Measuring speed pushes teams to produce shallow work
Expectation claims that ChatGPT improves decision quality, yet reality shows it accelerates shallow output. ChatGPT amplifies what gets measured, so visible speed and volume dominate behavior. This causal chain forces employees to prioritize speed over depth of analysis, which directly degrades decision outcomes.
Writing a strategy memo for a leadership meeting
Leaders believe that using ChatGPT to draft a strategy memo will produce clearer reasoning and stronger decisions. They expect the tool to elevate both the structure and the substance of the document. They assume that better wording will reflect better thinking. They believe employees will use the tool to refine arguments until they reach high quality. They trust that improved outputs will translate directly into improved decisions.
Submitting the drafted memo to leadership
The submitted memo appears polished but lacks depth in its analysis. Employees complete the document quickly and stop once it looks acceptable. The content expands in length but not in insight. Leaders notice that arguments remain superficial despite fluent language. The observable result is a well-formatted document that does not support sound decisions.
Producing the memo under performance evaluation
Employees face evaluation systems that reward visible output and fast delivery. They recognize that speed and volume create immediate signals of productivity. ChatGPT enables rapid generation of structured text, which increases output with minimal effort. As employees add more content, the document grows while remaining easy to produce. Because deeper analysis requires more time and yields less visible activity, employees stop at an acceptable surface quality.
Reviewing the memo in a decision meeting
Leaders interpret the polished document as an effort, but struggle to extract clear insights from it. The increased volume makes the memo harder to process. Decision makers skim rather than fully read, which reduces their understanding. They hesitate because the analysis does not justify confident choices. They misattribute weak decisions to complexity rather than to the shallow content produced under speed incentives.
Finalizing decisions based on the memo
Measured speed and volume push employees to produce fast, polished text, which leads to shallow analysis and weak decisions within the same memo.
Note: We use the term “ChatGPT” as a shorthand for ChatGPT and similar tools such as Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and custom GenAI chatbots.