Gradually. Then Suddenly.

Gradually. Then Suddenly.

8 November 2025

Wells Burke

“Disruption never feels urgent, until it’s too late. Which is always the moment you stop paying attention.”

When asked how he lost his drug empire, Pablo Escobar is credited as replying, “slowly at first, then all at once.” It’s an apocryphal story, and a blatant Hemingway ripoff. But one I love.

This idea perfectly captures the retrospective narrative of so many major state changes in life and business. How we can go from plausibly ignoring the writing on the wall … signals we don’t like or hope aren’t true … to suddenly waking up in a new reality that no longer cares about our opinions?

I don’t know how long it will take to reach AGI, or for #AI to completely upend the value delivery model of traditional non-technology companies. I do know that as a 30-year software developer, entrepreneur and someone who sells IT results for a living, our expertise and business model at Rocket Partners are on the front lines of #disruption.

Over the past six months, we’ve been deep in an intentional “AI First” transformation. We realized we were facing an existential choice: protect the sunk costs of the past, or lean in to unlock an incredible future.

For us, leaning in has changed nearly everything about what it means to run a world-class software development organization. Not the marketing copy, not the sales pitch, but the actual day-to-day work. How we code. How we architect. How we estimate. How we hire. How we deliver. Our values and commitment to excellence haven’t changed, but the streets are red with the blood of sacred cows.

And here’s what I’ve learned: the “gradually” phase is over.

If you’re an IT professional, software developer, architect, DevOps guru, cloud engineer or simply someone who signs the checks for your company’s innovation spending—and the last six months haven’t been both the most exciting and terrifying of your career—you might also be in the “suddenly” phase without realizing it.

In this series of posts I’ll continue to share what we’ve learned, what’s working, what’s failing and what it all means for anyone building software in 2025. If you’re unsure what the changing AI landscape means for your company or your next critical project, reach out. Would love to talk.

Comments 93