Lately, I’ve had a few moments in projects where I caught myself thinking:

This would have taken a full team a few years ago.

Now it’s a conversation, a few iterations… and we’re already moving. Not because we’re cutting corners.

But because AI is removing a lot of the “busy work” that used to justify large teams.

This shift is already changing AI consulting vs traditional consulting in a very practical way.

And that changes something fundamental:

What companies actually need from consultants.

5 things that are shifting right now

1. More people doesn’t mean more progress anymore

For a long time, adding people was the default answer.

• More analysts.
• More slides.
• More capacity.

Today, a lot of that work is simply… gone.
Or at least massively compressed.

Which leads to a slightly uncomfortable truth:
More people often just means more coordination.

And coordination rarely moves things forward.

2. “Having seen many companies” is not the same as having run one

This is probably the biggest gap I see.

You can work on dozens of projects…
and still never experience what it actually means to carry responsibility inside an organization.

Because inside, things look different.

Decisions are not clean.
Trade-offs are real.
Politics are part of the game.
And once something goes wrong, you don’t move on to the next project.

You stay with it.

That changes how you think.

And it shows very quickly in the kind of recommendations you make.

3. Speed no longer comes from capacity. It comes from clarity.

The old way of consulting:
→ more (junior) people = faster progress

The reality:
→ more people = more alignment loops
→ AI removes a lot of the heavy lifting.

What’s left now is:
• understanding the problem
• making decisions
• moving forward

And that doesn’t scale well with team size.

4. A lot of “consulting work” was never really about solving the problem

If we’re honest, a big part of traditional project work goes into things like:

• internal alignment
• status updates
• formatting slides
• preparing the next steering

Necessary? Often yes.
Directly solving the problem? Not really.

In lean setups, most of this disappears.

And suddenly, you see very clearly what actually matters.

5. Impact becomes visible much faster

In the end, the question is simple:

Is anything actually changing?

Not:
• how impressive the deck looks
• how structured the framework is

But:
• are decisions made
• are things moving
• does the organization feel it

With fewer layers and faster cycles, that becomes visible very quickly.

And it’s much harder to hide behind process.

This is where the difference between AI consulting vs traditional consulting becomes very visible in real projects.

Where AI really comes into play

AI is not replacing consulting.

But it is removing a lot of what used to justify large structures and massive costs.

AI can:
• structure messy topics in minutes
• create first versions instantly
• explore scenarios without long preparation

Which means:

Less production, more judgment.

And that’s exactly where experience matters.

Tools that make this possible in practice

All of this sounds abstract until you actually use it in your day-to-day work.

A few tools I rely on quite heavily right now:

n8n
For automating workflows that used to take manual effort.
Connecting tools, triggering processes, moving data around without thinking about it twice.

Onepage
For getting from idea to something tangible very quickly.
Landing pages, MVPs, simple setups that help you test and move instead of overthinking.

LeChat, Claude and ChatGPT (incl. custom GPTs)
For structuring thoughts, drafting first versions, exploring options, and pressure-testing ideas.
Custom GPTs especially help me to reuse patterns, frameworks and ways of thinking across projects.

Notion
As a central place to structure ideas, notes, and ongoing work.
Less about documentation, more about keeping things connected and accessible.

PopAi (or beautiful.ai, if you prefer)
For turning rough ideas into clean, structured presentations quickly.
Not to create “perfect slides”, but to get to a point where you can discuss something real.

None of these tools are magic.
But combined with experience, they remove a lot of friction.

And that’s exactly what changes how fast you can move.

P.S.: If you’re interested in learning more about my tech setup, you might want to check out this post as well: The first 150 days

Why this matters to me

Because this is exactly why I enjoy my current setup so much.

A lean structure.
Real experience from inside organizations.
And tools that remove a lot of overhead.

It creates a way of working that feels much closer to reality.

And, to be honest, much harder to fake.

If you’re looking for a more direct, hands-on way to move topics forward, you can find more about how I work here: Linelia’s services.

And if you’d like to exchange thoughts or explore a potential collaboration, feel free to reach out via my contact page or connect with me on LinkedIn.