The Agentic Product Lifecycle (APL): A New Framework for Autonomous Software Governance and Product Management

As Artificial Intelligence transitions from generative assistants to autonomous agents, traditional software development lifecycles (SDLC) such as Agile and Waterfall are proving insufficient.This paper introduces the Agentic Product Lifecycle (APL), a novel framework designed for Product Managers (PMs) and Leadership teams to manage the unique risks of "Agentic Drift" and "Delegated Authority."Specifically addressing the orchestration of multi-agent ecosystems where software acts as a proxy for human decision-making.By defining specific "Autonomy Gates," the APL framework provides a technical and managerial roadmap for deploying self-correcting AI systems while maintaining executive oversight and ethical alignment.