"Digital worker" entered enterprise vocabulary as a synonym for remote worker. That framing is now obsolete — and its obsolescence matters.
Augmentation, not logistics, is now the design challenge
- When digital worker means remote worker, the design challenge is logistics (solved). When digital worker means augmented worker, the design challenge shifts entirely: what AI tools extend this person's capability, how are those tools integrated into their workflow, and how does the organisation measure the output of a human-AI pair rather than an individual contributor?
Most organisations do not have good answers because they have not asked the questions at the right level of specificity.
- Augmentation without performance redesign produces two outcomes: underperforming augmented workers who are not using tools well, and overperforming workers whose contribution is invisible in the metrics. A salesperson augmented with AI-driven prospect intelligence and automated follow-up can cover more ground in a day than an unaugmented peer in a week — but cannot be measured using the same metrics.
Measure the human-AI pair, or you measure nothing
For one role in your team that has received AI augmentation tools in the last 12 months: what did this person produce per day before the tools, what do they produce now, and are the current performance metrics capturing the right signals? If the metrics have not changed since the tools were introduced, you are measuring augmented workers with unaided standards. Fix the measurement before drawing conclusions about either the value of the tools or the performance of the people. D5 frames this as a maturity marker: designing for access vs designing for amplification.
