Agentic AI Playbook Introduction
The Agentic AI Playbook is an EA framework optimized for Agentic AI
The center of the playbook is Architecting Work — understanding what we are expecting the AI Agents to do.
Work Areas are explored in three parts:
First, Mandate — the goal or job
Second, Governance — the directions: performance expectations , constraints, risk
Third, Management — supervision, oversight, and audit
In this short video Conexiam's Chief Architect Dave Hornford introduces the Agentic AI Playbook.
Work Areas for Architecting Agentic AI
We cannot move to supporting solution delivery until we can describe the Work Area
Work Areas the simple container where we will be re-Architecting how work is performed.
We start with a few assumptions:
- it is possible for every task could be performed by person or an AI Agent
- there specific reasons excluding AI Agents
- tasks that carry legal accountability
where you need someone who can be arrested - tasks that require certification to perform
- tasks that require engagement in the physical world
- tasks that carry legal accountability
- there are practical reasons to to exclude AI Agents
- the task is open-ended
- the task requires a lot of agency and roles
In this short video Conexiam's Chief Architect Dave Hornford expands on the work area in the Agentic AI Playbook.
Hybrid Jobs for Architecting Agentic AI
Once we have the Work Area we need to describe the jobs.
What is done in the Work Area. To simplify we look for a set of key activities:
- Analysis and assessment
- Information generation
- Approval
- Audit
- Act and doing
Then we aim for a crisp single line job description.
We are looking to provide a simple product description - I want an Agent that can assess the beach for safety, or design an AAA loan portfolio from our existing market or remove noise from an audio recording.
Some are very narrow, some broad.
The goal is the same - provide the developer a testable outcome. A definition of done.
In this short video Conexiam's Chief Architect Dave Hornford covers describing jobs in the work area.
Agentic AI Playbook Conversations
Agentic AI Playbook Conversations We have been been deeply immersed in the evolving landscape of AI Adoption, engaging in a journey encompassing both technical intricacies and broader digital transformation. We developed the Business Leader’s Guide […]
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Architecting for Agency: Transformative Value from AI
- The Stakes Are a Value Crisis 95% of AI projects fail to impact the P&L, propped up by an unsustainable “hidden human subsidy.”
- 02:01 – Dave highlight “95% of all AI projects fail to impact the P&L.”
- 03:10 – He defines the core problem: “our current state is propped up by a hidden human subsidy.”
- Flip the Script: Architect Work, Not Systems The fundamental pivot is to stop talking about technology and start designing Work Areas—the container for hybrid teams.
- 03:52 – Introduces the pivot: “Here’s our fundamental pivot… talking about the work that needs doing.”
- 10:08 – Defines the unit of design: “I’m an architect… we talk about work areas.”
- Agency is the New Frontier We need software that can try and interpret intent—a new species of worker, like the AI Wingman that rolled its plane for a better view.
- 05:51 – Introduces the core capability: “We have software that will try. This is huge.”
- 06:44 – Delivers the iconic example: “The wingman isn’t a better tool… It’s a different species of worker.”
- 08:29– “Practically, we look for exclusions to AI… jobs with legal accountability, certification, or that are offline.”
- Hybrid is Non-Negotiable & Economic Teams are always a mix of people and software. High agency (like an Executive Chef) equals high value, cost, and risk.
- 11:37 – States the premise: “We assume hybrid workers. People and software working together.”
- 14:27 – Explains the economics: “Right here, we’re at the hardest problem, the economics of agency.”
- The Deliverable is a Governed Workframe The goal is Workframe Architecture—an integrated design that dissolves the business-IT divide and eliminates hidden subsidies.
- 21:12 – Names the solution: “We use the term workframe architecture… to highlight there are no excuses.”
- 23:57 – States the final mandate: “We focus on the work, the jobs, and the digital workplace.”
Presentation from The Open Group London, February 2026
In this keynote, Conexiam’s Dave Hornford tackles the central dilemma facing enterprises today: 95% of AI projects fail to impact the bottom line. Why? Because we’re stuck talking about technology, not the work that needs doing.
Dave “flips the script” and argues that the only path to transformative, sticky value is to architect for agency—designing hybrid work areas where people and AI software, as true workers, can interpret, try, and innovate. The alternative is what HBR calls “pilot theatre”: local successes that fail to scale, propped up by the unsustainable “hidden human subsidy.”
In this presentation, you’ll learn:
- The AI Value Crisis: Why most projects don’t scale and benefits fade.
- The Fundamental Pivot: How to stop architecting systems and start architecting work.
- The Power of Agency: Why software that can “try” (like the AI wingman that rolls the plane for a better view) is a different species of worker.
- The Unit of Design: How to use Work Areas—with a boss, a mandate, and governance—as the container for hybrid teams.
- The Path to Sticky Value: How integrated workframe architecture dissolves the business-IT divide and eliminates the hidden subsidies that doom projects.
This is not a talk about personal productivity tools. It’s a strategic guide for enterprise architects and leaders who need to move beyond hype, govern agentic AI, and build a capability for genuine innovation.
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Conclusion
We have been been deeply immersed in the evolving landscape of AI Adoption, engaging in a journey encompassing both technical intricacies and broader digital transformation.
The Agentic AI Architecture Playbook stems from our work to refine our core tools. Most of Navigate is internal and lightly documented—we rely on a Conexiam partner to fill in the details. Other parts, like the Seven Levers of Digital Transformation require skills to apply. Last, parts like the Capability-based Planning Guide, are well developed.
The Agentic AI Architecture Playbook is among our most developed and repeatable assets.
Develop your Agentic AI Architecture skills with an architecture approach.
