---
id: "contrarian-friction-is-good"
type: "contrarian-insight"
source_timestamps: ["\\\"§ Step 1. Establish an initial point of view", "so you have a basis for evaluating AI's output.\\\""]
tags: ["workflow", "productivity"]
related: ["action-establish-pov", "quote-friction-is-necessary"]
challenges: "The conventional view that AI's primary value is removing friction and allowing users to immediately generate content without prior preparation."
sources: ["reskilling"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-reskilling"
originDay: 10
articleStem: "hbr-edu-32-help-employees-get-better-with-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/help-employees-get-better-not-just-faster-with-ai"
sourceTitle: "Help Employees Get Better—Not Just Faster—with AI"
---
# Friction is a necessary feature of AI workflows

**Challenges:** the conventional view that AI's primary value is removing friction and letting users immediately generate content without prior preparation.

The primary marketing pitch for generative AI is *frictionless speed* — bypassing the blank page instantly. The authors argue the opposite: users must *intentionally reintroduce friction* by stopping to formulate their own hypothesis before ever opening an AI tool, otherwise they lose the cognitive anchor required to evaluate the machine's output.

See [[action-establish-pov|establish a POV first]] and [[quote-friction-is-necessary|the friction quote]]. The cost side of this stance is examined in [[question-time-efficiency-tradeoff|the friction/ROI open question]].


## Related across articles
- [[contrarian-value-of-friction]]
- [[concept-healthy-friction]]