It may seem like in a world of blossoming A.I. technology, automated marketing campaigns, and global ecommerce pipelines that taking your online brand local and in-person makes little sense. Why should you take the time to shake people’s hands one-by-one at a farmers’ market when you can reach them by the thousands on social media? 

This was the year when the impact of AI on society – a long-anticipated revolution – became something much, much bigger. It was the Industrial Revolution. It was the Space Race. It was another Internet boom. It was all of those together. AI is too powerful, too opaque, too dystopian, too dangerous. And now, at last technology has gone too far.

In my tenure of running software projects, I’ve seen many budgets blow up. This is a guide to fix your overbudget projects based on how I fixed mine.

Tony Hsieh, the now reposed and former CEO of Zappos, used to offer hires $2,000 to quit on day one. He wanted to test them to see if they believed in the mission. I wonder if doing the same for product teams now would have the same effect.