September marked three months of Decode Digital Works, with new perspectives from our community, our first Executive Roundtable, expanded event coverage, and Fellows beginning to contribute through the Fellows Library.

As we head into Q4, we're continuing that momentum with Outlook & Predictions 2027 and our first booth at the California Technology Summit in Anaheim on October 7.

The push toward 100% Agile reshaped how enterprises deliver technology work, but it also revealed that no single operating model fits every type of work.

Product teams, infrastructure programs, migrations, regulatory efforts, and large transformations often require different approaches and specialized capabilities. The lesson isn't that Agile was wrong. It's that enterprises expected one way of working to solve too many different problems.

Read the briefing →
https://decodedigitalworks.com/insights/what-survived-agile

Some schools are treating AI as a disciplinary threat rather than a foundational skill, creating a widening disconnect between what students are taught and what the modern workforce requires.

As enterprises accelerate AI adoption, schools that focus on prohibition rather than literacy risk producing graduates who enter higher education and the workforce already behind in confidence, fluency, and practical judgment.

Read the briefing →
https://decodedigitalworks.com/insights/what-happens-when-schools-retreat-while-industry-accelerates

Author: Frank Contrepois, Executive Fellow

Start by using AI agents to improve one critical part of your business today. The framework provides three practical starting points for deciding where agents deserve attention while an organization builds understanding and credibility.

Read the briefing →
https://decodedigitalworks.com/insights/three-questions-for-deciding-where-to-prioritise-ai-agents

Author: Rangavinay Teja Royal Jagga, Executive Fellow

As organizations grant AI systems greater execution authority, governance must account not only for whether those systems are accurate, but also for what happens when an action goes wrong.

Read the briefing →
https://decodedigitalworks.com/insights/the-reversibility-gap

Following the launch of the Fellows Library at the end of August, we held training sessions during September and Fellows are already beginning to develop articles based on their own experiences, lessons learned, and perspectives.

Each Fellow has a private workspace where original content can be developed before moving through a structured Draft → Review → Publish process.

September took Decode to several technology and cybersecurity events across Southern California, producing new coverage focused on the issues emerging across AI, identity, governance, resilience, and enterprise architecture. Your source draft includes coverage from VeeamON Tour Orange County, CoCreate Los Angeles, Cybersecurity Summit San Diego, and the Rubrik AI + Identity Resilience Summit.

AI readiness is no longer just about managing and governing data. Organizations also need to secure and govern the growing number of human and AI identities that can access it.

Read the coverage →
https://decodedigitalworks.com/coverage/identity-and-access-is-the-new-data-problem-for-ai

Successful AI adoption depends not just on deploying AI, but on proving trust through measurable governance, resilience, and oversight rather than relying on assumptions or optimistic reporting.

Read the coverage →
https://decodedigitalworks.com/coverage/trust-without-proof-why-ai-maturity-is-lower-than-leaders-think

AI raised questions about how quickly security needs to operate and how enterprises should control autonomous agents. Identity and access kept moving to the center of the discussion.

Read the coverage →
https://decodedigitalworks.com/coverage/the-security-clock-has-collapsed

The challenge organizations face isn't simply AI adoption. It's whether the architecture underneath it provides the visibility and control required to govern it.

Read the coverage →
https://decodedigitalworks.com/coverage/why-governance-is-an-architecture-problem-not-a-security-problem

October 7, 2026 | Anaheim, California

Decode Digital Works will have a booth at the California Technology Summit in Anaheim, and Ryan Klein will moderate an Executive Roundtable on Shadow AI.

The event is free to attend. Come see us at the Decode booth and join the conversation.

Register →
https://technologysummit.net/register.html

We're introducing Decode Outlook & Predictions 2027, connecting enterprise technology change to practical executive decision-making.

Throughout the remainder of 2026, we'll gather perspectives and predictions from the community. In December, we'll publish the twelve official Decode Predictions along with the reasoning and research behind them.

During 2027, we'll revisit those predictions and track how they develop as technologies, markets, and enterprise priorities change. The community will also have an opportunity to submit predictions and explore perspectives contributed by others.

Thought Leadership
https://decodedigitalworks.com/thought-leadership.html

Event Coverage
https://decodedigitalworks.com/event-coverage.html

Executive Fellows
https://decodedigitalworks.com/fellows.html

Strategic Advisory Board
https://decodedigitalworks.com/advisory-board.html

Executive Knowledge Center
https://decodedigitalworks.com/executive-knowledge-center.html

Decode Digital Works Executive Conversations also expanded beyond YouTube during August.

The podcast is now syndicated across major audio platforms, giving executives another way to follow Decode conversations and making the series available to audiences who prefer either video or audio.

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | Pocket Casts | Castbox