374: Are We Repeating Agile Transformation Mistakes with AI? with Jim Highsmith
Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers!
PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen
Organizations are moving quickly to deploy AI. But are they building the adaptability, judgment, and decision systems required to use it well, or repeating the same mistakes that weakened so many Agile transformations?
AI can analyze more data, generate more options, and move work faster. None of that guarantees the organization is asking the right question, assigning the decision to the right person, or protecting the human judgment it will need when the consequences rise.
In this episode, I am joined by Jim Highsmith, Agile Manifesto co-author and a pioneering voice in adaptive leadership, to connect the original purpose of Agile with the decisions organizations are making about AI right now.
Jim explains how Agile was designed to help organizations respond to uncertainty, why too many implementations became rigid and process-driven, and how the same pattern is beginning to appear in AI transformation. Together, we explore the shift from process-oriented management to judgment-oriented management and the role PMO and transformation leaders can play in designing stronger human-AI decision systems.
This is not a conversation about choosing the newest AI tool. It is about deciding what should be automated, where people must remain accountable, how judgment develops, and whether the organization is becoming more capable or simply producing more output.
When you press play, you will hear:
🔹 What Agile was created to solve and why its mindset became diluted as it spread.
🔹 Why doing Agile is not the same as building an adaptable organization.
🔹 How AI transformation can repeat the same process-over-mindset mistake at greater speed.
🔹 How to distinguish automation that removes activity from augmentation that strengthens human capability.
🔹 Why removing easy decisions can erode the experience people need for harder decisions later.
🔹 How PMO and transformation leaders can move forward before introducing more AI.
🔹 Why leaders need enough hands-on AI experience to guide implementation credibly.
🔹 What it means to move from process-oriented management toward judgment-oriented management.
Press play to learn how your PMO or transformation office can help the organization move faster without surrendering the judgment, adaptability, and accountability required to create measurable business IMPACT.
Connect with Jim Highsmith and Keep Exploring
Connect with Jim Highsmith on LinkedIn
Skills Build Teams. Judgment Builds Enterprises.
Your AI Is Working. Is Your Team Getting Better?
The Next Ethical Frontier: Why AI Can’t Replace Judgment
Stop Picking Sides: Manage the Tension Between Adaptation and Optimization
P.S. Build the Judgment Behind the Next Move
AI can provide more analysis and more options. Your organization still needs leaders who can look beneath visible symptoms, understand what is really happening, and determine the highest-value next move.
That is what you will practice inside IMPACT Engine Practitioner™. Across four live half-day sessions on October 7, 9, 14, and 16, you will learn the IMPACT Engine System™, apply it to one connected case, strengthen your judgment, and build greater clarity and confidence as a PMO leader. Enroll by August 31 for early tuition of $1,750 and four practical resources included with your enrollment.
🎯 Join the October IMPACT Engine Practitioner cohort by August 31.
Thanks for taking the time to check out the podcast!
I welcome your feedback and insights!
I’d love to know what you think and if you love it, please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast player. Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts. See you online!
Warmly,
Laura Barnard
GET NOTIFIED ABOUT NEW EPISODES | TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN | PDU REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS
