From the Field
I’ve seen a pattern in working sessions recently. Teams have upgraded old tools once, but are again looking for something better. It comes down to usability. Most enterprise tools are optimized for what IT and compliance need - not for the people actually using the solutions. So, end users find workarounds and the data situation gets even worse. All while the Adoption Dashboard says everything is fine.
But AI has created the opportunity for a major shift. Custom front-end work used to create mountains of technical debt but it no longer needs to. AI-assisted design and development make bespoke, well-designed interfaces fast to build on top of infrastructure that can, and should, stay exactly as it is — the workflows, the compliance, the audit trail. You don't touch the rails. You replace the part that makes enterprise apps hard to adopt.
Think of it like this - each user or team can design their own interface for their specific workflow. Artifact_as_Infrastructure, a new front door. A single screen no longer needs to serve multiple stakeholders.
What I'm not settled on yet: who owns and maintains the lifecycle for these custom interfaces two or three years out, once every team has one built to their taste. That's a real question, not a rhetorical one — I don't think anyone's answered it well yet.
Three things worth reading…
Gene therapy delivery breakthrough — BBC News — A genuine leap in drug delivery, and a reminder we won't know the second-order effects for years — our last major intervention here helped create drug-resistant viral strains. The hype should be ignored, but progress can be a double-edged sword.
Could the Most Radical Plane Design Since the Concorde Take On Boeing? — WSJ — why it matters: JetZero and Boom Supersonic are both challenging Boeing and Airbus in different segments — both, interestingly, with real operations in North Carolina. My guess: airline operating models won't move nearly as fast as the aircraft do. New airframes, same inertia underneath.
Tesla & SpaceX to Build TERAFAB in Grimes County, Texas — Texas keeps gaining what California keeps losing. Apply that same logic to AI regulation — state-by-state rules add friction, and capital follows the path of least resistance unless there's a real reason not to. Worth being thoughtful about; not worth ignoring the incentive.
Hit reply and tell me:
Has your team ever ditched a "better" tool's own interface and built something simpler on top of it instead? Reply and tell me — I read every one.
The Pointer - published last week
The Permission Window - The window when governance is actually decided.
Thanks for reading!
-Best, Isaac