Manage the Work, not the People: Why Flow Management Matters in the Age of AI

This session is part of Resilience Days 2026, a digital agile conference like no other! This event brings together industry leaders and innovators to share real-world solutions, stories of success, and the challenges they’ve overcome.
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For decades, we've been told that great leadership is about managing people, motivating them, coaching them, and removing obstacles for them. But what if we've been focused on the wrong thing all along?

As AI transforms how work gets done, a fundamental truth is becoming impossible to ignore- the work itself is where leaders need to focus their attention. When AI agents can write code, analyze data, and generate content in seconds, the old management playbook falls apart. You can't motivate an algorithm. You can't coach a language model. But you absolutely must understand and manage the flow of work moving through your organization.
Join Colleen as she explores why the principle of "manage the work, not the people" has shifted from a nice-to-have practice to a survival skill for modern leaders. Drawing on real-world transformations across Fortune 500 enterprises and fast-scaling tech companies, we'll examine three critical pillars that determine whether organizations thrive or struggle in an AI-augmented world.

Colleen Johnson has been pushing the boundaries of flow practices in tech for over 25 years and is a recognized leader in the global flow community. As CEO of ProKanban.org, she has helped grow an inclusive global learning network dedicated to advancing Kanban practices worldwide. In addition, she co-founded ScatterSpoke, an Atlassian Ventures portfolio company that drives actionable improvement through retrospective data.