How Can AI Help Teams Work Better Together with Sanchan Saxena

What happens when the tools we use to work stop being background apps—and start becoming the very space where work lives? In this episode of The Future of Less Work, host Nirit Cohen sits down with Sanchan S. Saxena, Head of Product for Atlassian’s Teamwork Collection (including Jira, Confluence, and Loom), to explore how the digital workplace is evolving into the new office—and what that means for collaboration, leadership, and productivity. Sanchan shares a vision where the browser becomes a central workspace, agents work alongside humans, and asynchronous communication replaces endless meetings. He explains why video has become his most powerful leadership tool, how Atlassian saved 5,000 hours of meeting time in two weeks, and how AI is moving from assistant to co-creator—freeing people up to do more meaningful work. Together, they explore what it takes to build trust and transparency in distributed teams, how success is being redefined in the age of AI, and why the future of work won’t be fully human—or fully machine—but powered by both. If you’ve ever wondered what a great workplace looks like when the “place” is entirely digital, this episode offers both a playbook and a glimpse of what’s next. https://youtu.be/bLhfJ4HXZsY Guest Information: Sanchan Saxena is Head of Product for Atlassian's Teamwork Collection, which includes Jira, Confluence, and Loom. Prior to joining Atlassian, Sanchan led product strategy at Coinbase, Airbnb, Instagram, and Microsoft. How Atlassian Teams Saved 5,000 Hours of Meeting Time in Two Weekshttps://www.atlassian.com/blog/loom/atlassian-meeting-research Chapters: 00:00 — What Makes a Digital Workplace Truly Work?01:26 — Can Remote Collaboration Be Just as Effective?03:17 — Should We Be Replicating Physical Workspaces Online?05:22 — What New Workflows Does Digital Enable?07:31 — How AI Agents Are Replacing Meeting Attendance09:24 — What Work Should AI Take Off Our Plate?10:53 — Is AI Changing How Leaders Define Success?13:01 — Can Humans and AI Work as Teammates?15:01 — How to Stay Connected Across Time Zones16:49 — How to Replace Meetings with Asynchronous Video19:29 — What Happens When You Cancel 5,000 Meetings?21:46 — How AI Links Conversations to Action23:23 — What Distributed Leadership Looks Like in Practice25:30 — How to Align Teams Without Physical Presence27:24 — Can Video Build Trust Across Cultures?29:27 — Why Video is Easier Than You Think30:48 — How Gen Z is Reshaping Workplace Communication32:30 — Will AI Agents Become Our Teammates?34:43 — Closing Thoughts: Why Humans Still Matter Most