AI, Agile, and Lean with George Champlin-Scharff | The Agile CEO

In this episode of Season 2 of The Agile CEO, JJ Sutherland sits down with George Champlin-Scharff, Senior Business Agility & Operating Model Consultant at Scrum Inc., to explore how AI, Agile, and Lean intersect to redefine how organizations think, operate, and compete.

With over 25 years of experience revolutionizing team productivity through technology and process innovation, George has seen firsthand how agility, automation, and intelligence can unlock scale. From his early days at IBM’s Watson AI organization—where he helped grow a small research team into a global workforce—to his leadership roles in product and customer success at Zenhub, George brings a deeply cross-functional perspective on what it takes to lead through transformation.

He and JJ unpack why many companies still struggle to turn AI into results, how Lean thinking removes friction, and why Agile remains the operating system that makes innovation sustainable. Together, they reveal how combining these three disciplines—AI, Agile, and Lean—creates organizations that learn faster, deliver smarter, and adapt at the speed of change.

George also shares his daily AI tech stack, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how he integrates automation into his workflow to amplify impact and save time: • Wispr Flow – Voice-first dictation and automation • Granola – Meeting notepad for transcription, summaries, and action items • ChatGPT – Everyday general-purpose AI for search and brainstorming • Pro Claude – Deeper reasoning and human-like writing • Pro Gemini – Google’s large-context model for integrated workflows • NotebookLM – Google’s research assistant for synthesis and insight • ClaudeCode – Rapid AI prototyping and coding • Notion AI – Drafting, summarizing, and organizing directly in documents • MCP Servers – Connects Claude to Google Apps, Drive, and Jira for automated task breakdowns

If you’re a leader navigating digital transformation, organizational inertia, or the pressure to “do something with AI,” this episode offers a practical roadmap for aligning technology, process, and people to unlock lasting advantage.

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