The Smaller Team That Got Done Faster

Author

Jeff Sauer
October 10, 2026

We just wrapped MeasureSummit, our online analytics conference.

It was the second show we ran this year (previously, it was only once a year in October), and production was smoother than ever.

We had all speaker presentations in hand and produced the video files to upload to the livestream almost a week in advance.

That sure beats the old “all-nighters” our editor was pulling.

The team was smaller than in years past, just three of us.

Yet I can definitely say the event quality was better.

How is that possible?

Lots and lots of Claude. And some ChatGPT. And AI-connected programs like Descript, Google Suite, and Riverside.

In the past, two separate organizations produced the event as a side project for both. That meant a lot of coordination, waiting on each other, and communication delays that slowed everything down.

This year, AI did the first pass on almost everything. Reviewing speaker submissions and presentations (Claude can do frame-by-frame video reviews now, and it’s amazing).

We used AI to draft speaker reminders so we could send them out earlier than we normally would.

We used it for building out materials, like social clips for speakers from the presentation they submitted. Less back-and-forth between team members waiting on decisions.

Of course, humans still reviewed and approved everything that made it into the event, and that's why quality went up. AI handled the repetitive, time-consuming first passes. A person made the final call.

It also reminds me just how much of the “slowness” of white-collar work comes down to hand-offs.

Waiting for someone to get back to you, chasing down a confirmation, sitting in a holding pattern until a decision is made.

So if you find yourself asking, “Why am I doing this still?” ask that of AI instead. It will help you build the solution.

Until next Saturday,
Jeff Sauer

P.S. If you want help bringing AI into your organization, or getting better at it yourself, I do 1:1 coaching for exactly that.

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