What people ask most about 3½ Things, the framework, and the work.
3½ Things is Jigar Desai’s platform for helping leaders in expertise-driven industries move from inaction to action.™ It shows up as ideas, talks, and selective collaborations, all built on the same DNA: three sharp ideas you can act on, and one honest admission of what is still being figured out.
A decision model for how leaders combine Artificial Intelligence (speed and synthesis), Material Intelligence (domain expertise earned through years of practice), and Human Intelligence (judgment, relationships, and creativity). The formula is (AI + MI) × HI™. Human intelligence is the multiplier, not the add-on. (AI + MI) × HI™ is an original framework developed by Jigar B. Desai.
Jigar Desai is a Principal and Regional Manager at a national, ENR Top 100 engineering and consulting firm, leading multi-disciplinary teams of engineers, architects, and building science professionals. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from Clemson University, an Executive MBA from Villanova University, and a Professional Engineer license. His path from PhD to business leadership spans two decades of connecting materials science, AI, and human judgment in the built environment.
Material Intelligence is the domain knowledge that professionals earn through years of practice, observation, and applied judgment. In the (AI + MI) × HI framework, it is the deep, field-tested expertise that gives data its context and meaning. It is not limited to materials science. It is any hard-won domain knowledge that AI alone cannot replicate, from reading a crack pattern in a parking deck to understanding how a building envelope ages over thirty years.
3½ Things is a thought leadership series published on the site at threeandahalfthings.com and as a LinkedIn newsletter of the same name. Each edition delivers three sharp ideas and one open question on AI, leadership, and differentiation. The full collection lives in the Editions archive.
No. The platform is rooted in AEC and the built environment, which is where two decades of credibility live, but the ideas travel. The (AI + MI) × HI framework applies to any industry where human expertise is the product: healthcare, professional services, advanced manufacturing, and beyond. If your organization runs on judgment and domain knowledge, the framework has something to say to you.
Jigar speaks and writes on AI adoption and growth strategy for expertise-driven firms, the (AI + MI) × HI framework for leadership decisions, differentiation and positioning, material intelligence and building science, and the intersection of technology and human judgment. His conversation on the AEC AI and Tech Strategy Podcast became the number one most-listened episode in the show’s history.