The Map Still Matters

There was a time when getting somewhere required real skill.

When I was a kid, there was no GPS.
There wasn’t even a phone in my pocket. The phone was on the wall in the kitchen. Avocado green. Twenty-foot coiled cord.

When I got my driver’s license, I already had a mental map of where I was going. Not because I studied it, but because I had ridden my bike everywhere. Side streets. Alleys. Shortcuts you only learn by doing.

The first time I drove to another city, from the north side of Sheboygan, Wisconsin to a farmhouse in Oostburg, I had to pull out a paper map and figure it out. Turn by turn.

I can still read a map. I can use a compass if I have to.

Today, I get in the car and tell Siri to take me wherever I need to go. No thought required.

My 13-year-old has probably never used a folded map. There is still an atlas in the back of our car, something I have carried for decades, but it is more artifact than tool now.

And if I am honest, I do not think about navigation anymore either.

Until recently, when my data connection dropped and GPS stopped updating.

Suddenly, I had to think again.

The Same Shift Is Happening With AI

I recently led a migration from Google to Microsoft 365.

Not long ago, we would have hired a consultant to do this work. This time, we did it ourselves.

We used AI to:

• Build the migration plan
• Model costs
• Create communications
• Walk through execution step by step

It guided me through where to go, what to click, what to configure.

It was fast. Efficient. Effective.

And yes, I now know more about DMARC policy than I ever planned to as a CEO.

Did I need to know that? No.
Was it useful and did it save time and money? Absolutely.

But here is the part that matters.

The Tool Only Works If You Understand the System

The migration worked because I already understood what was happening underneath.

I knew:

• Where migrations typically fail
• What questions to ask
• What “wrong” looks like

AI did not replace that knowledge. It amplified it.

Could I have done the migration without AI? Yes.

Would it have taken significantly longer and cost more? Also yes.

AI is solving real problems. It is increasing speed and reducing the need for certain roles.

But it is not a substitute for understanding.

The Risk Is Not AI

The risk is forgetting how to think.

We are moving from doing the work to prompting the work.

That shift is powerful.

It is also dangerous if it leads to skill atrophy.

Because when something breaks, and it will:

• The output will be wrong
• The context will be incomplete
• The system will fail
• The constraints will change

And in those moments, the tool is no longer enough.

The Map Still Matters

This is not an argument against AI.

Use it. Lean into it. It is one of the most powerful tools we have ever had.

But do not lose the underlying skill.

Because if you do not know how to read the map, the tool will only get you so far.

And when it stops working, you will not know how to move forward.

At some point, you will not just need directions.

You will need to know how to navigate.