How 80,000 companies build with AI: products as organisms, the death of org charts, and why agents will outnumber employees by 2026 | Asha Sharma (CVP of AI Platform at Microsoft)

Posted on August 28, 2025
Source: Lenny’s Newsletter by Lenny Rachitsky. Read the original article

TL;DR Summary of Transforming AI Product Strategy with Insights from Microsoft’s Asha Sharma

Asha Sharma, a veteran AI product strategist at Microsoft, highlights the shift from viewing products as static artifacts to dynamic organisms. She explains Microsoft’s adaptive “seasons” planning framework tailored for the AI era and emphasizes the rise of post-training and fine-tuning over traditional pre-training. Sharma also predicts a future “agentic society” where work is organized by task networks rather than rigid hierarchies, reshaping how AI companies build and scale products.

Optimixed’s Overview: How AI is Revolutionizing Product Development and Organizational Design

Dynamic AI Product Evolution: From Artifact to Organism

Asha Sharma underscores a fundamental paradigm shift in product development: moving away from static products towards evolving systems that continuously adapt and learn. This approach aligns with the increasing integration of AI, where products become living organisms that respond and improve through ongoing feedback and interaction.

Microsoft’s Agile Planning in the AI Era

  • “Seasons” Planning Framework: A strategic model that enables rapid adaptation to AI-driven market changes by iterating in short, flexible cycles.
  • Post-Training Focus: Investment is shifting towards refining AI models after initial training, leveraging fine-tuning to build competitive advantages and customize AI capabilities efficiently.

Organizational Transformation: From Org Charts to Work Charts

Sharma predicts the demise of traditional hierarchical structures, replaced by decentralized task networks where AI agents collaborate with humans. This “loop, not the lane” principle fosters more dynamic workflows and empowers companies to scale AI integration across teams seamlessly.

Key Patterns for AI Company Success

  • Recognizing the three-phase AI adoption model, where many companies stumble early but successful ones evolve through continuous learning loops.
  • Embracing code-native interfaces that may eventually supplant conventional graphical user interfaces (GUIs), reflecting deeper AI integration into developer workflows.

Looking Ahead: The Agentic Society and AI-Driven Workforces

The future points toward a society where AI agents outnumber human roles within organizations, fundamentally altering how companies structure work, make decisions, and innovate. Sharma’s insights provide a roadmap for builders and leaders aiming to thrive in this transformative landscape.