I'm sure it saves time. I couldn't tell you how much.”
- “We'll measure ROI once it's rolled out.”
What it looks like
Success gets reported as logins, seats or prompts. Nobody recorded how long the task took before, so nobody can show what changed. Budget conversations about AI turn into one opinion against another.
Why it happens
Activity is easy to count, and outcomes need a "before" number somebody remembered to take.
What it costs
- SAS and IDC found 44.1% of small and mid-sized companies don't measure AI's impact, and another 20.6% discuss it without measuring it consistently. That's 44.1% + 20.6% = 64.7% without a consistent measure. Only 11.1% use impact data to steer future investments.
- We have no dollar figure for unmeasured AI, so the cost is our reasoning: money keeps going to whatever is most visible, and the uses that work can't prove it.
First move
For each AI use you care about, write down one "before" number this week, like minutes per task, errors per month or days to close the books. Check it again in 90 days.
The fifteen patterns, with what each one costs and a first move, are in The AI anti-pattern field guide.
Related AI patterns
- The Pilot Graveyard. Lots of promising pilots, and none of them became how the work gets done.
- The Unchecked Draft. It looks finished, and someone downstream has to make it right.
An AI strategy decides who owns the work, which tools stay, and what changes first.