Modern CTO Scale Differently in the Age of AI with Robert Duffy, CTO at HealthEdge
Oct 6, 2025
Robert Duffy, CTO at HealthEdge, shares insights on scaling engineering and operations in the age of AI. He emphasizes the importance of quickly building trust in merged organizations and transforming leadership dynamics through positive intent. Duffy highlights how AI is reshaping traditional scaling strategies, allowing for lower costs in bespoke software development and enabling personalized, on-demand dashboards. He also discusses the significance of cultural fit in mergers and the impact of AI on customer economics.
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Lead By Using AI Tools
- Use AI tools yourself to model usage and drive adoption across the organization.
- Run quick proofs of concept in meetings so teams learn tooling by doing.
Learn AI ROI By Experimentation
- Early ROI estimates for AI projects are unreliable because pattern recognition is limited today.
- Timebox many small AI experiments to learn which uses actually deliver value.
Why Old Scaling Focused On Consolidation
- Pre-AI scaling relied on consolidating duplicated teams and platforms to gain efficiency.
- That consolidation worked because software development was expensive and costly to replicate.