Where DAF Program Leaders Learn to Ship Software in the Age of AI

The Air Force and Space Force have it in writing: move faster on AI. The executive orders are public. The mandates have deadlines. What’s missing is how to ship AI-powered software in high compliance environments, without compromising what already works.

That gap is why a specific kind of training event has started to matter more than those the Services have leaned on for years. Prodacity 2026, hosted by Rise8 August 25 – 27 in Nashville, is three days built for GovTech leaders, acquisition officers, software professionals, and industry partners turning new directives into mission outcomes and delivering software in the age of AI. 

The hard part is operational. How do you bring an LLM into a classified workflow without re-papering your ATO from scratch? When the contracting officer says the new fixed-price default applies to your next mod, how does that change the statement of work? If the policy says “AI-first,” but your sustainment contract originated in 2021, who eats the delta? Working sessions with leaders who have done it and lived to write the after action review help answer these questions. 

Prodacity is built around that reality. Day 1 establishes a common understanding for modern software delivery. Day 2 splits into tracks for strategic and technical leaders, organized around the real constraints government programs operate within, from classified deployments to acquisition cycles. On Day 3, attendees pick one, full-day workshop and leave with applied work in hand. Options include Impact Lab (vibe-code with AI-native tools and ship real software), outcomes-oriented acquisitions, value stream mapping, and more. The full lineup lands in July.

Prodacity has the hardest stage in GovTech to earn, and the lineup shows it. Past attendees have heard from former USSF CTIO Kim Crider; Space Operations Command’s Paul Contoveros; DoD Chief Digital and AI Office’s Bonnie Evangelista; and Jez Humble, who wrote the book on Continuous Delivery.

The 2026 lineup builds on that standard, including Extreme Programming creator Kent Beck; former Federal CIO Suzette Kent; and former USDS Administrator Mina Hsiang. More names follow this summer.

The audience reflects the work. The room includes senior program managers, acquisition leaders, software professionals, and the industry partners they build with. Attendees, will find peers from across the Services who are fighting the same compliance battles, and some who have already won them.

Attendees can earn CPE credits, and Rise8 publishes a Government Justification Pack with mission-alignment language and a ready-to-send approval template for chains of command that need it.

The directives ask the Services to do something new, on a clock. The programs that figure it out first will set the pattern everyone else follows. Prodacity 2026: Uncharted runs August 25–27 in Nashville. Register and download the Government Justification letter.