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I bought a new car recently that has a feature that I have never experienced before but am loving. It has a HUD, or heads up display, which projects my speed and the current speed limit on the windscreen in my line of sight. HUDs have been used in fighter jets for many years but are only now becoming more mainstream in our cars. And they are really useful. Not revolutionary, but useful.
By this I mean that the HUD has not revolutionised driving for me – I still need to steer and accelerate and watch what I am doing. But it sure does make life easier on the road.
One of the most frequent questions I get from clients these days is ‘How is AI going to impact my productivity?’. In many people’s minds, AI is very closely linked to productivity, and many organisations are looking very closely at how they can leverage AI to boost productivity. But often organisations are looking at productivity from a workforce perspective, much like governments look at productivity from a population perspective. I tend to look at productivity from a personal and team perspective, and through this lens, I think that right now, AI is useful, but not revolutionary.
When you think about AI and productivity, I think there are two different types of productivity gain to be had using tools like Chat GPT or Copilot. There is what I call ‘Work Productivity’, which is how we do things like create content, analyse data and extrapolate meaning from the information on our computers and on the web. I believe that the use of AI in this context is fast becoming revolutionary.
Then there is ‘Personal Productivity’, which is how we organise ourselves, process incoming work and plan and prioritise our work. This is the space that I play in, and while I believe that AI gives us many useful tools that help us to organise, process, plan and prioritise, I have yet to see a revolution in how we manage our work and our priorities.
But the revolutionary shift will come over the next few years, and those of us that become early adopters now, and start to utilise the useful functions that are available to us are the ones that will be better able to take advantage of the revolutionary functions when they come along.
Here are some useful things you could do with Copilot or similar AI tools to boost your productivity right now:
- Have Copilot record and summarise a Teams meeting so that key points have been recorded and actions have been listed
- Summarise a long email chain to quickly understand the key messages
- Have Copilot draft an email response for you
- Use the Focused Inbox to separate critical emails from marketing and spam
- Get Copilot to help you prepare for your meetings by finding relevant emails, posts and documents
These are all really useful things. You may still need to go to the meeting, do the actions, or respond to the email, but with a bit less effort, and maybe to a better level of quality. I am embracing the HUD in my car and what it can do for my driving. I hope this inspires you to embrace Copilot and what it can do for you.s effort, and maybe to a better level of quality. I am embracing the HUD in my car and what it can do for my driving. I hope this inspires you to embrace Copilot and what it can do for you.