# Priors, rethought

Things teams believe about AI, crossed out and rewritten starting from the outcome.

## [Do we need an AI strategy?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/ai-strategy/)
~~We need an AI strategy first~~

Yes, but not the kind with a slide called Vision. A working AI strategy is a short list of outcomes, each with one owner and one number that should move.

## [Should we pick an AI tool and then find use cases for it?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/tool-first/)
~~Pick the AI tool, then find the use case~~

No. Picking the AI tool first is backwards. Write the outcome in one sentence, fix the slowest step with the cheapest thing that works, choose the tool last.

## [Does every company need an AI chatbot?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/chatbot/)
~~Every company needs an AI chatbot~~

Not unless it can do something. A useful AI chatbot completes a task people came for, with a handoff to a person when it can't. Otherwise it's a FAQ page.

## [Do more AI agents mean more output?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/more-agents/)
~~More AI agents means more output~~

No. More AI agents mean more review. The bottleneck moves from doing the work to verifying it, so add agents only as fast as you can check their output.

## [Should AI implementation work be billed by the hour?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/billing-hourly/)
~~AI work should be billed by the hour~~

No. If AI makes you ten times faster and you bill hourly, you gave yourself a 90% pay cut. Price the outcome instead: a number, a baseline, a capped downside.

## [Do AI adoption and usage numbers prove ROI?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/adoption-roi/)
~~High AI adoption proves ROI~~

No. Usage is not value. Grade an AI pilot on one business number, measured before and after, not on logins, surveys or weekly active users.

## [Is prompt engineering the most important AI skill?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/prompt-engineering/)
~~Prompt engineering is the key AI skill~~

No. Clever prompts matter less every year. Knowing the workflow, what done looks like and how to check the result matters more. The prompt follows from that.

## [What is MCP, and is it complicated?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/mcp/)
~~MCP is complicated plumbing~~

MCP is an open standard for connecting AI apps to tools and data. Think power strip. The plug is easy; the real decision is what the AI is allowed to touch.

## [If an AI demo works, is it ready for production?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/demo-ready/)
~~A great AI demo means it's ready~~

No. Every demo works; that's what makes it a demo. The product is the messy data, odd requests and confident mistakes. Test on your own real examples first.

## [Should we use AI to summarize every meeting?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/meeting-summaries/)
~~AI should summarize every meeting~~

Maybe, but first ask what decision the meeting exists to make. The best meeting summary is no meeting. Capture the decision, the owner and the date.

## [Do AI benchmarks tell you which model is best for your work?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/benchmarks/)
~~AI benchmarks tell you which model is best~~

Not really. A benchmark is someone else's test. Build your own: ten to twenty real examples from your workflow, checked by someone who does the work.

## [Will AI agents replace junior staff?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/replace-junior-staff/)
~~AI agents will replace junior staff~~

Not the way people expect. Interns ask questions; agents guess. Agents need more supervision than people assume, by people who understand the work.

## [Should a human approve every step an AI agent takes?](https://rethinkyourpriors.com/priors/human-in-the-loop/)
~~A human should approve every AI step~~

No. Approving every step turns 'human in the loop' into 'human in the way'. Put a person only at the steps you can't undo, and make those easy to check.

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Rethink your priors by Eduardo Martínez. AI implementation. Outcomes over tools. And everything else.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rethinkyourpriors · Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rethinkyourpriors/ · Work with Eduardo: https://edumartinez.ai/