Working in Public is one of August’s most transformative practices. It’s also, as I’ve come to realize, made wildly more difficult with the introduction of AI. 

(Stay with me here…)

Working in Public is exactly what it sounds like. Completing work out in the open rather than in private. Sharing documents as live links, working asynchronously on a presentation with a co-worker, leaving feedback in comments, seeing real-time changes…all examples of WIP.

Working in Public transforms the way teams operate. When people share their thinking as it develops, the focus shifts from looking good to learning together. It normalizes vulnerability and imperfection, which creates real psychological safety.

As we were writing Teams That Meet The Moment, we interviewed a bunch of our clients. One of the stories we featured is a classic example of Working in Public’s impact:

Working in Public at Pacific Life

Working in Public became so second-nature at Pacific Life that the head of customer experience, Jim Legeman, barely noticed the change. Presentations that were once hidden away until deemed “ready for review,” instead became collective creations: visible from the start and improved through ongoing collaboration. 

Now, Jim starts any consultation project with “the shell of the deck”—establishing a structure and then sharing the live link so team members can collaborate. By having access to what everyone is building, they ensure a cohesive narrative, spot disconnects early, and build on each other’s ideas. 

The result is a work culture where transparency is the default, not the exception. 

Pretty powerful stuff, right? But after a recent working session at August, I noticed a big wrench being thrown into that way of working. 

A co-worker and I were preparing a client pitch with Claude’s help. The work was moving tremendously, frustratingly slow, and our entire collaboration dynamic had changed. 

For the first time in a decade, we couldn’t simultaneously collaborate. And it was because AI isn’t optimized for team collaboration. 

This wasn’t for lack of trying. We had set up an elaborate internal shared August Drive connected to Claude. We were communicating through the process. But I couldn’t follow along with his work or contribute as an equal partner because he was working in his private instance of Claude. 

By forcing our work into private channels, AI has closed off opportunities for visibility and co-working. It’s also pulling us further apart from each other. 

AI operates in what John Cutler calls single-player mode. There’s no infrastructure for team collaboration, and that drives us away from our human teammates and closer to the machine. 

This is a big problem because current research shows that multiple humans collaborating with AI produce more breakthrough innovations than individuals working alone or with AI, or teams working on their own. 

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that AI is valuable. But what I’ve realized is that it’s going to become the most valuable when the technology (and our way of working with it) advances enough so that we can Work in Public together. 

The best teams have a culture where ideas can evolve through collective intelligence rather than individual effort. When we’re able to integrate this teaming style with AI, our capabilities will grow exponentially.

I, for one, am eagerly awaiting that leap.

Karina Mangu-Ward

Partner, August Public