<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[The Four Seats]]></title><description><![CDATA[Long-form essays on enterprise software and PropTech, plus advisory work. Advisor, analyst, client, provider. Written by Brian Zrimsek.]]></description><link>https://www.thefourseats.net/home</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Thu, 24 Sep 2026 05:27:55 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.thefourseats.net/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[AI Has Changed the Definition of a Connected Building]]></title><description><![CDATA[The call kept dropping because the modem sits in the middle of a basement that is fully below grade, which is the right place for the equipment and the wrong place for a person holding a phone. Scale that up and it decides something larger. Every building holds three populations: the people who work in it, on it, and the people it works for. Enterprise wireless was provisioned for the first, and AI is arriving for all three.]]></description><link>https://www.thefourseats.net/post/ai-connected-building</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a7f31d8204f6d08e07dd2d4</guid><pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:13:07 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/74c33b_05c110ed301743688e879cdea1161567~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brian Zrimsek</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Attention Is Not a Control]]></title><description><![CDATA[Two kinds of rules governed what the machine was allowed to do. Both were written by me, both were in force the whole time, and both were meant to hold it to a standard. One kind was ignored completely. The other was obeyed without exception.]]></description><link>https://www.thefourseats.net/post/attention-is-not-a-control</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aa00c429faa206cd06d7567</guid><pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 12:41:49 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/74c33b_ca74fd65af744cf5968f58c72984ad6c~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_630,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brian Zrimsek</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Your AI Business Case's Blind Spot]]></title><description><![CDATA[I have worked on hundreds of business cases. Every one was written inside a department or a division, and written for the benefit of it. The only one I ever saw that mentioned disaster recovery was a business case about disaster recovery. That was fine for thirty years. It is not fine now.]]></description><link>https://www.thefourseats.net/post/ai-business-case-blind-spot</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9036771e57603cecb5e8a7</guid><pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:47:43 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/74c33b_2aebb04274394489a14101b12b293721~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_620,h_240,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brian Zrimsek</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[AI Capability Doesn't Always Arrive as Features]]></title><description><![CDATA[Taking a new release used to be the feature gate. Now AI capability moves underneath features you already run, and no gate was built to hold it.
Implementation shapes the product to the organization, the organization lives with that shape, and the distance grows with every release. 

That gap used to be countable. Part of what accumulates now is not made of items, which is why the deadlines that forced a re-look no longer catch everything.]]></description><link>https://www.thefourseats.net/post/ai-capability-is-not-features</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a831446c3cef5dd4ab3772f</guid><pubDate>Thu, 03 Sep 2026 11:00:10 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/74c33b_d2d567b50b424e41b152096335e8bbfd~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_541,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brian Zrimsek</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Second Disassociation]]></title><description><![CDATA[I spent four hours on a golf course this week and cleaned up a large dataset during them. I did none of that work. I directed it. 

In 2020 I sorted which activities would stay separated from their places, and the mechanism held in six of seven. 

Here is the same sort, pointed at people instead of rooms.]]></description><link>https://www.thefourseats.net/post/the-second-disassociation</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a7e0ff12d04e90cb22882c7</guid><pubDate>Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:44:39 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/74c33b_0d929e861644485ba3c827c43975b534~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_857,h_482,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brian Zrimsek</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Everyone Sells AI the Same Way. You Have to Buy It Differently.]]></title><description><![CDATA[I asked an AI assistant for a foursome and it gave me five players. 

Twice that week, two different vendors, the same failure. 

The QA profession has been discussing this for two years. 

The person who signs the acceptance form has not been in the room. 

Nine questions to ask before your name goes on it.]]></description><link>https://www.thefourseats.net/post/everyone-sells-ai-the-same-way</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a7e0f301edc2c80bd34c816</guid><pubDate>Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:44:28 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/74c33b_e734015b95d44af3bd64a21a3013064e~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_559,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brian Zrimsek</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Your Algorithm Has Decision Rights Nobody Granted It]]></title><description><![CDATA[A leasing agent declines an application in ninety seconds. 

Ask who decided and the answer is the system said decline. 

Ask everyone above her and every answer is true, and the chain closes into a circle. 

Real estate is two years ahead on this. Everyone else bought the same software later.]]></description><link>https://www.thefourseats.net/post/decision-rights-nobody-granted</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a7e0e4daaa4bd070424cbc2</guid><pubDate>Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:44:18 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/74c33b_858f26d52a3c47b39b8da7d81cd970ad~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_801,h_454,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brian Zrimsek</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Year I Stopped Writing About AI]]></title><description><![CDATA[In December 2020 I wrote a list of six things that would matter the following year. All six did. 

Not one of them was artificial intelligence, and twenty-four months later ChatGPT was released. 

We audit what we said. We do not audit what we stopped saying. 

Three steps to find out what fell off yours.]]></description><link>https://www.thefourseats.net/post/the-year-i-stopped-writing-about-ai</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a7e0d5382bb65726e96fdd2</guid><pubDate>Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:44:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/74c33b_fd5cc728e37647fe905734a6108e760c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_942,h_530,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brian Zrimsek</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>