Sebastian Fixson and Jim Morgan on Why Human Judgment will be Essential for Product Development in the Age of AI

In this episode of the WLEI Podcast, we speak with Jim Morgan and Sebastian Fixson about organizational implications for product development and what building your team’s product development capabilities looks like in the age of AI. Morgan is the author of Designing the Future and has spent over 30 years in industry as a product development leader including serving as a global engineering director at Ford Motor Company during the product-led revitalization under CEO Alan Mulally. Sebastian Fixson is Founding Faculty Director of the DBA Program and Professor of Innovation & Design at Babson College and author of The Innovation Navigator: Transforming Your Organization in the Era of AI.

The conversation explores: 

• What people-first leadership means in practice
• Why particular structures, processes, and practices are needed in product development to help people do their best work
• The trade-offs inherent in functional and product organizations
• The organizational and product development implications of new technologies including generative AI
• How today’s entrepreneurs are thinking about product development and how to invest in developing the next generation of developers