Output to Outcome

“If Peter Drucker taught us how to think about management in the industrial and knowledge-work eras, Mik Kersten is helping define management for the Age of AI. Output to Outcome combines systems thinking, software delivery, and organizational design into a clear playbook for leaders who need to harness AI without losing control, accountability, or purpose.”

“At Vanguard, we’ve seen firsthand that meaningful transformation requires more than new technology. It requires a data-driven operating model that improves how we create and deliver value. In Output to Outcome, Mik Kersten provides a practical framework for establishing that robust data-driven operating model, allowing you to scale up in a world increasingly shaped by AI.”

“After transforming how we measure and manage software delivery with the Flow Framework in Project to Product, [Mik Kersten] is now guiding enterprises through the deeper AI transition. In Output to Outcome, he provides the vocabulary, models, and practical frameworks needed to turn AI into a genuine operating system for the enterprise—not just another feature. If your company is serious about surviving and thriving in the AI era, Output to Outcome is essential reading.”

What Kersten captures with precision is the management challenge that every technology leader is now confronting. As AI agents dramatically compress the cost of producing code, decisions, and digital products, the organizations that will win are not those that produce the most—they are those with the clearest operating models for directing that production toward measurable business and customer outcomes. Kersten provides a practical framework and shared vocabulary for leading such a transformation in today’s enterprise.

“Output to Outcome presents a radically new model of how a complex organization can take full advantage of the rapid rates of improvement that can take place when AI agents are fully integrated into a company’s organizational design.”

“We are in a chaotic environment driven by a rate of change that current systems and businesses cannot absorb. The climate crisis, pandemics, and wars disrupt business plans and supply chains, and the pace of AI- driven development means that tools are obsolete before they stabilize. We have to reorganize to focus on outcomes, and rebuild everything to deliver them using new tools that are building themselves. This is the definitive guidebook for that transition.”