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

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

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

By Sebastian Fixson, James Morgan, PhD and Lex Schroeder

July 27, 2026

Jim Morgan and Sebastian Fixson on why human judgment stays essential to product development as generative AI reshapes how engineering teams design and lead.

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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
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Designing the Future Using Lean Product and Process Development

Learn how to reduce time to market, improve quality, and drive innovation.

Written by:

Sebastian Fixson|
James Morgan, PhD
|
Lex Schroeder

About James Morgan, PhD

Jim is currently a senior advisor at the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) and a board member at Adrian Steel. He has a unique blend of industry leadership experience and rigorous scholarship, which he draws from to support senior leaders and help improve organizational performance in the aerospace, energy technology, heavy…

Read more about James Morgan, PhD

About Lex Schroeder

Lex Schroeder is a strategy and operations leader/writer breaking open new conversations about the future of work. A longtime editor in the systems thinking community, she has led strategic initiatives at The Lean Enterprise Institute and The Berkana Institute. In 2015, she served as Founding Editor and Co-Lead of The…

Read more about Lex Schroeder

About Sebastian Fixson

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.

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