The Tool Pile
Every tool made sense when you bought it. Together they don't add up to a plan.
The lines under "How it sounds" are typical phrasing we wrote, not quotes from clients or interviews.
How it sounds
- “We've got Copilot, ChatGPT Team and two AI add-ons in the CRM.”
- “Who's using the meeting-notes tool?”
- “The vendor said it would save ten hours a week.”
What it looks like
Subscriptions pile up: suite add-ons, chat tools and AI features inside every app the company already pays for. Each purchase answered a demo or a pitch. Few are tied to a task, an owner or a measure, and use drops off after the first month.
Why it happens
Buying is the easiest AI decision there is, and it feels like progress. Nobody inside was asked which friction the tool should remove first. These are solutions looking for problems, based on what worked elsewhere instead of what this company needs.
What it costs
- SAS and IDC found only 12.5% of small and mid-sized companies manage AI use cases as a portfolio with clear owners and success measures.
First move
List every AI tool with its monthly cost, its owner and the one task it's for. Anything without a task gets a 30-day test with a named owner or gets cancelled. Start with the friction, then ask how AI can make it better.
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 Noise Problem. So many people selling AI answers that it's hard to tell good help from bad.
- Licenses Without Lessons. Everyone got access. Nobody got time to learn it.
An AI strategy decides who owns the work, which tools stay, and what changes first.