About the researcher
Tim Wickham
Independent researcher · Colorado, USA
I’m running this study on my own time, unpaid. My day job is building automation and AI tools for service operations, and I’ve spent my career making operations run better.
Why I’m running this study
I use AI every day, in my business and in my personal life, and it has let me get far more done than I could before. Through friends, my community and work, I’ve had dozens of conversations about it with professionals in almost every kind of industry.
Again and again, people have told me how frustrated they are that they can’t get anywhere close to those results with the same tools. I want to understand why that gap is still so common, find out what actually makes the difference, and publish it so anyone can use it.
How it’s run
- Independent and unpaid. No employer, client, university or AI company runs it, pays for it, or has access to the data, apart from the hosting and AI tools listed on the study information page.
- I’m not a university academic, and no ethics board has reviewed the study. It follows published research-ethics and privacy standards instead, listed on the study information page.
- I read the reports myself, with an AI assistant (Claude, training switched off) helping me find and remove identifying details, and with the analysis. Findings are published only as totals and paraphrased examples.
Background
- 2022 to nowBusiness Development Manager at FirstLink Service Team (technical operations, automation and AI). I lead the design and rollout of automation and process improvements across national service operations for banking and retail clients.
- 2021 to nowProduct management consultant for Colibri Blue Group, designing CRM systems with custom workflows.
- 2020 to nowPrincipal consultant at my own firm, Wickham Designs Co.
- 2018 to 2020Program director of Dress 2 S.O.A.R., a non-profit supporting young people in foster care.
- Before thatI worked in optometry as an optician and manager, and wrote about technology in eyecare retail.
Studied at Ohlone College. LinkedIn profile
Conflicts of interest
If you know me through work: taking part is entirely up to you. Whether you take part, and what your report says, won’t affect any work relationship with me. I won’t ask anyone whether they took part.
My job and my consulting work involve automation and AI, so I’m stating this plainly: this study is kept separate from all of it. It’s unpaid and non-commercial, my employer and clients aren’t involved, and the data is never shared with or used for them. Once the findings are published they’re public, and, like anyone, I may draw on them in my work. Publishing them may also help my professional reputation. If anything here changes, this page will say so.
Questions?
Send me a message on the contact page, or email me directly. I usually reply within a few days.