The Spreadsheet is not the Problem...
When we are ready for AI but first can you list the current digitized tools in use for the same tasks?
Excel is not always the villain, often times, it is the emergency operating system for work not yet mapped into the workflow.
The scenarios in The Chaos are relatable narrations of real organisational workplace patterns from multiple industry experiences; details are illustrative, not references to any specific employer or individual.
Every company eventually says it is ready for AI until someone asks:
And suddenly the meeting becomes a wellness retreat or motivational speech.
Your company has 47 SaaS tools and still uses Excel as the source of truth because Excel is not a tool. It is a coping mechanism.
If a dashboard disappears tomorrow and five teams panic, that is not “just reporting”, that is digital infrastructure wearing casual clothes.
A workflow without an owner is just a group project with enterprise branding.
AI ideas are fun until someone asks, “Which existing process are we improving?” and everyone starts looking at their excel files.
If nobody can list it, nobody can govern it. If nobody can govern it, please do not add an agent with confidence issues.
Sometimes the first digital transformation move is not “automate", it can be “name the work”.
One small operator move
Pick one messy area, list 10–15 digital assets people already rely on, then add owner, reuse, risk, value, and one keep/fix/stop decision.