The Temptation of Technology
An essay on why organisations mistake tools for progress, and why human systems — not platforms — determine whether ideas become value
Editor’s Note: A recurring thread across the Cultivated canon is that organisations confuse tools with progress. This essay extends Mistaking the Map for the Territory and Communication as Infrastructure, examining why technology so often becomes an obligation rather than an enabler — and why value creation remains stubbornly human.
The Temptation of Technology
In every workshop, coaching session, or leadership conversation, someone asks the same question:
“What technology would you recommend to solve our problems?”
AI.
Platforms.
Dashboards.
Tools.
There is always a new option. Always a silver bullet.
Technology begins as an option.
If we are not careful, it becomes an obligation
— often an expensive one.
Comfort in the Machine
Technology is comforting.
It promises efficiency, integration, speed, and simplicity.
It offers dashboards where uncertainty once lived.
It gives the impression of control.
Inside organisations, it often delivers something else though:
more tools to manage,
more license costs,
more integrations,
more training,
more migration,
more places for work to hide.
The organisation becomes busy managing technology rather than creating value.
The Human Middle
The reality is uncomplicated:
between every idea and the value it creates, there are people.
Their clarity.
Their habits.
Their behaviours.
Their conversations.
Their relationships.
Their time, energy, and attention.
Their ability to cooperate, coordinate, and decide.
People take ideas and turn them into value in an organisation.
Most problems arise here
— not in software, not in process diagrams, not in dashboards.
Trying to fix human problems with technology is like trying to improve a conversation by buying a megaphone.
It amplifies what is already there.
It does not change what is broken.
Technology as Obligation
Once introduced, technology rarely remains neutral.
It demands configuration, governance, training, updates, sometimes entire platform migrations and justification.
It becomes a structure people must adapt to
— rather than a tool that adapts to people.
The organisation bends around the tool.
Work reshapes itself to fit the system.
The obligation grows quietly.
Effectiveness Before Efficiency
John Seddon captured the order simply:
Study the problem.
Fix the problem.
Then bring in technology.
Technology should support effective work, not compensate for ineffective work.
There is little value in making something ineffective more efficient.
A Different Question
When someone asks me which tools to adopt, I ask something else:
“Are you already good at turning ideas into value?”
If the answer is yes, technology can help you go faster.
If the answer is no, technology will help you go faster in the wrong direction.
Clarity first.
Alignment second.
Momentum third.
Value.
Then tools.
Start with people.
Create value together.
Then use technology to accelerate.
The Order That Endures
Sometimes technology is intrinsic to the product
— infrastructure, platforms, pipelines. Even then, effectiveness precedes selection.
Tools do not create value.
People do.
Technology can amplify human systems.
It cannot replace them.
And when we forget that, technology stops being an option and quietly becomes an obligation.
This piece forms part of Cultivated’s wider body of work on how ideas become valuable, and how better work is built.
To explore further:
→ Library — a curated collection of long-form essays
→ Ideas — developing thoughts and shorter writing
→ Learn — practical guides and tools from across the work
→ Work with us — thoughtful partnership for teams and organisations
