The Monday Live community. What started as a look back at Las Vegas evolved into a provocative exploration of how our industry creates change, or fails to. The session, hosted by the Monday Live team, focused on a powerful concept borrowed from open-source culture: do-ocracy. The premise is simple. Code talks. Everything else walks.
Key Themes from the Session
Do-ocracy vs. Bureaucracy
The central idea of the conversation came from the Linux Foundation, where do-ocracy means that demonstration and code matter more than debate. If you want to create change, build something. Show it. Let people interact with it. Bureaucracy spends time persuading. Do-ocracy spends time creating. The group agreed that our industry has spent too long in the persuasion business and not enough in the building business.
AI Adoption Reality Check
Despite breathless headlines about exponential AI growth, actual paid adoption remains surprisingly limited. The group examined data showing that most AI interactions are still free and casual. The question was raised: if the economics don’t yet support the massive infrastructure investment, where does the money come from to sustain exponential growth? The answer remains unclear, but the parallel to early internet skepticism was noted.
Exponential Growth and Competition
Even if the math is uncertain, the competitive pressure is real. If you are not leveraging AI, your competitors likely are. The exponential drop in cost for AI compute means that doing nothing is becoming a strategic risk. The group debated whether exponential growth is economically sustainable, but agreed that the technology itself is objectively better than what came before.
Governance in the Age of AI Agents
The conversation framed governance through an unexpected lens: Plato. Drawing on the philosopher’s work on structuring just societies, one participant asked what governance means when humans and AI agents must coexist. With knowledge graphs and semantic structure, governance can be built into systems rather than imposed from above. The group planned to make governance a theme for March discussions.
Fail Fast vs. Bureaucratic Drag
The conversation turned to methodology. Agile, Scrum, and the SpaceX approach of blowing up rockets to learn faster were held up as models. The contrast with slow, committee driven processes was stark. Bureaucracy feels safe but kills progress slowly. Fast failure at least teaches something useful. The group embraced the ethos of failing early to learn quickly.
UI Simplicity vs. Infinite Customization
A tension emerged around what AI enables. If adding features costs nothing, the risk of complexity creep is real. One participant warned that just because you can add a button does not mean you should. The ideal may be excellent defaults with the ability to customize when needed, but not before. Mass customization will allow everyone to pick their own buttons, but too many options breed contempt.
Unexpected Consequences of AI Infrastructure
A concern was raised that surprised the group. Large data centers with thousands of air handlers and chillers are generating infrasound, sound below 20 hertz, that may be causing health problems for nearby residents. Dizziness, headaches, and nausea have been reported. The HVAC industry is directly implicated. The group agreed this deserves further investigation.
The Underlying Question
Throughout the session, one question kept returning. Should our industry spend less time persuading and more time building? The do-ocracy model suggests the answer is yes. Demonstrate, iterate, fail fast, and let the results speak. As one participant put it, if you can spin a good do, you command attention. The era of PowerPoint may finally be giving way to the era of prototype.
Feb 23, 2026 #Monday Live! – Las Vegas in the Rearview: From Talk to Do-ocracy*
In this final February recap from AHR Expo and the ASHRAE Winter Meeting in Las Vegas, the Monday Live! panel explores a central idea: *do-ocracy* — the shift from talking about change to demonstrating it. Key themes from this session:
*Participants:* Anto Budiardjo, Ken Sinclair, Rick Justis, Keith Gipson, Kimon Onuma, Tracy Markie, and others.
