AI is changing how teams deliver value, but much of today’s AI enablement conversation focuses on developers: writing code faster, generating tests, improving technical productivity, or helping nontechnical users become more technical.

Those are important use cases, but they are not the whole story.

If AI helps teams build faster, then the people responsible for defining value become even more important — not less. Product Owners, Product Managers, Epic Owners, Business Owners, Scrum Masters, and others who shape the work before it reaches delivery teams need practical ways to use AI in their day-to-day Agile responsibilities.

This session focuses on how AI can support the human-centered work of product thinking, backlog refinement, value definition, and acceptance criteria development — not as a replacement for judgment, but as a partner that helps bring greater clarity, structure, and confidence to the system.
Talk Description
In the age of AI, organizations are rightly exploring how artificial intelligence can accelerate delivery. But speed alone does not create value. Teams can build faster and still build the wrong thing if the work is not clearly shaped, prioritized, and connected to outcomes.

This interactive and practical session explores how Agile practitioners can use AI to strengthen the work that happens before anything gets built. The session will focus on how Product Owners, Product Managers, Epic Owners, Business Owners, Scrum Masters, and other Agile leaders can use AI to move from a rough idea to more structured and actionable delivery artifacts.

Attendees will see how AI can assist with moving from an initial concept to backlog items, user stories, and clear, testable acceptance criteria. The emphasis will not be on using AI as a shortcut around product thinking, but on using it to improve clarity, strengthen conversations, and support better decision-making.

This session sits at the intersection of people and technology. AI can generate content, suggest structure, and help teams move faster. But people create meaning. People understand mission context, stakeholder needs, constraints, ethics, feasibility, and value. In Agile environments, where strategy must connect to execution and ideas must translate into team delivery, that human judgment is essential.

Drawing from real practitioner experience, including the realities of complex delivery environments, this session will address the “messy middle” where real teams operate: vague backlog items, assumed value, unclear acceptance criteria, and teams moving quickly without always moving toward the right outcomes.

The goal is for attendees to leave not just impressed by AI, but more confident in their own roles. They will walk away with practical approaches they can use immediately to improve backlog quality, strengthen product conversations, and bring more clarity into the Agile delivery system.

Intended Outcomes
By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

Understand where AI fits in Agile product and delivery roles beyond developer-focused use cases.

Use AI as a thinking partner to move from a rough idea to backlog items, user stories, and acceptance criteria.

Improve backlog quality by using AI to clarify value, identify gaps, refine language, and make work more testable.

Strengthen product conversations between Product Owners, Product Managers, Business Owners, Scrum Masters, and delivery teams.

Recognize the continued importance of human judgment in determining what is valuable, ethical, feasible, and worth building.

Apply practical AI prompts and techniques to support everyday Agile activities such as backlog refinement, story writing, prioritization discussions, and acceptance criteria development.

Leave with a reusable approach for applying AI immediately within their own teams, programs, or portfolio environments.

Core Message
AI can help teams move faster, but people still decide what matters.

In the age of AI, human judgment still matters. Product leadership still matters. And the people shaping the work are more essential than ever.