Fix the workflow before adding AI
By Sayed Ashraful Islam Sakib.
Originally published on LinkedIn. Text, publication date, and post link are taken from the live post.
Where deterministic automation fits, where AI actually reduces cognitive load, and why chaos comes first.
The post
Adding AI to a broken process only makes the break louder.
Duplicate data. Flaky integrations. Unclear ownership. Manual exceptions.
Automation works when work has clear inputs and outputs: scheduled jobs, idempotent syncs, and deterministic validations. AI works when judgment, language, or fuzzy matching actually reduces cognitive load, and the underlying data is trustworthy.
Teams often reach for models before fixing the basics. Fix the sync. Own the report. Remove the manual export. AI layered on chaos just adds a new thing to debug.
Rule of thumb: fix the workflow first; add AI where it amplifies judgment or removes cognitive load.
Reliable ops compound. Hype does not.