SMARTER SYSTEMS, SAME OLD PROBLEMS: What AI Can't Do - But What You Can

Every week, another organization bets millions on artificial intelligence—and discovers that the data is messier than the demo, the process isn't what anyone thought, and the people still need to believe in the change before it sticks.Smarter Systems, Same Old Problems is the book for leaders and practitioners who are done being dazzled and ready to do the work. It is the only book that explores the role of People as the critical bridge between the use of AI and the achievement of Operational Excellence rather than just a footnote.Written by a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with decades of operational excellence experience, this is not an AI skeptic's manifesto or a technologist's hype cycle. It is an honest, grounded field guide to what happens when cutting-edge machine intelligence meets the organizational reality most improvement books refuse to address.What you'll discover:• Why every major technology wave—TQM, Six Sigma, Lean, Digital Transformation—failed the same way, and what that tells you about AI adoption right now• How to use DMAIC and root cause analysis alongside AI tools, not instead of them—and why the methodology matters more in the age of automation, not less• Why "garbage in, gospel out" is the most dangerous phrase in your organization, and the six gates every dataset must pass before you trust it• What AI cannot see that a process walk always reveals—and why the best practitioners never stopped walking the floor• How to design control plans and alert response chains that keep humans in the loop when the algorithm flags an anomaly• Why psychological safety and the right meeting structure remain the irreplaceable engine of sustainable improvement• What the learning organization looks like when AI is a member of the team—and what leaders must build before the technology can deliverThis book is for you if:You lead or support improvement in manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, logistics, or any operation where the gap between analytical capability and actual results keeps you up at night. You've seen the tools succeed and fail. You know the problem isn't the technology. You're right.About the Author:Ken Feldman, Ph.D. is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and operational excellence practitioner with experience across industries. He wrote this book because the organizations that will use AI well are not the ones with the best algorithms—they are the ones that never forgot what good looks like and the role of Leadership..Don’t forget that People are the critical bridge between Operational Excellence and AI.. Read more