"The Shed & Shift Agentic Adoption Model is the blueprint for the Agentic Enterprise. It redefines the workforce not by replacing humans, but by elevating them."
A structured process designed to identify opportunities to reengineer workflows to fully leverage AI agents. It systematically analyzes business processes to determine where agentic capabilities can be integrated, transforming traditional execution into high-efficiency, agent-driven operations.
Capacity is the new currency. Traditional operating models are constrained by linear human effort. By adopting this model, organizations unlock exponential scale—Shedding routine friction to digital workers so humans can Shift to high-impact strategy.
At the heart of this transformation is the HAP. It is a deliberate combination of a human orchestrator and one or more digital agents working in concert. The human provides judgment, context, and oversight, while the agent handles volume, speed, and consistency.
Both must be designed together; shedding without shifting leaves employees diminished, while shifting without shedding leaves them overwhelmed.
Refers to the tasks and responsibilities that move away from the human and onto an agent.
The corresponding movement of the human into new, higher-value responsibilities.
"The HAP Analyst role exists because this dual mandate defines what the agent takes over and what the human moves into requires dedicated focus that legacy approaches never anticipated."
Strategic Tier
The Strategic Tier sets the foundation for the entire operating model. This is where organizational architecture is designed, investment priorities are established, and the overall "machine" is defined. The leaders here don't manage individual projects, they optimize the system itself. The handoff to Tier 2 comes in the form of strategic direction, portfolio priorities, and organizational design decisions.
Architects of the enterprise. They design structures, cost models, and KPIs. They ensure investment decisions align with the operating model.
Learn More →The gatekeeper of investment. Balances resources between "Strategic Apps & Agents" and the "Long Tail of JITware" across business domains.
Learn More →Transformation Tier
The Transformation Tier is the execution engine for role and workflow transitions. Specific employees are identified for transformation, their tasks are analyzed, and the path forward is defined. The handoff to Tier 3 comes in two forms: the Domain Change Specialist defines the human's new upstream responsibilities, while the HAP Analyst produces specifications for agents.
Translates strategic direction into coordinated action. Orchestrates the timeline.
Focus: The Shift
Focuses on organizational design, job descriptions, incentives, and workflow across business domains. Works closely with the HAP Analyst.
Learn More →Focus: The Shed
Analyzes work being removed and writes detailed specs for agents. Hands off specs to Product Owners.
Learn More →Product & Engineering
The Delivery Tier builds and maintains the digital assets that power the operating model. This includes both traditional applications (Systems of Record) and the net-new agents specified by Tier 2. The handoff to Tier 4 is the delivery of working agents and tools into the hands of frontline Workers, enabling them to operate as orchestrators within their Human-Agent Pairs.
Manages backlog for apps and agents. Translates requirements from Transformation Tier into actionable work.
A hybrid workforce of human engineers and swarms of development agents. They build and deploy the solutions.
The Frontline
The Operational Tier is where value is ultimately delivered. This is the frontline of execution, where modernized Workers operate alongside their paired Agents to get work done. There is no formal handoff from this tier; instead, feedback loops flow back up through the model, informing the Transformation and Strategic Tiers about what's working and what needs adjustment.
Orchestrator
Task triage, exception handling, and oversight. The "eyes and ears" of the operation.
Digital Worker
Executes "Shed" tasks. Operates under supervision.
Shed & Shift is more than a methodology—it's the operating philosophy for the agentic age. As AI agents become capable of handling routine, rules-based work at unprecedented scale, organizations face a pivotal choice: cling to legacy operating models or embrace a deliberate transformation of how humans and machines collaborate.
The Shed identifies which tasks can move from human hands to digital workers—freeing capacity trapped in repetitive execution. The Shift ensures that freed capacity isn't wasted, deliberately moving humans into higher-value work: strategy, judgment, relationship management, and exception handling.
Together, they form a balanced transformation. Shedding without shifting diminishes employees. Shifting without shedding overwhelms them. Shed & Shift ensures both sides of the equation are designed in concert, creating a workforce that is more capable, more fulfilled, and exponentially more scalable.