Domo CDO: Stop AI FOMO, Start with Spreadsheets

Chris Willis, chief design officer and futurist at data platform Domo, says companies are wasting money on AI because they treat it as a solution rather than a tool. In an interview with The Register, he argued that the 'act now or be left behind' marketing creates anxiety, not real innovation.

Key points from the interview

• Product without a spec — 'The feature spec is: It'll do anything for anyone, anyway, anyhow, in any language.' That makes it impossible to define what the product actually does, leading to confusion.
• Tokenmaxxing is theater — Buying lots of AI tokens and pressuring employees to use them doesn't change the bottom line. It's a narrative to show action, not real strategy.
• Start with a spreadsheet — Instead of moonshot goals, Willis suggests automating a simple process tied to a spreadsheet. He cited a customer app that checks invoices for discrepancies and surfaces anomalies for human review. The team was thrilled with the result.
• Fear is not durable — 'Fear is not a durable strategy for innovating,' Willis said. Companies should understand their workflows before adding an AI engine.

What this means for developers

If you're being asked to build AI features without a clear problem, push back. Start with something small: automate a manual check, reduce toil, and prove value before scaling. The CDO's advice is essentially: understand the process first, then pick the right tool.