IDC PlanScape: A Human Skills Framework for Agentic AI

This IDC study sets out to break down generic skill categories into tangible, trainable capabilities. These include the ability to organize messy business questions into agent-sized tasks, explaining AI-assisted decisions to skeptical stakeholders, spotting when output needs human review and knowing when to override recommendations. The framework's emphasis is on decision-making, collaboration, experimentation, and ethical judgment, with each tied to concrete subskills organizations can assess, teach, and track.With the dedicated human skills framework described in this document, organizations can move beyond guesswork and take informed, strategic action. "What enterprises need now is a plan," says Gina Smith, research director, IT Skills for Digital Business, IDC. "Organizations that have a strategy for assessing and mobilizing human skills alongside technical skills will be best positioned for AI transformation."