Professional development often happens beneath the visible work people perform. Beneath the task layer sits a less visible capability layer. This post challenges the assumption that tasks are the most important part of work and argues that organisations should focus on preserving and intentionally developing the underlying capabilities as AI changes how work is performed.

The Capability Factory illustrates how organisations create future expertise, experience and judgement through work. AI is beginning to disrupt many of the lower-level activities that have traditionally formed part of this development journey, raising the question of how organisations will continue to create expertise if the work people learn from changes significantly.

In What If Knowledge Was Free? I explored the idea that AI may be dramatically changing the economics of knowledge. The article was really a thought experiment. If knowledge becomes increasingly abundant, where does value move? If organisations no longer need to pay primarily for access to knowledge, what are they actually paying for?