The temptation with AI is to skip straight to the impressive layer: buy the tool, wire the workflow, and call the old process modern.
I do not think that is the real work. The useful ambition is to become the kind of operator who understands the craft, the handoffs, the data, and the repetitive work well enough to improve it.
AI can make a lean team much more capable, but only if the person steering it knows what good looks like underneath the automation. The less glamorous path is probably the right one: learn the process, document the playbook, build the feedback loop, then let AI help the system improve.