A healthcare organization recently faced a frustrating situation. They’d spent nearly half a million dollars on an AI-powered scheduling system that was supposed to optimize their specialist rotations. Six months later, wait times had actually increased.
The technology team was convinced they needed to refine the AI model.
But the breakthrough came from an unexpected place. During a simple whiteboard session, the team mapped their patient journey with colored sticky notes. By the third whiteboard, something became painfully obvious: their scheduling bottleneck wasn’t computational – it was communication.
The departments weren’t talking to each other about capacity constraints. No algorithm could solve what a simple conversation couldn’t.
The real solution wasn’t more sophisticated AI. It was a weekly 15-minute stand-up between department heads with a physical board showing capacity limits. Wait times dropped 32% within three weeks.
This happens constantly in our industry. Organizations are sold complex technological solutions to what are fundamentally human coordination problems.
Before investing in that next AI system, ask yourself:
Have we made the underlying process visible to everyone involved?
Could a simpler tool actually create more clarity?
Is technology solving our actual problem, or just adding another layer?
Sometimes the most powerful technology isn’t technology at all. It’s the ability to see the system clearly and create simple interventions that align people’s understanding.
The most valuable clarity often comes from the simplest tools.
Christopher Grant
Founder, Nebari Consulting
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