How to Use Gen AI Monday to Friday: 5 Copilot Use Cases to Accelerate Your Workday

A large cappuccino and a prompt please. Yes, to take away. In today's non-stop hustle and bustle, caffeine is barely touching the sides, nor helping us through that meeting, let alone the day. We all need something new. Something a little different to supercharge us through the working week. That something different isn't a shot of vanilla, or a dash of pumpkin spice, it's a sprinkling of gen AI and it has your name all over it.

I'd like you to imagine starting each working day with a beverage in hand and a fresh and exciting approach to tackling your daily tasks. In the next few minutes, I'm aiming to guide you on some quick ways you can caffeinate yourself with Copilot for Microsoft 365, embedding it into your routine seamlessly, and helping you get ahead from Monday through to Friday. I've hand-selected the tools that perform, and the activities that are best applied at different times in the week. Are you ready?

Before we get going...

1. Open up Outlook or your mailbox equivalent

2. Open your calendar and add a recurring invite to your diary

3. Set the subject as 'Prompt Start/Prompt & Shine' (you get the gist) and enable notifications at 15 minutes prior to you starting your day. e.g. 8:45am.

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Let's begin...

Monday

Activity: On Monday, and if you successfully switched off over the weekend, you're probably wondering what the week has in store. Worry not. Using Copilot in Outlook or Teams, you're going to ask Copilot to make you aware of key messages and actions for you to perform to kick the day off with a bang.

"Summarise the key messages and actions I need to be aware of from my emails, Teams messages, and calendar entries received since Friday. Identify the three most urgent tasks I need to prioritise today, based on the importance and deadlines of the items discussed. Create a to-do list with these three tasks, including brief descriptions and deadlines."

Anticipated Value: Time saved sifting through emails and messages, reduced mental effort through augmented prioritisation of your work and an ability to get started quicker on meaningful work through condensed context and referenced materials.

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Tuesday

Activity: It's Tuesday already and you've got meetings coming out of your ears. You don't have time to sift through all the decks, emails, and previous meeting minutes so you ask Copilot in Teams to help with your preparation, coming to the meeting like a pro.

"Review the meeting minutes and notes from previous meetings related to [specific project/team/subject]. Based on this information, help me prepare an agenda for the upcoming meeting, including key talking points, decisions to be made, and any follow-up actions required. Ensure the agenda is structured to address ongoing issues and new developments."

Anticipated Value: Increased meeting productivity and the ability to decide whether you're needed or can delegate attendance. Time saved through combing through files and notes and improved wellness through feeling informed ahead of the meeting.

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Wednesday

Activity: It's Wednesday and the real work is in full swing. The chances are that you receive long documents or presentations from time-to-time. To quickly digest your colleague's thesis that could've been two pages, or a comprehensive pitch or proposal deck, use Copilot in Word or PowerPoint to summarise the document or presentation.

"Summarize the key points and/or actions from this [document/presentation]. Focus on the most important information I need to be aware of, including any decisions made, actions required, and deadlines. Provide a clear list of any tasks I need to follow up on."

Anticipated Value: Time saved trawling through the information and a clear view of what was important, highlighting if this is something you need to read in more detail yourself. You can quickly have any follow-up discussions on the content from the summarised view of actions and deadlines leading to greater team agility.

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Thursday

Activity: It's day four of five and in lieu of the email culture being fixed, you have several emails to clear first thing. To clear the unread and provide the answers and acknowledgements required, use Copilot in Outlook with this prompt to draft quick and relevant replies.

"Draft a response to this email showing understanding and acknowledging the key points discussed. Include a summary of the main points and propose up-to three follow-on questions to clarify or expand on the information provided. Keep the tone professional and concise."

Anticipated Value: Improved response times with co-workers and contacts, and potentially more thoughtful responses through context drawn in and a head-start on questions you may want to ask if there was any ambiguity.

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Friday

Activity: The work week is nearly over and you've accomplished so much. Whilst this is the case, there may be elements you've missed or actions you need to add to your to-do list to prepare you for the following week. Whilst I use Copilot in OneNote where I store my tasks and meeting notes, this catch-up prompt will work best for most in Teams or Outlook.

"Review all missed messages, emails, and any work assigned to me since [specific date/time]. Summarise the key actions required and provide an estimated time to complete each task. Include any deadlines and suggest a prioritised sequence for completing these tasks based on urgency and importance."

Anticipated Value: Greater wellbeing and organisation from prioritising activities and assigning greater time to completion to help with fitting these into your diary, delegating, or pushing back. Improved quality of work through giving work the time required to complete.

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These are just my top five mainly across Microsoft Teams and Outlook where through my experience, the most value is to be had currently. By trying these out Monday through to Friday, I suspect you'll see a good improvement in your efficiency, but also your mindset and ability to improve the quality of what you're doing. Give these a go, share them with your colleagues, and get more adventurous with your experimentation across the whole suite.

I'm always interested to hear what works for you so if you have any good suggestions, comment below or message me directly.

Happy prompting!

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