Lenny's PodcastAsha Sharma: Why org charts give way to agent work charts
How products become living, learning organisms with the loop at the center; Sharma on post-training, reward models, and work charts replacing org charts.
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
AI Agents Reshape Products, Organizations, And The Future Of Work
- Asha Sharma, CVP of Microsoft AI Platform, describes a shift from static "products as artifacts" to dynamic "products as organisms" that continuously learn and improve through post-training loops and reinforcement learning. She argues that all software will become model-forward and increasingly agentic, with GUIs giving way to code-native, composable interfaces and multi-model systems. This evolution will transform how companies build, plan, and organize—pushing organizations toward full-stack, polymath builders and flatter, task-centric “work charts” powered by agents. Sharma also shares how she plans in a volatile AI landscape, the rising strategic importance of post-training, and leadership lessons from Satya Nadella and her own cross-industry experience.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasTreat products as living systems, not static feature sets.
Modern AI products should be designed as organisms that continuously ingest data, update reward models, and improve outcomes over time—making the learning loop itself the core intellectual property of the company.
Invest heavily in post-training and reinforcement learning, not just base models.
As large models reach scale (e.g., ~30B parameters), it becomes more economical and powerful to adapt them via fine-tuning, RL, and high-quality feedback data—often using proprietary, expert-labeled, or synthetic data—rather than training from scratch.
Build for model systems and composability instead of a single-model, GUI-first mindset.
Different tasks need different models (latency, quality, domain), and future interfaces will favor code-native, composable primitives and text streams that agents can orchestrate, rather than fixed, hand-crafted GUIs.
Make your organization AI-fluent and relentlessly focused on measurable impact.
Successful companies get everyone using AI in their workflows, start with existing processes (e.g., support, fraud) to prove value, then scale to growth use cases—always with clear blueprints, evals, observability, and P&L-level measurement.
Shift from rigid hierarchies to task-centric, agent-augmented “work charts.”
As embedded and embodied agents take on more tasks, organizations can have fewer layers and more dynamic, task-based routing of work—humans decide where AI is applied while agents execute and continuously improve.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesProducts aren’t just static artifacts anymore; they’re living organisms that think, live, and learn.
— Asha Sharma
It’s all about the loop, not the lane.
— Asha Sharma
We’re just starting to scratch the surface of what an agentic society actually looks like.
— Asha Sharma
We’re approaching this world in which the marginal cost of a good output is approaching zero.
— Asha Sharma
Optimism is a renewable resource.
— Asha Sharma, reflecting on Satya Nadella’s leadership
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