Agile is dead! Or so the LinkedIn prophets say. But is it really? Or are we just stuck in a stale framing of agile that no longer resonates? In this keynote, we’ll explore the dramatic demise of agile (cue thunderclap), and then flip the script. Agile isn’t dead! It’s just waiting for a fresh coat of paint and a new perspective. You’ll learn how to reframe agile in ways that make sense for today’s teams, orgs, and chaos. Let’s resurrect agile, but make it weird, make it useful, and make it ours. Long live agile!

One of the biggest challenges Agile practitioners face today is justifying the relevance of Agile way of working and the benefits it brings to the business teams. Due to GEN AI tools invading our workplaces, a general perception has been created that Agile practitioners (Coaches, Scrum Masters etc.) can be easily replaced through the GEN AI tools. This has created a sense of confusion, panic and a overall chaos about the Future of Agile and has brought out an existential crisis. Post COVID-19, workplaces are also facing challenges with expectation mismatch between business owners and employees over the format of work (In Person, Remote / Hybrid). My proposed talk will focus on how we can blend Agile and GEN AI and leverage its collective power to thrive in the changing expectations from our work / workplace.

In an era of constant disruption and accelerating innovation, the ability to adapt has become the defining factor of organizational success. This presentation explores how leaders can harness the power of AI and Agile principles to empower their teams, foster adaptability, and build resilience in the face of rapid change. Maria Matarelli highlights how leadership mindset and team empowerment are essential to navigating transformation, bridging the gap between technology and human potential. Attendees will discover how aligning agility with intelligent systems creates organizations that evolve continuously, lead with clarity, and thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Imagine hearing the beat of an African drum—a complex, rhythmic sound that compels every part of a dancer’s body and spirit to move in unison, in harmony, obeying the tempo. When the rhythm shifts, the dancer adapts instantly, seamlessly integrating the new beat into their movement.

Rhythm starts with the mind. Agile demands a mental shift from rigid planning to flowing with uncertainty, embracing adaptability, and cultivating continuous learning as a rhythm of success.

Starting in 2025, AI accelerates code but erodes human relevance—turning perfect sprints into silent obsolescence. A 15-minute solo sprint retrospective rebuilds emotional intelligence and upskilling, transforming fear into ownership.

Gunther’s life of Scrum started in 2003. Throughout those 2+ decades of Scrum, Gunther feels that he has gathered many, many pieces of a puzzle without being unable to see that puzzle. Many of those ideas seem to have been lingering somewhere in his head. In 2019 he described his observations of what most so-called ‘Agile transformations’ deliver in a paper called “The illusion of agility”. Since that publication he has shared ideas, views and thoughts-in whole or in part-on how to avoid or overcome that illusion of agility at events, meetups and gatherings. Today, Gunther believes he has finally pieced together a lot of those ideas into a more cohesive, holistic vision. Today, Gunther is happy to share his views in a presentation called “Re-imagine your Scrum”. It is the "adaptation" part of his views following the “inspection” of the illusion of agility. Gunther will show how, in order to get unstuck and effectively increase their agility, organizations can revert to a strategy they should have used to adopt Scrum from the start anyhow. They can re-imagine their Scrum and firm up their agility. It is also the way forward when struggling at scale. Using Scrum to grow Scrum makes big changes small and manageable again and allows to grow and expand iterative-incrementally. Although it is not the complete story of how Gunther looks at the future state of Scrum (he is working on compiling that), he strongly believes it is more than enough to get many people, teams, and leaders to start thinking beyond their (current instances of) Scrum.

In this talk, Paulo Caroli explores how agile teams can bridge the gap between strategy and execution through well-crafted Team OKRs. Drawing from real-world examples and his book Team OKR in Action, Paulo shares how objectives and key results empower collaboration, foster autonomy, and keep teams focused on what truly matters. Attendees will learn practical techniques for transforming OKRs from a management tool into a shared language of alignment, inspiration, and continuous improvement.

What if you could de-risk your sprint before it even started? Traditional Agile helps us respond to change, but the next evolution is about anticipating it. Enter the "Agile Crystal Ball": powerful AI that can simulate market reactions, stress-test features, and model thousands of development paths to identify the one with the highest value. We'll move beyond iterative development into predictive agility. Learn how hyper-connected teams use these AI insights to make bold, confident decisions, reduce waste, and deliver what customers truly need, faster than ever before.

In a future shaped by AI and hyper-connected ecosystems, Agile leaders must evolve from reactive to anticipatory decision-making. This session showcases emerging AI trends in Agile transformation and features a practical demonstration of an MCP AI Agent designed to support Agile teams before they enter the war room—helping them prioritize intelligently, prepare collaboratively, and execute with clarity.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming how products are imagined, validated, and brought to market. But with all the hype, it can be hard to know where to start. Join Sanjiv Augustine as he breaks down the journey to AI-powered product discovery into three essential and approachable steps that any product team can begin using today. We’ll explore how generative AI tools can accelerate user research, uncover patterns in customer feedback, and support rapid prototyping, all while reducing time-to-discovery and increasing confidence in your product decisions. The session blends practical tools with real-world examples, helping you cut through the noise and focus on what works. Whether you’re just getting started with AI or looking to refine how it fits into your current discovery practices, this talk offers a clear starting point.

In today’s rapidly changing world, agility is no longer reserved for experienced leaders—it’s a mindset that must be cultivated early in one’s career. This session explores how early-career professionals can leverage agile principles to navigate uncertainty, accelerate growth, and lead with confidence. Drawing from real-world experiences across mining, infrastructure, and engineering environments, the talk highlights practical approaches for fostering collaboration, continuous learning, and adaptability in traditional sectors.The presentation aims to inspire a generation of future-ready project leaders who combine technical excellence with emotional intelligence, sustainability awareness, and a global perspective. By embracing agility as a way of thinking and working, young professionals can drive meaningful transformation and become catalysts.

AI isn’t “another tool”, it’s reshaping how we discover value, plan flow, and learn in every sprint. In this talk, I’ll show pragmatic ways AI is already changing agile delivery: from writing better user stories and acceptance tests, to risk-sensing from team signals, to forecasting outcomes with real-world data, not wishful thinking. We’ll separate hype from practice, demo lightweight guardrails so teams stay ethical and compliant, and run quizzes to keep the audience engaged. Expect live prompts, quick polls, and a few surprises. You’ll leave with an AI-augmented backlog workflow, sample prompt patterns, and a simple playbook to upskill your team without breaking your governance.

Today’s projects rarely follow a single path. Some demand has rigid control like regulatory and compliances. Others needs are like product development or digital innovation. But what is common in most? They land somewhere in the messy middle if scope is not managed properly. This session is about revisiting how to choose the right approach. We will talk about Spotify brought agility. And that’s not going to be the end. We explore AI and see how do we leverage AI with demanding needs.

Product development is rapidly evolving in an age characterized by a high speed of change. Agile accountabilities are also being impacted—let’s say challenged or undergoing mutation. As a result, Agile practitioners need to adapt the way they work to benefit from these evolutions. In this presentation, we will explore how Product Owners and Product Managers can leverage AI to create greater impact in their field of work.

Agile was never meant to be a checklist — it was a rhythm. A rhythm of attention, trust, and rapid sense-making between people solving real problems. Two decades later, much of that rhythm has been lost in templates and rituals. This session introduces the concept of Vibe Coding — a practice emerging at the intersection of AI, product design, and team psychology. It explores how new AI-driven tools can now capture and translate the shared emotional and cognitive patterns behind great collaboration — turning what used to be intuition into something we can observe, design, and sustain. Through real examples from product environments and early experiments with AI-augmented teamwork, we’ll re-examine what “being Agile” means when machines start understanding not just what we do, but how we are together.

In a world of constant change, every Agile conversation — from sprint planning to stakeholder alignment — is a negotiation.Yet many Agile professionals struggle to influence decisions without conflict or compromise.This talk introduces The Agile Negotiator: a mindset and method that combines data, empathy, and adaptability to win trust and drive outcomes.Attendees will discover how to use Agile metrics as persuasive tools, transform tension into collaboration, and adapt their communication style to diverse stakeholders.Through real-world coaching stories and practical frameworks, participants will learn to communicate with clarity, influence with integrity, and lead with both evidence and empathy.

The rapid shift to hybrid work, pervasive AI-driven capabilities and ever-shortening feedback loops challenge traditional leadership models. In this session, you will explore Leadership 4.0 — a new paradigm designed for the era of agile-at-scale and human-AI collaboration. Drawing on systems thinking, Lean-Agile principles and organizational psychology, Fernando Ruiz-Falcó will guide you through how leaders in projects, PMOs and change functions can evolve: not simply by managing deliverables, but by orchestrating adaptive, human-centered value systems. You will learn how to: Reposition your role from task supervisor to ecosystem facilitator, structure hybrid teams where humans and AI agents complement each other,embed continuous learning and feedback mechanisms that keep your organization ahead of change. By combining real-world case examples, practical leadership tools and a forward-looking mindset, participants will leave ready to elevate agility, inspire their teams and deliver sustainable impact in line with the spirit of this global symposium.

Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a support tool, it’s becoming an active player in how teams plan, learn, and deliver value. In this 90-minute session, Ariadna and Linda explore how AI is transforming Agile practices, shifting organizations from fast-moving teams to truly intelligent ecosystems. Drawing on real experiences from global transformation programs, they will discuss how AI can enhance collaboration, predict outcomes, and strengthen decision-making , while also challenging us to rethink ethics, trust, and the human side of agility. The session combines a 40-minute interactive presentation with live examples and reflections, followed by an open panel on the future of Agile leadership in an AI-driven world. And 10 minutes for Questions and Answers.

AI initiatives rarely fail on technology; they stall on fear, ambiguity, and decision latency. This lightning talk teaches a simple Two-Line Intent that teams can use to move with confidence: a clear Purpose (“who we serve + value at stake + time box”) and a concrete Desired End-State (“what success looks like + guardrails”). With two lines at the top of every epic, sprint, or update, people stop waiting for permission, align faster, and make smarter trade-offs under uncertainty. You’ll see before/after examples, learn a 90-second writing prompt, and walk away ready to apply it to your next AI-flavored initiative—no heavy frameworks, no jargon. Two lines to reduce fear, focus effort, and turn experiments into outcomes.

Discover how to break free from outdated cost-world thinking and dramatically accelerate your Agile performance. In this session, you’ll learn how the Theory of Constraints (TOC) helps teams and organizations focus on the single bottleneck that truly drives time to market, innovation, and flow. You’ll also see why AI—trained on old best practices—can’t compete with a TOC-driven approach. Join us to unlock a new level of agility and outperform any AI by factors.

In the contemporary agile ecosystem, "value" has become an omnipresent word, repeated in ceremonies, documentation, and strategic conversations. However, when we question teams and organizations about how they define, measure, and ensure value generation, we encounter a concerning scenario: the majority do not have an objective and structured approach to answer these fundamental questions.

In this presentation, Scott Ambler will share his observations about the struggles faced when adopting AI. He then provides advice for how to use AI effectively in practice and how to augment your way of working (WoW) with AI.

Agility isn’t about speed, it’s about purpose, trust, and growth. “Agility Beyond Methodologies” is a talk that goes beyond frameworks to explore the mindset that truly drives collaboration, learning, and innovation.

Most organizations struggle with three key barriers to enterprise agility: strategic misalignment, constrained value flow, and inadequate customer & stakeholder feedback. These barriers are costly—delaying revenue, creating waste, and eroding customer trust. The session focuses on removing these barriers by treating clarity, flow, and feedback as a unified system that builds a responsive and resilient enterprise.

Continuous data is the delivery of high-quality data and information at scale as needed. Updates happen in real-time, or near real-time as changes are made available from data sources. The delivered data reflects the evolving needs of stakeholders as those needs emerge.

The traditional role of the planner has evolved towards collaborative, adaptive, and data-driven decision-making through an agile approach to defining project success. The Agile Planner 2.0 - an evolved professional who integrated agile methodologies, moving towards transparent, responsive, and value-focused project conditions. Drawing on experiences from large-scale construction infrastructure programs, the discussion demonstrates how the Agile Planner 2.0 facilitates continual feedback loops, empowers cross-functional collaboration, and enhances schedule resilience in complex project delivery models. This session explores adaptive planning frameworks, supported by real-time data visualization and digital intelligence, enabling teams to navigate uncertainties while maintaining alignment with project goals. Furthermore, the session highlights the transition from static scheduling to iterative forecasting, from silos-oriented reporting to integrated dashboards, and from reactive control to proactive insight.

The Agile Manifesto emerged as a reaction to the “methodology police” who were dumbing down the craft of high-performing software development. Yet Agile has since been pulled away from its original intent. This session explores how clear, specific Desired Outcomes are the key that make Agile truly “work.”

What forces drove the creation and wide spread of agile and lean ways of software development? Why did those spread more broadly to ways of work in general? Where are we now? And where might we be heading into the future? Now that we have digital assistants of rapidly increasing intelligence, what might that mean for humans in the world of work?

Restructures, shrinking teams and AI are overwhelming organisations. Many leaders respond by centralising control, which quietly kills autonomy. The real bottleneck isn’t headcount; it’s the learned helplessness created by fear and decision-gridlock. In this session you’ll hear what 20 leaders told me about the collapse of autonomy, why “waiting to be told what to do” has become normal, and how AI is set to accelerate this trend rather than solve it.

This talk explores what agility truly looks like in an essential services environment where reliability, safety, and long-term planning matter just as much as speed. This talk reframes agility as a mindset—one focused on responsiveness, learning, and empowered decision-making rather than ceremonies or software methods. Through practical examples from the energy sector, it highlights how teams can stay adaptive even within regulatory, operational, and asset-heavy constraints. Attendees will walk away with simple tools to build a more agile culture—without needing to adopt formal Agile frameworks.

Most ‘Scrum’ teams are feature factories that try to deliver a fixed project scope in a fixed time and budget. During development they always find that the plan defined up-front needs a lot of change. As a result they go way over time and budget while delivering a lot less value than expected. This isn’t Scrum and it’s not agile.

Organisational silos are one of the biggest barriers to speed, innovation and outcomes. Silos form naturally through specialisation and functional structures, but in today's fast-moving economy, silos create misalignment, cause too many hand-offs and fragmented customer experiences. Peter's presentation will explore how he utilised agile ways of working to help dismantle silos through design. The presentation will cover ways that agile practices can help to break down organisational silos that can be implemented by anyone. This presentation invites participants to rethink how work gets done and to consider how agility can transform siloed environments into connected, high-performing teams.

For a project (or organization) to harness the full potential of AI, it's essential to understand the human and business factors limiting the effectiveness of AI. This lightning talk will highlight the key findings from the Business Agility Institute's year-long study into AI, with special focus on the impact on project delivery.

Exploring better ways to lead and evolve enterprises in a world of constant change. Artificial intelligence is accelerating change faster than most organizations can adapt. The real differentiator now isn’t speed or technology—it’s judgment. Enterprise Agility is the capacity to sense, decide, and adapt at scale—without torching trust or flow. It’s not a framework; it’s a capability for learning in motion. The new Enterprise Agility Manifesto, a collaboration between PMI and the Agile Alliance, extends the original Agile Manifesto’s spirit from teams to entire systems. It moves us from oversight to capability, from activity to adaptability, from predictability to learning. This isn’t about redefining agile—it’s about re-grounding it in complexity, paradox, and purpose. A compass for enterprises navigating AI, uncertainty, and continual renewal. Because when the map keeps shifting, you don’t need a new destination — you need a better way to travel.

In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, where agility and artificial intelligence are reshaping how we plan, execute, and deliver, successful projects are more critical than ever in addressing urgent global challenges and driving sustainable growth. SoHyun Kang, Asia Pacific Regional Managing Director at PMI, will present PMI’s latest insights and research redefining project success — expanding beyond traditional measures of time, cost, and scope. No longer just about being on time and within budget, success now prioritizes outcomes, value creation, and the ability to harness emerging technologies like AI responsibly. Join us to explore PMI’s M.O.R.E. movement, empowering project professionals to lead with agility, drive transformation, and own a broader, future-ready vision of project success.