Tiny teams, big impact: How AI agents are reinventing the world of work.

A greeting from the hallowed halls of Bits & Pretzels in Munich ;-)

Can five employees achieve as much as fifty used to? That's exactly what's happening right now. AI agents are out of the lab and into the everyday lives of teams. They 're taking over routines, orchestrating workflows , and pushing the boundaries of what small crews can accomplish. Welcome to the "tiny team" era, a trend that's electrifying founders, investors, and corporations alike. This was also evident at Bits & Pretzels in Munich: AI wasn't just a panel discussion there, but a production factor, turning the festival sound into a reality check for the future of work.

From experiment to production factor

Just a year ago, AI agents were considered exciting demo toys. Today, they are at the heart of processes: They write code, prioritize tickets, generate marketing assets, or manage entire operations chains. Business Insider impressively describes how startups with mini teams are delivering results that previously required departments. Speed, flexibility, and efficiency are making these "tiny teams" role models for a new work culture.

Security doesn’t slow you down, it enables you

But with growing relevance comes increased risk. Anyone who integrates agents into productive processes must address issues of governance and identity. Okta is making a statement here: With " Okta for AI Agents" and a new cross-app access standard, the security specialist is establishing a framework that combines productivity and security. Signal effect: The hype is becoming "enterprise-ready." Great, and best regards to San Francisco ;-)

Bits & Pretzels: AI as the main role

The tech festival in Munich was the perfect stage for this paradigm shift. Panels, pitches, and personal conversations made it clear: AI is no longer a panel discussion, but a production factor. Founders rave about "tiny team leverage," investors sense scalability, and corporations seek guardrails. And... Anyone who held an Oktoberfest beer in their hand sensed that the trend is real, tangible, and emotionally charged.

But now, how do we measure the success of AI agents?

Our OAK AI Agent Metrics Template: Making Success Measurable

Tiny teams need not only vision, but also hard facts . So here's a proven framework we recommend at OAK AI :

category	Metric	Formula / Method	Target corridor (empirical values)
Efficiency	Cycle time	Ø Processing time task BEFORE vs. AFTER agent	-30 to -50%【McKinsey 2023】
	Cost/Task	(Total costs / number of completed tasks)	-20 to -40%【BCG/MIT 2024】
productivity	Output per team member	(Total output / team size)	+100 to +300%【OAKAI Projects】
	Degree of automation	Percentage of automated tasks (%)	>50%【OAKAI Projects】
Quality	Error rate	(Faulty results / overall output)	-10 to -20%【BCG/MIT 2024】
	Rework share	Post-processing time in %	<10%【OAKAI Projects】
adoption	User acceptance (survey score)	Satisfaction 1–5 (team feedback)	≥4/5【McKinsey 2023】
	Human-in-loop control	Percentage of critical tasks that are checked manually (%)	100% (for critical tasks)

📊 Sources & Benchmarks

• McKinsey (2023/24): 20–45% productivity increase through generative AI.

• BCG & MIT Sloan (2024): AI co-pilots → 25% faster, 40% fewer errors.

• IW Cologne (2025): ~3% annual productivity boost for Germany until 2030.

• OAKAI project experience (2024/25): Output per capita doubled to tripled in startup tiny teams.

👉 Best practice: Review every 30 days. After 90 days: "Proof of value" or stop.

🔑 Key messages

• AI agents are transforming from demo cases to production factors.

• Tiny teams achieve enterprise-level output with agents.

• Security & Governance (Okta) mark the next step in maturity.

• Bits & Pretzels shows: AI is at the center of the startup and tech debate.

• The agent metrics template provides orientation and benchmarks.

  
  

📚 Sources

• Business Insider (September 30, 2025): The Tiny Team Era is Here → Link

• TechRadar (09/26/2025): Okta for AI Agents – Identity as Security Fabric → Link

• Bits & Pretzels (September 29–30, 2025, ICM Munich + October 1, Oktoberfest Day) → Link

• The Recursive (09/28/2025): AI takes center stage → Link

• German Economic Institute (2025): AI as a competitive factor → Link

Conclusion

The tiny team era isn't just a buzzword; it's reality. Companies that orchestrate agents today not only secure productivity but also a cultural advantage. The trick lies in the balance: leveraging speed while embedding security.

👉 Tell us which agent use cases you are already running and we will reflect best practices and metrics from the OAK AI portfolio.