News and Insights from Volant and the industries we serve
Written by
Tyson Heaton
Insight
May 11, 2026
4 min read
Summary:
In "The Reengineering Is Coming," Tyson Heaton argues that the current excitement surrounding Artificial Intelligence is following a dangerous historical pattern: technology being used to mask leadership failure. Heaton draws parallels to the advent of electricity and the personal computer, noting that productivity often stalls because leaders simply automate existing, dysfunctional processes rather than redesigning the work itself.
The article suggests we are approaching an "AI correction." Heaton posits that many organizations are currently digitizing "messy" processes, which merely makes errors occur faster. He warns that within a few years, many AI investments will fail to yield returns, leading to a "reckoning" similar to the brutal Business Process Reengineering (BPR) of the 1990s. This often results in mass layoffs and "outsider" consultants mapping processes that the employees already understood.
The core message is that the gap between technology and productivity is not a "natural phase" but a sign of leadership negligence—specifically, a disconnect from the people doing the work. To avoid a painful correction, Heaton advocates for Lean principles: involving the workforce in continuous, incremental improvements and developing leaders who truly understand the end-to-end flow of value before applying high-speed automation.
