Shawn Belling is this year’s Agile Practice Director in Residence, working with Heidi Rozmiarek, our Technology, Data, and AI Practice Director. Shawn has taught courses in Interdisciplinary Professional Programs within the College of Engineering at UW-Madison for over a decade. Through this role, he became closely connected with the UWEBC and was asked to serve as an advisor to the Agile Special Interest Group, which is dedicated to helping organizations successfully deploy and operate Agile methodologies and practices within IT teams.
Alongside academia, Shawn has spent 33 years in industry working with technical products and project delivery. His experience in technology and project management is channeled into his 25 years of teaching at the graduate level, doing research, and authoring books on Agile work practices. Today, he collaborates with the UWEBC as a Practice Director in Residence, helping to bridge academic insight and industry practice.
“What I get excited about is the opportunity to look at my network of subject matter experts and think , who would be a good speaker on this topic? What’s the theme? What can I contribute? It’s fun to do. It’s fun to plan. It’s fun to see people engage”
Shawn Belling
What makes the UWEBC community different from other groups you’ve worked with?
One of the things Shawn values most about UWEBC events is the confidentiality of the conversations. What participants share stays within the room, while member companies can take the insights they gain back to their organizations to improve their own practices. That trust encourages members to speak more openly and share greater detail, leading to richer, more meaningful conversations than they might have in a public seminar or traditional training session. Shawn also appreciates UWEBC’s distinct Wisconsin character. By combining strong connections across the state with the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s national reputation, UWEBC brings together impressive leaders and thought partners. He is especially looking forward to those opportunities at the upcoming Annual Conference.
What is changing most rapidly in the field of Agile?
According to Shawn, AI is the largest disruptor currently shaping the Agile field. The disruption is not driven by AI alone, but by the increasingly useful and sophisticated ways people are learning to apply it. Because technology is evolving in real time, Agile leaders face the difficult task of preparing for a future that is changing too quickly to predict with confidence, even over the next 24 months.
Despite that uncertainty, Shawn sees AI not as a job displacer but as a productivity enhancer that creates opportunities for people to focus on more meaningful work. He compared this shift to the rise of cloud computing, which prompted similar concerns about how technology would change roles and responsibilities. In both cases, the answer from technology leaders has remained the same: use the tools to reduce lower-value work and create more capacity for higher-value thinking, problem-solving, and innovation.
What should leaders in Agile be preparing for right now?
When preparing for the future, Shawn emphasizes that Agile leaders should expect continued disruption from AI. He cautions that non-technology leaders may overestimate what AI can do, particularly regarding accuracy and reliability.
To address this, Shawn recommends regularly evaluating how AI is being used across the organization. Is it being used effectively, safely, and responsibly? What could the organization do differently? He also suggests incorporating AI into every retrospective, whether at the sprint or release level. Finally, he suggests that, to prepare for changing landscapes, teams should consider how they used AI in the previous cycle and identify one or two changes they can make in the next cycle to improve their ways of working, increase the pace of delivery, or strengthen the quality of their output.
Looking ahead, what can UWEBC members expect from you this year?
Looking ahead, Shawn plans to continue exploring how AI is reshaping agility, agile delivery, and the way organizations approach agile ways of working. As 2027 approaches, he also hopes to examine broader questions about the future of Agile: How does Agile evolve to remain a greatmodel for value delivery? Have we already learned the essential principles, making the next challenge one of thoughtful, pragmatic implementation?
Members can also expect opportunities to brainstorm with Shawn about how teams can become more efficient throughout the process of identifying, prioritizing, and building what their organizations truly need. He looks forward to learning alongside the UWEBC community and helping members translate emerging ideas into practical improvements in how work gets done.
What kinds of questions or challenges are you most excited to explore with our members?
Shawn is especially excited to explore where member companies are encountering challenges within their specific industries and lines of work. With UWEBC representing such a broad range of businesses, he looks forward to examining how similar questions take shape differently across manufacturing, service-oriented organizations, biopharma, or other sectors. While the nuances may vary, Shawn sees a common goal connecting them all: finding the most efficient ways to deliver greater value to their organizations.
We’re excited to continue learning from Shawn as he shares his expertise with the UWEBC community throughout the year. Join us virtually for his next event on November 19, 2026, about Agile Leadership and Coaching Maturity from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm! Register and find out more here!