Sunday Edition #17: Don’t Panic, Keep Moving
AI agents are here, embrace it
Humans hate change and that makes the speed of AI evolution scary.
If you’re trying to lead through this era you have three options:
You can feign false certainty—claiming it’s all hype or that the world is ending. You can spiral into existential dread. Or, as Des put it, you can just learn to work through it.
Here is what that work looks like.
Cowork is the new work
Speaking of rapid change, this week Anthropic released Claude Cowork, the accessible copilot version of Claude Code. Reportedly, it was built in a week and a half. Wow.
We knew non-coders were venturing into the technical world of Claude Code but this release makes that process much easier. Users can now enable Claude to work across files rather than just in a browser.
For leaders, access to tools like Claude Cowork should change how they interact with their teams.
Karen posted about how she uses Claude Code:
Her biggest takeaway:
“What surprised me most isn’t how capable tools like Claude Code are. It’s how learnable they are, and how they let leaders get close enough to the work to notice friction, patterns, and failure modes.
That’s the shift I’m seeing: leaders who practice with AI don’t just move faster. They understand more because that understanding is grounded in firsthand experience. They ask better questions, earlier. And that perspective changes the work.”
Read the full post here.
Building products in this new age
Director of Product, Christine Zdelar, appeared on Future Proof earlier this week talking all things Fin and AI Agents.
Some highlights:
The biggest difference maker is workflows. The models matter but creating an iterative system for continued improvement and learning took Fin to the next level. This became known as the Fin Flywheel.
Agents should be adaptable and meet customers where they are. Fin can sit across helpdesks, like Zendesk, Hubspot, and Salesforce, removing switching headaches.
Outcome-based pricing earns customer trust and simplifies sales. Customers feel your goals are aligned and are much more likely to want to experiment with new tech.
If you’re a product nerd, watch the full episode here.
Or if you’d prefer a live conversation, you can catch Archana on January 22 in San Francisco. She’ll be talking about the importance of intention and taste when building AI products.
Reserve your spot here.
Changing with the Times
Russell North, a Knowledge Base Manager at Breathe, shared a candid look at his own career transition in the AI age. He moved from a traditional support role into managing and optimizing Fin.
Being open to change made all the difference:
“Embracing AI didn’t mean my job got smaller. It meant I had to grow into new skills: cross-functional collaboration, strategic thinking, and reimagining how our support team could operate. Suddenly, my new role as Knowledge Base Manager opened up. I went from crossing tasks off my list to training an AI agent, enhancing our knowledge base and crafting an entire AI strategy.”
Our parting thought
Uncertainty is guaranteed, the only path forward is to keep shipping.
See you next Sunday.