The AI Ping‑Pong Problem
Why Your Team Feels Busier After Adopting AI - also called the AI Content Glut
The AI Ping‑Pong Problem: Why Your Team Feels Busier After Adopting AI - also called the AI Content Glut
We rolled out AI to everyone. Overnight, people who had never written a market analysis were shipping 30‑page reports in minutes. Then the weirdest thing happened: no one was really reading anything.
A teammate would ask AI for a long report. The recipient would ask AI to summarize it into four bullets. Someone else would ask AI to turn those bullets back into a strategy memo. One tool created it, another compressed it, a third expanded it again. The work looked impressive, but the cost—time and attention—was pushed onto everyone else.
AI makes it easier to produce work and just as easy to manufacture work for other people. The fix isn’t more output. It’s sharper constraints and ruthless context.
Our rule: Brevity first, context on demand
AI is a great co‑thinker, but it tends to be wordy. Before you hit send on anything AI helps create, run these three filters:
- Is this important for me to understand, or important for everyone to understand?
- Does the team need the background, or do they just need the decision?
- What does the recipient actually need to know to do their job better?
If you can’t answer those, you’re not ready to share.
Operating norms that stopped the ping‑pong
- Start with the ask. Every message begins with what you need from the reader and by when. If there’s no decision or action, don’t ship it.
- One‑screen rule. Default to five bullets or fewer. Put the rest in an appendix or link. Attention is a budget; don’t spend other people’s without permission.
- Decision‑first structure. Lead with TL;DR, then the decision or recommendation, then optional background. reverse‑pyramid beats slide‑dumps.
- No AI‑to‑AI chains. A human must read and approve before anything is shared outside the creator. Never ask AI to summarize an AI summary unless a human validates the need.
- Target the audience. Send only to the people who must act. Curious observers get a short note with a link, not the full doc.
- Measure outcomes, not pages. Track whether your artifact changed a decision, unblocked work, or reduced risk. If not, it was theater.
- Timebox creation. Cap AI‑assisted research and deck‑building. When the timer ends, move to synthesis and a recommendation.
- Adopt shared templates. Use lightweight, fixed formats—a one‑page memo, a 5‑bullet update, a decision record—so readers know where to look for what.
The mindset shift
In a world where anyone can spin up decks and memos instantly, the scarce resource isn’t content—it’s clarity. Great teams protect each other’s attention as fiercely as they protect budget. AI can accelerate thinking and quality when we constrain it with purpose, audience, and the smallest artifact that moves the work forward.
Give your team AI. Then give them guardrails. The goal isn’t to create more documents—it’s to create more decisions.