Shawn Yeager - AI and the Billable Hour
From Ditching Hourly by Jonathan Stark
June 6, 2026 · 44 min · Episode 393
About this episode
Shawn Yeager discusses the implications of AI on the billable hour and strategies for professional services firms.
Founder of Upshift, Shawn Yeager, joined me on Ditching Hourly to talk about how AI is killing the billable hour and what professional services firms can do about it. Jonathan and Shawn dig into judgment versus execution, what firms should commercialize after AI, why cost-cutting is only the first move, and how agent workflows change what small and midsize firms can do. 00:00 - Introduction 01:54 - AI and the billable hour 03:56 - The judgment sandwich 05:19 - Strategy, execution, and hidden value 09:06 - Client conversations about AI pressure 13:26 - Validating AI output 15:29 - Judgment, marketing, and cost of being wrong 17:07 - AI transformation and commercialization 20:08 - The hard parts big firms still need humans for 22:20 - Cost recovery versus new offerings 25:35 - Agents as extra employees 26:40 - Interns versus chiefs of staff 28:44 - Scaffolding agent workflows 30:12 - From chatbots to delegated workflows 37:00 - AI adoption inside firms 42:01 - Closing remarks Shawn Yeager runs Upshift, a firm focused on helping professional services firms understand what they sell after AI. His career has focused on emerging technology and getting it to market, including work on…
People in this episode
Host: Jonathan Stark
Guest: Shawn Yeager
Topics covered
- AI impact on billable hours
- professional services
- cost recovery
- agent workflows
- AI commercialization
Keywords
- AI
- billable hour
- professional services
- cost-cutting
- agent workflows
- commercialization
- judgment
- execution
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Upshift, Microsoft, Accenture
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