Your Software Is Capable of 10x More Than You Think (And Your Competitors Know It)
In a recent episode of Decoder, Kevin Scott, Microsoft's CTO, introduced a concept that should worry every business leader: capability overhang. It's the growing gap between what our tools can actually do and what our teams know how to do with them. While individuals struggle to keep up with evolving software, organizations face a far more serious problem: they're sitting on massive untapped potential that directly impacts their competitive position.
Scott's insight cuts to the heart of a modern business challenge: "I think we've got this capability overhang with models where the models are actually capable of a lot more than what they're being used for." This isn't just about AI models. It applies to every piece of software, every platform, every tool your organization has invested in.
The Hidden Competitive Disadvantage
Traditional software development cycles used to give us time to absorb new capabilities gradually. Today's rapid, multi-directional advancements happen at an inhuman pace, creating an invisible drag on organizational performance. Your team learns a tool one way and sticks with that approach, even as the tool evolves to offer dramatically more powerful capabilities.
This isn't just inefficiency. It's competitive vulnerability. While your team uses 20% of your CRM's capabilities, competitors use automations you didn't know existed. Your marketing team manually creates reports, others are using AI-powered insights that shipped in an update six months ago.
The problem compounds because organizations treat tools like people. A new hire might forever be seen as "the intern" even after a decade of experience. Similarly, tools get pigeonholed based on their initial implementation, regardless of how they've evolved. And, with AI tools, capabilities are evolving… and multiplying fast. Did you know DALL-E is the “old” model? I just figured that out today.
From Individual Problem to Systematic Solution
Most advice about staying current with tools focuses on individual discipline.
Revisit your tools regularly
Stay curious
Maintain a beginner's mindset.
However, organizational capability overhang requires systematic approaches, not individual heroics.
The most effective strategy isn't asking people to be more curious. It's creating structured opportunities for capability discovery across your organization. This means establishing regular "tool audits" where teams demonstrate not just what they're doing, but what they could be doing. It means cross-functional conversations where different departments share how they've evolved their use of shared platforms.
Consider implementing "capability exchange" sessions, where team members from different functions explore each other's tools and workflows. Your sales team might discover marketing automation features that could transform their follow-up processes, and your customer success team might uncover data analysis capabilities that could more effectively predict churn.
Building Learning Networks, Not Training Programs
The solution isn't more training, it's creating internal networks of curious, creative people who actively challenge each other's assumptions about what tools can do. These networks should include people exposed to the same tools in different contexts, because perspective diversity reveals capability blind spots.
Rather than sporadic training sessions, establish ongoing "capability conversations" that become part of your organizational rhythm. These aren't formal presentations but collaborative explorations where teams push each other to discover what they might be missing.
The Competitive Advantage
Organizations that systematically address capability overhang will outperform those that don't. They'll extract more value from existing investments, respond faster to market changes, and build operational advantages that competitors can't easily replicate.
The question isn't whether your tools are capable enough, they almost certainly are. The question is whether your organization has the systems in place to continuously discover and deploy those capabilities before your competitors do.
Inspired by Kevin Scott's insights on the Decoder podcast. [Listen to the full episode here.]