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Methodology field notes.
All Joust field notes tagged Methodology.
AI Snake Oil or the Real Thing?
Most AI snake oil starts with something real; the claims just get ahead of it. Ten questions that make an AI product's promise specific enough to evaluate, from a $20 tool to a company-wide system.
Ron Davis
Sep 10, 2026
The Survival Test
Most of the AI cases I am asked to look at are true and useless at the same time. The technology really can do the thing, but that was never the question. One test, run in both directions, separates a business case from a bet on a price you do not control.
Ron Davis
Jul 15, 2026
One resignation away
The thing that makes your company hard to copy usually lives undocumented in a few people's heads. It is your most valuable asset and your largest single point of failure, and most companies only price it the week someone gives notice.
Ron Davis
Jun 24, 2026
Running off the inbox, not a plan
Most teams do not run on a plan. They run on whoever's inbox is loudest. It is the most expensive operating habit we see, and it stays invisible because the cost is spread across everyone's day.
Ron Davis
Jun 17, 2026
What an Operating Review Looks Like, in Three Weeks
A walkthrough of a Joust Operating Review. Sector-anonymized findings from a $200M B2B distributor: $1.84M in operations tax mapped across three workflows, with a 12-month implementation roadmap.
Ron Davis
May 27, 2026
Workflow-First. Why Most AI Pilots Stall Before They Ship.
Companies that have tried AI usually share a pattern: a high-energy pilot, real engineering effort, and then nothing in production six months later. The model is rarely the bottleneck.
Ron Davis
May 20, 2026
The Operations Tax
There is a recurring cost inside every operating business that technology could replace. It hides in salaries, not vendor invoices, which is exactly why it never shows up in a procurement review.
Ron Davis
May 13, 2026
Tools second
There are 8,000 AI tools on the market. Picking one before you understand the work is how you end up with eight subscriptions and zero hours saved.
What 'automation capture rate' actually measures
Capture rate is one of the most misunderstood numbers in AI ROI math. Here's what it is, what it isn't, and how to set it realistically.
Build vs. buy, in 2026
The build-vs-buy decision changed when LLMs got cheap. The new question isn't which one to choose. It's which parts of the stack each one belongs to.