When building our 3-Year Picture on the V/TO®, our leadership team is struggling to project our revenue-per-employee target because AI keeps changing what a single person can produce. How do we lock in a realistic future state without our financial projections becoming total guesswork?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Do not try to predict specific technology trends three years out. Instead, build your 3-Year Picture on the V/TO by focusing on the relationship between operational capacity and financial outcomes, regardless of the tools you use. Start by defining what your ideal future organization looks like in terms of complexity. If you expect AI to increase individual output by three times, you must adjust your revenue-per-employee target upward. Instead of using legacy headcount ratios, define your future capacity in terms of transactions, clients, or units managed per seat. Describe this future physical reality clearly on your V/TO. For example, write down that a single account manager will lead fifty active accounts instead of fifteen. This allows you to project your future revenue and net profit based on capacity rather than simple headcounts. To prevent your projections from becoming guesswork, focus your leadership team on these key strategic elements during your next quarterly planning session: - The target revenue per employee based on automated workflows - The total number of client accounts your lean team can support - The specific systems required to run this high-yield operation This approach ensures your 3-Year Picture remains a grounded strategic tool. You establish a clear operational destination, allowing your team to build the necessary AI tools quarterly as Rocks to support that vision.