Building AI Solutions: Begin with the end in mind. Begin with the end.
“Begin with the end in mind” means beginning with the outcomes your customer needs to achieve? But, also, the resources who could be more productively assigned.
Please Note: Once again this is a particularly long post, so subscribers will find the emailed version of this issue cut off at the end. Please go to the web version for the complete version.
If You Find AgenticMSP Valuable: Please recommend AgenticMSP to your friends and colleagues. Also, please offer up your comments, observations, questions, or any other responses in the chat below. Let’s get a hearty conversation going!
Outcomes.
Burn that word into your mind if you’re going to deliver valuable solutions. The customer only realizes value when they achieve the positive business outcomes their company depends on.
In his pivotal “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey guides us to begin our journey of discovery and development with a clear understanding of what we ultimately need to accomplish in the second habit, “Begin with the end in mind.”
Tomorrow’s successful MSP must start today to dramatically increase their knowledge in two key areas:
1) What can be accomplished using AI technologies. This is no small feat. And you can rest assured this knowledge base will continue to expand at an unprecedented rate. This is why you must consume all the articles, videos, and other relevant media you can find.
2) How businesses operate. To be able to improve or revolutionize how businesses do what they do, you must first know how they need to operate, what their processes are, how they relate to each other, who does what, and much more. This is also no mean feat. Focusing on a vertical market may help you focus down.
Important to note that neither of these have much to do with “technology.” One of the great advantages of AI is how it democratizes digital advantage. Nobody needs to know how the underlying technologies work. Nobody needs to know how to “code.”
Its for that reason that we avoid talking about pure technology here in AgenticMSP, nor do we usually include news articles about technology:
Your ability to succeed with AI is all about business operations, not technology!
So, yes my friends, you’re on the road to becoming more consultative.
Resource Deployment
The other “end” I’m referring to can best be stated as, “figuring out where each and every resource should end up.”
Right now, many people are using sledgehammers to swat flies. Those tools would be better deployed elsewhere to tackle challenges commensurate with their abilities. Not only is this cost-effective, it’s also among the best ways to keep employees fully motivated. Challenge them. Give them work that expands them, not work that bores them.
Former Sun CEO Scott McNealy once famously said, “Those who cannot do, can teach. Those who cannot teach, can sort.” It reeked of his signature arrogance, but it suggests that we should look at those we currently have sorting and explore how much more they’re capable of, allowing AI to take up the sorting and other “grunt work.”
When You Talk to a Customer
As you head into having conversations with your customers about AI, surprise and delight them with your focus on their business, their processes, their human resource deployment, their budget, and their most desired business outcomes.
My personal belief in what I’m saying here is what drove me to approach this strategy when I was a new salesperson selling the newly introduced “personal computers” in the 1980’s. For a lifelong learner, it was incredible fun to absorb all this information and put it to use to satisfy customers.
AI is only the second time I’ve enjoyed this much fun. All the technologies that preceded it since the introduction of the PC have been fun to learn, but very straightforward to study and learn.
AI is a challenge to keep up with now, and it’s only just begun to expand, and to accelerate in it’s development. We’ll have plenty to study for years to come.
But remember the two required disciplines. Not just what AI is capable of, but also a deep understanding of how businesses work to achieve very specific outcomes.
Keep your LLMs from making stuff up
How Does Memory for AI Agents Work?
Audit Claude Platform activity with the Compliance API
How to Categorize AI Agents and Prioritize Risk
LLM API Pricing Comparison - March 2026
Shifting to AI model customization is an architectural imperative
Why 2025 will be the year of AI orchestration
