Capstone: Your AI-Powered Workday

You’ve learned every Gemini feature across Google Workspace. Now let’s put them all together in a realistic workday simulation.

🔄 Quick Recall: Across this course you’ve learned: where to find Gemini and how to prompt (Lesson 1), Gmail email features (Lesson 2), Docs writing (Lesson 3), Sheets data analysis (Lesson 4), Slides and Meet (Lesson 5), Drive and NotebookLM research (Lesson 6), and multi-app workflows (Lesson 7). This capstone integrates all of them.

Your AI-Powered Workday

8:30 AM — Inbox Triage (Gmail)

You have 47 unread emails from overnight. Instead of reading each one:

1. Scan summaries — Gemini shows summary cards on long threads. Read the summaries, not the threads.
2. Quick replies — Use Suggested Replies for simple acknowledgments
3. Draft responses — For emails needing thoughtful replies, use “Help me write” with specific context
4. Flag for later — Star emails that need real attention; AI-handle the rest

Time saved: 45 minutes → 15 minutes

✅ Quick Check: You summarize a critical email thread from a client and reply based on the summary. Later, the client says you missed their key concern mentioned in message #23. What went wrong? (Answer: You relied on the AI summary without checking the original thread for critical client communications. Summaries work for internal/low-stakes threads, but client-facing responses need you to verify key points against the original messages. The rule: the higher the stakes, the more you verify.)

9:00 AM — Data Review (Sheets)

You need to analyze this week’s sales numbers:

1. Open the sales spreadsheet
2. Ask Gemini: “What are the three most notable changes compared to last week?”
3. Ask: “Create a chart comparing this week’s revenue by product to last week”
4. Use =AI() to classify any flagged transactions: “Classify this transaction as normal, unusual, or requires review”

Time saved: 30 minutes → 10 minutes

10:00 AM — Team Meeting (Meet)

Enable “Take Notes with Gemini” before the meeting starts. During the meeting, focus on the conversation — not on note-taking.

After the meeting:

1. Review Gemini’s notes
2. Correct any misattributions
3. Add context Gemini missed
4. Save to the team’s shared folder

11:00 AM — Report Writing (Docs)

Based on the morning’s data analysis and meeting discussion:

1. Open a new Doc
2. Prompt: “Create a weekly performance report. Include: revenue summary (from @Sales-Sheet), team updates (from @Meeting-Notes-Today), key metrics, and action items.”
3. Refine: “Make the executive summary more concise — 3 sentences maximum”
4. Add your analysis — the “so what” that AI can’t provide

Time saved: 90 minutes → 30 minutes

1:00 PM — Research (Drive + NotebookLM)

You need to prepare for a strategy discussion tomorrow:

1. Search Drive: “Find all documents about our 2026 product strategy”
2. Upload the top 5 to NotebookLM
3. Ask: “What are the key strategic themes across these documents? Where do they conflict?”
4. Generate an Audio Overview for the commute home

2:30 PM — Presentation (Slides)

Create slides for tomorrow’s strategy discussion:

1. Prompt Gemini with your research findings and specific data
2. Generate a 10-slide deck
3. Verify every number against your source data
4. Add speaker notes: “Write talking points for each slide, targeting a 2-minute explanation per slide”

4:00 PM — Distribution (Gmail)

Send the report and presentation:

1. “Draft an email to the leadership team. Attach @Weekly-Report and @Strategy-Slides. Summarize the 3 key takeaways and note the strategy meeting is tomorrow at 10 AM.”
2. Review for tone and accuracy
3. Send

The AI-Powered Workday: By the Numbers

These are realistic estimates for someone who knows how to prompt effectively — which you now do.

Course Recap

The Review Checklist

Before sharing any AI-generated output, run through this:

ACCURACY:
□ Numbers match your source data (never trust AI-generated statistics)
□ Names and dates are correct
□ No fabricated facts or citations

TONE:
□ Appropriate for the audience
□ Matches your professional voice
□ Not too casual or too formal for the context

CONTEXT:
□ Includes information only you know
□ References the right projects, people, and timelines
□ Doesn't contradict previous communications

COMPLETENESS:
□ Covers everything needed
□ Doesn't omit critical details
□ Answers the reader's likely questions

What’s Next

Practice daily. The more you use Gemini prompts, the better you get at writing them. Start with one app per day — Gmail today, Docs tomorrow — until it’s habit.

Save your best prompts. Create a “Prompt Library” Google Doc with your most effective prompts organized by app and task type.

Share with your team. The biggest productivity gains happen when an entire team uses AI effectively. Share this course with colleagues.

Stay current. Google adds new AI features regularly. Follow the Google Workspace blog for updates.

Key Takeaways

• An AI-assisted workday can save 3-4 hours on typical knowledge work tasks
• The review habit is non-negotiable: every AI output needs accuracy, tone, and context checks
• Numbers are the highest-risk AI output — always verify against source data
• Multi-app workflows compound the time savings across Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive
• AI doesn’t replace your judgment — it handles the first draft so you can focus on the “so what”
• Build a prompt library and practice daily — effective prompting is a skill that improves with use