Talk · NRF 2026 Big Show · Jan 13, 2026 · New York

From Prototype to Impact: Accelerating retail innovation with the AI-driven lifecycle (AI DLC)

Speaker · AWS booth theater · NRF 2026 · Retail’s Big Show, Javits Center

Ganesh Raam on stage at the AWS booth theater, beside a slide titled Prototype approach

The talk

Retail teams rarely run short of ideas. They run short of time: ideas wait in a backlog while the business asks for results this quarter, and a conventional build takes three to six months.

This talk showed how the AI-driven development lifecycle (AI-DLC) changes that arithmetic. Frame the problem, define the smallest product worth building, find the blockers that need proving, agree what success looks like, then build a working prototype in a timeboxed week, with AI assisting at every phase and people deciding at every gate.

The method

One week, idea to working prototype

BeforeQualification and initial discovery
Day 1Visioning and discovery
Day 2AI-driven requirements analysis
Days 3–4AI-assisted development
Day 5Delivery
AfterAI-assisted development continues with the team

The AI-development lifecycle as presented, with the team on site for the five days.

From the day

Ganesh Raam below his speaker slide at the AWS booth — The speaker slide. Its code opens my LinkedIn profile.

A slide reading Your backlog is waiting, with Ganesh Raam speaking — “Your backlog is waiting”: ideas lose value sitting in the backlog.

A slide mapping the agile SDLC to the phases of AI-DLC — The agile SDLC beside AI-DLC: the same work, regrouped into phases AI can speed up.

The AI-development lifecycle slide, from pre-engagement through day 5 — The lifecycle slide, from first conversation to delivery on day 5.

Ganesh Raam beside a slide of what AWS and the customer team each bring — Who brings what: the team adopts AI-DLC; AWS brings the patterns and refines the method.

Ganesh Raam at the lectern beside a slide reading Tight timelines from business — Why it matters: tight timelines from the business.