Ideas
The cost of a representation: 31 days yesterday, 2 seconds today
First use case, walked through end to end: same query, same data set, two forms of rendering, and no deployment between the two
The value of a software factory is not to produce screens, it is to make data usable in every form. The full reasoning is in the previous page.
Here is the first of the four cases, walked through end to end.
The cycle nobody ever counts
Request, UX scoping, validation, development, acceptance testing, production release. Thirty-one working days to turn a table into a pie chart.
There is nothing exceptional about that figure. It is even optimistic: it assumes the request is accepted first time, that no priority arbitration pushes it back to the next quarter, and that the chart component already exists in the in-house library.
Today, turning a table into a pie chart costs six weeks.
The user opens a request. UX is brought in, the change is designed, sent for validation, developed, tested, redeployed.
- Request3d
- UX scoping5d
- Validation7d
- Development8d
- Acceptance testing6d
- Production release2d
Full cycle31 working days
Meanwhile, the data structure has not changed by a single line. Stock lives, volumes move, but the model stays the same.
stock(ref, libelle, famille, qte, seuil, depot)What to see in this diagram is not the length of the chain. It is the line
underneath: stock(ref, libelle, famille, qte, seuil, depot). This schema
was already there before the request, it is identical after. Stock has lived,
volumes have moved, but the model has not changed.
The request
A purchasing manager, authenticated, scope North warehouse.
They ask which products fall under their threshold this week. They do not navigate, do not open a menu, do not fill in a filter form. The scope comes from their profile, not from a settings screen.
They get a table: four references out of three hundred and twelve, with the current stock, the threshold and the variance.
The user no longer navigates. They ask.
- Profile Purchasing manager
- Scope North warehouse
- Input voice or keyboard
Single screen — conversational agent
Which products fall under their threshold this week?
System response
4 references out of 312 are under their reorder threshold.
Reference Description Stock Threshold Variance FIL-2210 Flexible cable 2.5 mm² 120 400 −280 VIS-0840 Stainless screw M8×40 1,450 2,000 −550 JNT-115 O-ring Ø115 86 250 −164 ROU-6204 Bearing 6204 2RS 32 90 −58
No menu, no breadcrumb, no form. The scope comes from the profile, not from a settings screen.
The same data, another form
They then ask for the same result as a pie chart, broken down by family.
They get it. No ticket, no acceptance testing, no production release. The query is untouched: only the formatting has changed, and it follows the company’s design system.
Same data set. Another form. No redeployment.
Single screen — conversational agent
Show me that as a pie chart, by family
System response
- Cabling38%
- Fasteners27%
- Seals21%
- Bearings14%
No ticket. No acceptance testing. No production release. The query is untouched, only the formatting has changed — and it follows the client’s design system.
- Changing the representation yesterday
- 31 days
- Changing the representation today
- 2 seconds
What this case really demonstrates
It does not demonstrate that AI draws pretty charts. Any library has done that for fifteen years.
It demonstrates that the form of the rendering can stop being a design decision and become a usage decision. The screen designer chose for every user, six months ahead, without knowing what they would need. The user chooses for themselves, at the moment the question arises.
And if the need had not been anticipated, there is no more “that was not planned”. That is the sentence that cost thirty-one days.
Next objection
Reading is one thing. Writing is another. What happens when the user no longer asks to consult the stock, but to commit to an order of several thousand euros? That is the second case.