On navigating the AI tool maze, even when you should know better
⏱️ Read time: ~3 min
Even I lose track. More often than I'd like to admit.
I've been working with AI since the early days of generative AI. I've tested tools, built workflows, advised clients, and helped teams integrate AI into how they work. And yet, I keep finding myself mid-task asking: wait, which tool should I actually be using right now?
It feels like a beginner moment. And a very human one at that.
The One-Pager That Taught Me Something
A couple of weeks ago, I was co-creating an AI leadership course series with my colleague Karin from power island. We had drafted the content together and I thought, let's use this as a chance to stress-test Claude Design. A one-pager. Simple enough.
Here's the thing about Claude alone: there's Claude Chat, Claude Code, Claude CoWork, and Claude Design. Four tools. Overlapping capabilities. Each built for a different job, but the lines blur fast in practice.
Claude Design gave us a strong first direction. Clean, on brand. But then I hit a point where I could feel the friction building. More back and forth. More tokens. More time. And even more tokens.
And that's when I made a call: switch to Canva.
Because I have linked Canva and Claude, the handoff was seamless. I picked up exactly where we left off, moved faster, and finished the one-pager draft in a fraction of the time it would have taken to push through in Claude Design. Plus, Karin can now add her builds directly in Canva.
Was Claude Design wrong? No. It was right for the first phase. Canva was right for the second. Knowing the difference, in the moment, was the actual skill.
Key Takeaway
The AI landscape is genuinely overwhelming. New tools, new features, new promises, every single week. Even experienced users lose count. The goal was never to master every tool. The goal is to develop the judgment to know when to switch (even if it's to a less 'fancy' tool 😉).
Intentionality beats completeness. Every time.
Til next time, keep experimenting,
Elena
P.S. If you want to get genuinely hands-on with AI, I'm running a free 5-day AI Agent Challenge. It's practical, it's yours to keep, and it's designed to build exactly the kind of judgment we talked about today.
