The invisible debt: the blind spot

What I see everywhere in 2025 is a debt growing in silence.

A debt no one names.

A debt that does not come from the tools… but from the way your teams use them.

I call this organizational debt.

I’ve encountered this debt since my very first projects, twenty years ago.

I’ve seen it in universities, in companies, in leadership teams… and also in those I simply observe, outside any mission.

It has built itself slowly, from the early days of digitalization to today’s use of AI.

I see a lot of interest around AI, a lot of fascination for what it can do.

But these uses often remain isolated, fragmented, without any shared perspective.

This gap is where organizational debt takes hold.

A silent phenomenon

Usage multiplies.

Everyone moves in their own way, searching for their own logic.

On the surface, everything seems to work.

Underneath, the structure starts to crack.

A debt similar to technical debt

In digital projects I’ve supported, I’ve often seen what happens when we move fast without aligning what needs alignment.

Organizational debt follows the same pattern… but it impacts how you work, your habits, your culture.

This is often the moment when I see leaders pause, look at what’s emerging, and decide how AI should truly support their way of working.

Scattered uses that create incoherence

Each collaborator uses AI in their own way.

A training session provides basics, of course.

But what takes root afterward depends on daily habits, chosen tools, and each person’s level of appropriation.

Without a living framework behind the training, usage naturally disperses — following the rhythm of each person and each department.

I’ve lived this before, twenty years ago.

At the beginning of digitalization, when I was in the UK, early learning platforms looked like PDF repositories.

Everyone did “what they could.”

No framework.

No coherence.

Result: everything had to be rebuilt.

The risk of a multi-speed organization: some teams move fast, others do what they can.

And everyone thinks they are moving in the right direction.

The absence of a shared language: at this stage, even leaders no longer know which version is the reference, or which deliverable should serve as the base.

The real costs: time and errors

Correcting after the fact always costs more — I see it in every mission.

Fixing requires time, energy, and resources.

And with AI, everything moves so fast that organizations end up adjusting in the background instead of advancing with clarity.

This is where organizational debt strengthens: in all these backward steps that could be avoided if the framework were set from the beginning.

When usage is dispersed, errors move faster and further — it’s one of the effects I see most often in companies.

“A 2025 HBR / MIT CISR study states it clearly: poorly piloted digital innovation becomes a waste of resources.”

Why the debt grows in silence

The work seems to advance, but weakens

Your teams produce.

But they produce on unstable ground.

The illusion that everything is fine thanks to AI

The tool creates the impression that everything accelerates.

But speed hides fragility.

Activity hides disorder.

The absence of guardrails creates an absence of visibility

Without a framework, no one really sees where it drifts.

And as the pace accelerates, this drift becomes even harder to detect.

This silence is everywhere: each department advances with its own rhythm, urgencies, and tools… and nothing truly connects these movements.

Preparing 2026: governance, posture, method

Regaining control over usage

A simple framework.

Coherent.

Shared.

Not a 40-page rulebook.

A clear intention.

A defined perimeter.

Rules everyone can understand.​

Clarifying responsibilities

Who does what?

With which tool?

For which deliverable?

With what level of expected quality?

Installing an organizational posture

Moving from isolated experimentation

to practices that are truly mastered.

2026: a year to take the subject back in hand

2025 accelerated usage.

2026 must help organizations reconnect the thread, name what has taken root,

and decide how AI should genuinely support their way of working.

It is not a question of tools.

It is a question of posture.

“AI becomes a lever when leaders take back ownership of the way work is done — not just the tools, but the daily practices taking shape.”

And this is often when I intervene:

to help teams move forward together,

with clarity and coherence.

About the author

Micheline Boutrin Deroire

Founder of PAS À PAS DIGITAL, strategic consultant in AI applied to work practices and the human transformation of organisations.

She accompanies managers, executives and team leaders who want to integrate artificial intelligence into their practices while cultivating a conscious managerial posture and an aligned culture of change.

Her approach connects four pillars: AI, digital optimisation, usage practices and posture — to transform without losing oneself.

Book a meeting

www.pasapas-digital.com/appointment/1

Contact me

+596 696 37 66 90 • [email protected]

Follow on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelineboutrin

Awards (2024)

Best Innovation & Strategic Change Consultancy Leader – Western Europe

Digital Transformation Expert of the Year – France