Productivity goes beyond completing tasks quickly, it encompasses much more, including the quality of the work produced and the enjoyment derived from the process. In this blog, we explore seven different ways to use AI to improve your daily work experience. Join us in redefining productivity and discover how you can use AI to achieve more in a better, faster and more enjoyable way!

Different take on productivity

Many would define productivity as the number of tasks that can be accomplished in a particular amount of time. Whilst that is a reasonable definition, it only offers one way to improve: being faster. However, this perspective overlooks the significance of quality and enjoyment. Taking these two important factors into account, productivity can be defined as follows:

This means that there are 4 concrete ways to be more productive:

  • Increase the quality of your work

  • Increase the number of tasks you can accomplish

  • Reduce the amount of time tasks require

  • Reduce the effort required to perform a task

This definition is important as many AI-powered tools enable you to perform tasks that you previously did not even contemplate starting because of how long it would take or how frustrating it would be to carry out. You might find yourself spending more time on particular tasks like creating slides, because now your enjoyment and quality are massively improved, and that’s not a bad thing.

7 ways to become more productive in your day-to-day work

1. Create more engaging storylines

Whether it is a daily stand-up, a knowledge-sharing session, or even a quick update during a one-on-one around a coffee, being a clear and engaging storyteller is a huge asset to any employee. Large language models can help you in that regard by helping you craft a clear agenda for a presentation or reminding you of how to best provide your update to your boss.

2. Communicate visually

Many people are visual learners and creating presentations or documentation with helpful visuals can make you stand out. Instead of using potentially copyrighted pictures from the internet, use tools like DALLE-3 or Midjourney to illustrate your thoughts in a consistent style. You can also create mockups of user interfaces in a few clicks to inspire your audience!

3. Tailor your communication to your audience

Knowing your audience is sometimes as important as knowing the message you want to convey. Suppose you need to explain to a non-technical stakeholder why your project is delayed, and the reason is highly complex. In that case, you might want to ask a large language model to make your story more understandable by simplifying the language used or even finding helpful metaphors to convey your thoughts.

4. Learn and use new technologies

We live in an era where new technology comes along at a frantic rate, and you might not be familiar with every tool, framework, or programming language you encounter. Tools like ChatGPT or Copilot, can be helpful allies when faced with technologies you’re not entirely familiar with. Ask help to write an Excel formula, create a simple Angular front-end, or a Python web server, and save some precious time.

5. Organize your thoughts

We’ve all been there. We need to summarize the content of a meeting, random notes we’ve taken along the way, or provide an update on a project that has many facets. Large language models can help take in seemingly unstructured notes and group them, clean up them, and write them more conveniently.

6. Create a concrete plan of action

Whether it is defining a product roadmap, SMART goals for yourself, or defining a personal development track for a new colleague, having a clear plan of action is helpful. Tools like ChatGPT can provide some sense of order by providing an itemized list of tasks with a clear timeline.

7. Receive feedback and challenge yourself

In general, one of the great benefits of any AI-powered tools is that they are always available and can be used without shame. Ask ChatGPT to proofread your e-mail to see if you sound professional enough. Ask Copilot if it can think of a cleaner way to write a piece of code. Upload your resume and ask about areas in which you have less experience and how you can improve.

Always double-check!

It is extremely tempting to rely on AI-powered tools to fully take over some of your tasks, but it doesn’t exempt you from the responsibility that comes with delivering certain outputs. Be careful about what you send out to stakeholders or the public, whether you did it yourself, or you had it completely automated. You should always double-check your work, similar to how you wouldn’t rely on an automated system to manage client communications without first ensuring it doesn’t contain something strange or incorrect.

It’s not about the tool, but how you use it

This blog did not focus on specific tools for two specific reasons. First, new tools and developments come out every day, and it would be close-minded to assume that only the tools we know now are the best to use. Second, we strongly believe that the real value doesn’t come from the tools but from a responsible and clever use of them. By tackling the right problems, you will go further, even with a supposedly worse tool or no tool at all.

This blog is written by Valentin Calomme – an AI Engineer and Data Scientist at Mediaan Conclusion.