Bridging Business and Build: AI Fluent Product Team Members in Practice
Details
As generative AI races through the tech world, many “business-side” product leaders feel stuck on the sidelines, curious, a little afraid, and unsure how to participate in real delivery. In this session, Tim Dickey shares how building a small Cynefin-based MVP with AI in a single afternoon changed the way he partners with engineers.
We’ll explore three simple truths:
- It’s normal to be afraid of AI
- It’s okay to be a beginner again
- You only need to be a couple chapters ahead of your team to lead
You’ll walk away with concrete ideas for how product, design, and business folks can work with builders to run small AI-powered experiments that actually ship.
Speaker Bio:
Tim Dickey is a product development and business agility coach who helps teams close the gap between strategy, delivery, and real-world product work. A LinkedIn Top Voice in 2024 and 2025, he is known for practical, human-centered insights on product development and for helping people grow into new ways of working without pretending expertise arrives fully formed.
Before his consulting career, Tim served nearly 25 years in the United States Navy across the submarine force and in support of deployed special operations units, where he learned servant leadership under pressure and the realities of high-performing teams. He has since worked with organizations including Carnival Cruise Lines, Verizon, IBM, and Improving, bringing together coaching, product thinking, and delivery experience across complex environments.
Today, Tim focuses on helping product teams become more AI-fluent by encouraging business-side and product-side leaders to experiment, learn in public, and collaborate more directly with builders. His work blends coaching, systems thinking, and hands-on exploration, including rapid MVP experiments inspired by frameworks such as Cynefin and emerging AI-native development practices.
Agenda:
6pm Food and Mingle
6:30pm Presentation and Q&A