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One of the challenges I have identified on my AI journey is that my imagination needs to catch up with the possibilities.
I tend to work with a fairly limited list of ways that tools like Copilot could help me be more productive. But every now and again something happens that expands my thinking, and I find myself saying, “Oh, so it could do that!” When this happens, my imagination has been expanded, and I can see more possibilities.
This happened recently in a live workshop with a small team in Melbourne. We were discussing efficient email filing, and my recommendation was to simplify your filing system to one folder, or just a few.
One participant was keen to move from his complex system of more than 80 folders to a single filing folder. He also wanted to avoid spending hours moving the emails manually. So, while I continued talking, he asked Copilot to move the emails from his filing folders into his archive folder, leaving his Inbox, Sent Items and Drafts alone.
Within about 10 seconds, the emails had been moved.
Imagination expanded!
He still needed to delete the empty folders individually, as Copilot cannot delete folders. Even so, he had saved himself a considerable amount of time and effort. I had been explaining a filing strategy, and he had found a way to make implementing that strategy much easier.
The participant was using Copilot Cowork, the agentic version of Copilot, which gave him access to capabilities that many people reading this may not yet have. The possibilities available to each of us will depend on our licence and the permissions our organisation has put in place. But even if you do not have access to Cowork, I would imagine it won’t be long before capabilities like these become the standard for most knowledge workers.
What caught my attention was the practical application of agentic AI. Here was a tool carrying out an instruction and doing the work involved in a highly efficient way. A simple request had removed much of the effort involved in reorganising his filing system.
That gave me a useful question to carry into my own work: Where am I spending time on something that AI could help me get done?
I had been holding off getting access to Cowork, but that workshop gave me the push to start exploring it properly, and my early experience has been impressive.
As I explore, I am also getting clearer about the work I want AI to do for me and the responsibilities I want to hold on to. I am happy to have help moving emails, gathering information or preparing a draft email. But I want to remain actively involved in deciding what deserves my attention, what I commit to and how I spend my time.
My concern is that the convenience of a capable digital assistant could encourage us to become casual about those decisions. Processing incoming work, planning our time and prioritising our activities are disciplines worth maintaining. I intend to keep practising them as the technology develops.
Expanding our imaginations also takes some effort. We need to experiment, share what we discover and pay attention to how other people use these tools. That participant in Melbourne helped me see a possibility I had walked past.
I will share my experiences and learnings with you over the coming months, including the useful applications I discover and the decisions I make about where to retain control.
For now, keep your eyes peeled for ways that AI could help you be more productive, and keep expanding your imagination.