The Productivity Paradox
Why Buying 'Smarter Tools' Often Fails
We are currently witnessing a desperate rush for "technological salvation". Confronted by shrinking budgets and rising citizen expectations, the default leadership response has been to buy our way out of the problem with smarter productivity tools.
But there is a costly paradox at play here.
Automation is a force multiplier, not a cure. When we layer generative AI and advanced analytics over inherently flawed or inefficient processes, we don't achieve transformation, we simply learn to do the wrong things faster. We are effectively digitising the very friction we are trying to escape.
In this part of "The Ethical CTO" series, I’m looking at the governance mandate required to break this cycle. It’s time to stop focusing on the tools we can acquire and start focusing on the structural transformation needed to maximise real Citizen Value. We shouldn't be aiming for faster failures; we should be architecting a more meaningful impact.
