Newsflash: Shadow AI is just Shadow IT with better branding and worse consequences.

We set out to compare Shadow AI (people using ChatGPT at home because you won't give them tools at work) versus Shadow IT (people using Smartsheet because your approved system doesn't meet their low quality standards), and discovered they're pretty much the exact same problem. BLUF: if you don't have governance, training, and approved options, you've already lost. Your employees are prompting away on personal accounts and there's nothing you can do about it except train them properly and give them legitimate alternatives. Nate revealed his company trains 100% of employees on GenAI within their first week, runs daily tests to see if Claude's LLM has been "whitewashed", and has a nine-level certification program where personas don't unlock until level six. We discussed the high probability that 80-90% of employees at most companies probably use personal AI accounts, suggested the solution is "lightweight guardrails" and multiple approved options. We also learned that Mike cooks frozen burritos (aka shit logs) in an air fryer and we agreed that TestiCoin might be our best option for a retirement plan. Beard Watch officially launched: Mike's two-week beard progress is "barely visible" and resembles dirt splashed on his face. Next week we're diving into CWP (Cakewalk Pro? Build-first culture? Both?) and why low-code/no-code is the newest (and lamest) Shadow IT.

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—Nate & Mike

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The new episode is live, and special guest Kevin Dushney joined us to ask the question nobody wants to answer: at what point do people just stop learning technology, and what the hell do we do about it?

We set out to explore whether IT should hire someone with 10 years of experience or someone who learned everything in the last two years via YouTube and GenAI, which spiraled into a debate about aptitude versus historical context, and whether we're designing systems for people we have or people we wish we had. The uncomfortable truth: we're in a race to train everyone as fast as possible, but the second we finish, everything changes and we have to start over, which means the only winning move might be to stop caring entirely and just tell retirement-age folks to click "yes" on everything (we're kidding, mostly). We also realized that nobody outside a tiny fraction of nerds gives a shit about token optimization or Opus pricing, that reviews written by AI are the corporate equivalent of outsourcing your soul, and that Nate once testified in court about a Nest cam recording of a drunk driver who tried to flee the scene with a tow truck. The breakthrough moment: maybe the elders aren't screwed - maybe they're the only ones who figured it out by refusing to engage with this madness at all. We also continued building out our IT Department of the future with our new roles including the Token Optimization Engineer (TOE), Pre-Prompt Engineer (PPE), all reporting to the omnipotent Chief Truth Officer, who reports to the Department of Generative AI Truth. Next week we're tackling Shadow AI vs Shadow IT, aka "the sequel is worse."

Listen at thecalculusofit.com • Join our Slack board at thecoit.us • Leave five stars • Change your parents' router password from the default • Don't eat Whoppers while driving.

—Nate, Mike & Kevin

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The Calculus of IT website - https://www.thecoit.us
"The IT Autonomy Paradox" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The New IT Leader's Survival Guide" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The Calculus of IT" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
The COIT Merchandise Store - https://thecoit.myspreadshop.com
Donate to Wikimedia - https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Buy us a Beer!! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thecalculusofit
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Email - mike@thecoit.us

In this episode, Mike and I put on the latex gloves and explored the uncomfortable reality that PowerPoint has ruled corporate communication since 1987, and somehow nothing has replaced it despite Prezi, Lucidchart, Google Slides, and Canva all existing and working perfectly fine. The thesis: PowerPoint persists because it's the ultimate crutch. It's like eating a donut. Relatively safe, expected, and nobody will question you for eating it, even though it forces you to cram complex ideas into six-by-five-inch boxes and encourages people to read slides word-for-word like they're performing at an elementary school talent show. We traced PowerPoint's origins back to overhead projectors and slide carousels, realized the military lives in PowerPoint because hierarchical briefings need slides apparently, and discovered that the name "PowerPoint" came to someone in the shower (omen: they saw a sign at an airport). Mike admitted he'd rather get a Word doc than sit through most presentations, Nate confessed he uses jellyfish backgrounds and white text on purpose so people can't read the slides and have to actually listen, and we both agreed the "appendix with 70 backup slides" move is corporate theater at its finest. The breakthrough: if you need slides to tell your story, you either don't know your material or you're presenting to people who should've just read the pre-read. We also announced a new spinoff podcast called "If Life Was a PowerPoint" where we'll grill each other on invisible slide decks, which is either genius or a cry for help. Next week we're tackling Training Our Elders, aka why your relatives are still on Yahoo Mail and Lenovo laptops from 2017.

Listen at thecalculusofit.com • Join our Slack board at thecoit.us • Leave five stars • Stop reading slides word-for-word • PowerPoint is here to stay, sorry.

—Nate & Mike

Support the show

The Calculus of IT website - https://www.thecoit.us
"The IT Autonomy Paradox" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The New IT Leader's Survival Guide" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
"The Calculus of IT" Book - https://www.longwalk.consulting/library
The COIT Merchandise Store - https://thecoit.myspreadshop.com
Donate to Wikimedia - https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ways_to_Give
Buy us a Beer!! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thecalculusofit
Slack - Invite Link
Email - nate@thecoit.us
Email - mike@thecoit.us