Tech teams drop AI agents into every workflow layer—from drafting emails to pulling data across systems—and the first step clears in seconds. Yet the finished report languishes in a human‑approval queue, showing the agent merely fast‑forwards a single link in a fifteen‑step chain.

The piece likens the shift to the 1900s electric‑motor upgrade: swapping a steam engine for a cleaner one without re‑designing the plant keeps the old layout intact. Likewise, keeping the same org chart and handoff structure lets a faster step expose the same constraints.

Because only one step drops to near‑zero cost, Amdahl's law dictates the overall throughput stays bound by the untouched parts—judgment, approvals, handoffs. The real gain lies not in execution but in reshaping the organization around the new cheap‑execution reality.

In short, AI agents amplify existing workflows; they do not rewrite the systemic bottlenecks that still slow output.