The Flintstone Car: Automating Stone-Age Processes at Light Speed
If you are old enough to remember watching The Flintstones on a television where changing channels meant getting off the couch, this might ring a bell.
Back then, cutting-edge tech meant waiting 45 agonizing minutes for a game to load on a ZX Spectrum, blowing into a Game Boy cartridge, or bouncing a pixel in Pong (if my brother let me have a go at all). I thought I was living in the future.
Now, remember Fred Flintstone’s car? From a distance, it looked like legitimate transport. But underneath, there was no floor at all, and Fred was sprinting barefoot on sharp gravel, sweating profusely just to get basic momentum.
Right now, executive boardrooms across New Zealand are gripped by a new "Pong moment": "We need an AI strategy."
So, leadership hands out Copilot or ChatGPT access like fancy stationery and demands "high-velocity innovation." Then we act surprised when staff use hyper-advanced AI to generate ten-page memos in 30 seconds, adding even more reading load to overwhelmed middle managers.
You haven't modernised your business. You’ve just bolted a turbocharger onto a stone car while your people sprint barefoot underneath.
Automating Operational Drag
When velocity stalls, the default executive reflex is to throw technology at the problem. But if your organisational design is flawed, AI simply executes a bad premise much faster.
If we apply Carol Bacchi’s WPR (What’s the Problem Represented to be?) framework to look beneath the bonnet of most AI rollouts, you find three structural defects:
You assumed the problem was employee speed, not process clutter: The real delay usually stems from unclear decision rights and five layers of sign-off, not slow typing.
You created a "second job" for your workforce: Prompting software, checking for AI hallucinations, and re-formatting drafts adds administrative weight. Without removing old compliance tasks, you escalate burnout.
You are solving a diagnostic issue with software: Technology cannot fix a lack of strategic clarity or conflicting KPIs.
The "Flintstone Chassis Audit"
Before signing off on your next tech rollout, ask these three structural questions:
What are we assuming is broken? (Is our process slow, or are our people just running barefoot under a heavy, bloated stone frame?)
What tasks are we explicitly stopping? (What administrative weight are we taking off their shoulders so they aren't sprinting on sharp gravel?)
Is our chassis built to hold an engine? (Do we have clear decision rights and aligned KPIs in place before we attempt to add horsepower?)
Stop polishing the exterior of the stone vehicle. Inspect the underlying structure first and ensure your operational frame can actually handle a turbocharger.
💬 What is one piece of software your organisation introduced to "save time" that actually ended up creating a second job for your people? Drop your thoughts below, I’d love to hear how your leadership team handles cumulative load.
📌 Ready to Audit Your Operational Chassis?
Stop wasting executive capital on software that automates administrative friction.
Originally published on Linkedin