Hey Reader -

Are you frustrated because AI has sped up, not slowed, the pace at the office? Are you still waiting for all those high-profile, satisfying focus time projects? You’re not alone.

UC Berkley’s Haas School placed researchers at a tech company two days a week from April to December 2025. Unfortunately, the results revealed considerable AI-related tension. On the one hand, AI had shifted the type of tasks performed. But the flip side was that intensity skyrocketed.

For instance, there was increased pressure for speed over quality, more multitasking to try to keep pace, and less satisfaction with the results. One engineer stated, “You don’t work less. You just work the same amount or even more.” So much for the “AI makes things better” narrative.

In the May series, What AI Can’t Give You, we’re discussing how to round out your AI acumen with people skills. Despite initial promises, productivity theater is still alive and well. However, you don’t have to audition for the latest production.

What colleagues, Leads, and Hiring Managers really want are achievements. And the secret is that achievements don’t happen by spinning prompts in isolation—they happen eye to eye and knee to knee.

Let’s meet a crew whose ability to partner in good times and bad makes optimum productivity look easy.

People Make Achievements Possible

You might say the Fortunato family knows a little something about getting things done. Their Brooklyn bakery founded in 1976 specializes in Italian-style pastries. In peak season, you’ll find them punching out up to 7,500 cannolis and 9,000 cookies. Mostly by hand.

Compounding the pressure of short deadlines and high-volume orders are the emotions flying behind the scenes. Owner Biagio Fortunato says, “It’s family. So, I’ve watched them fight, yell, scream, and argue to the point where you’re like, Oh, this is bad. And then two minutes later, they’re having coffee together. So, as hard as it is to be around family that often, it’s also good. They always seem to come through when you need it."

Change Miserable to Manageable

Have you worked with someone who reminds you of the infamous cat typing meme? Someone who thinks they can only be productive by driving themselves and everyone else into the ground?

There’s an alternate path, and that’s why the Fortunato case study matters. Their story shows that the How—filled with people skills like collaborating, making trade-offs, resolving conflicts in real time, and keeping communication going—is equally as important as What you produce.

The Haas School research recommended adopting an “AI practice,” where a company defines its organizational norms for when and how to use AI. People, not prompts, are what transform projects from miserable to manageable.

So, try making these ideas part of your organizational AI norms so you’re in control of AI, not the other way around:

1. Build on What’s Working: One of the reasons the Fortunato Brothers are still open after 50 years is that many of their family recipes have become customer favorites. So, don’t mess with success, even if AI is urging you to try something new.

2. Reality Check AI: AI responses continue to be over-idealized or aspirational. So, before you go down a rabbit hole, harness your inner skeptic. Feel free to respond to AI with a “Thanks—that’s not how this team works.”

3. Get Ready to Share Your Methodology: If you’re unsure whether the details should see the light of day, do yourself a favor and pause. Refining the process is how you wind up with a “how I built this” story you’re proud of.

And your AI prompt to make life a little easier is: Identify prompts I use the most and help me create a prompt library.

Spitting out spreadsheets, drafts, and emails in record time is only the starting point. Expand that story by seeing projects as a golden opportunity to partner with people who have strengths, talents, or lived experience you may not have. To solve problems with others to skip additional time and cycles. And to increase your trustworthiness cred by being dependable and thorough.

So, make productivity theater a thing of the past. Start producing true results.

All the best,

Michelle Mains

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