November Question of the Month - Join the conversation and receive a badge [+bonus badge!]

Rebeca S.

Hello, hello.

October’s question had a very clear trend — the Community members don’t fear challenges, change, feedback, or failure, because these are great ways to learn, get creative, and grow. Love that mindset! 

Who's ready for a new question, and a chance to earn badges and points while getting to know your peers? Read on for the bonus badge opportunity. 👀.

How is AI helping you work smarter, not harder — or how could it help you in the future?

There are as many AI uses as your creativity can dream of, which ones have you been loving so far? If you aren’t using AI yet, what could be a game changer?

Smartsheet AI tools are available to all customers for a limited time. Why not explore the time-saving benefits of our AI tools, unlock insights, and make time for more coffee breaks? ☕ 

Share your responses in the comments below. Tried Smartsheet AI already? This month you can earn a bonus badge by sharing a video response HERE.

About Question of the Month:

We kick off each month with a new question. These monthly ice breakers are just one way to help you get to know your Smartsheet peers and rack up some badges and points in the process.

Everyone who participates by answering the question prior to the end of the month will automatically receive a unique participant badge once the question closes at the end of the month.

In addition to the participant badge, the top three answers based on Community member votes will receive the Top Answer badge. To vote on an answer click on the upvote icon associated with an answer in the comments below. Multiple votes allowed and encouraged!

Earn a bonus badge this month by sharing a video response to the Question of the Month here. 

Will Duplex

It seems like when people mention AI today, that you get a mixed bag of responses. Some folks think that it's the greatest thing ever, some fear the rapid advancement towards automation and the elimination of jobs, and others… just think that it's cool. 😎

I would put myself in more of that 3rd category, and realize that AI can be beneficial and eliminate very manual tasks/processes that I actually would rather not do. If I can use an AI tool to help me better understand how to solve a business problem, quickly parse through data, or find alternative approaches that will lead me to viable solutions - then that's still a net win. I was able to save some time and can focus on decision-making and larger picture stuff.

One thing that it certain is that people will always be needed. In business, we'll always need that human element and that personal connection point because I believe that it's hard-wired in our DNA. The yearning for comfort, familiarity, and connection with one another (ex: the rise of social media) is something inherent to us, and that can never be replaced by AI.

As silly as it sounds, thinking about AI and the role it will play in the future reminds me of a quote from the TV show, The Office: "People will never go out of business"

Monique Odom-Stearn

Honestly, there is SO much that I still have to learn about the capabilities of AI and how it can help enhance our processes. One thing I do know, though? It's a GAME CHANGER for helping to provide valuable metrics and insights about our work!

Deena Duran

The Smartsheet AI tool that I use most frequently is the Formula Generator. This has been a game changer for me. However, it is not the only AI tool that I use!

✅ Make Formulas Easer

✅ Make Formulas Faster

✅ OH MY GOSH, MY BOSS WANTS A BREAKDOWN OF THIS INFORMATION INTO A CHART BUT I AM IN THE RAW DATA SIDE OF THE SHEET! I NEED A CHART! HE'S WATCHING ME! I NEED TO MAKE THIS QUICK! I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO MAKE A DASHBOARD TO SHOW THIS SURVEY DATA METRIC! HE IS ONLY ASKING FOR THE ONE QUESTION, I JUST NEED A QUICK WAY TO VISUALLY SHOW IT! Summarize my data into a quick chart

The above has literally been me in a 1:1 Zoom call with my boss. Smartsheet helped me to externally seem calm, cool, and connected when I had the AI Analyze Data tool create quick charts for me while I was already screen sharing. Not only did Smartsheet make me look good, but it also made itself look good. "Look at all the cool things Smartsheet can do!"

Kathy N

I use AI to help me see what I can't discern on my own, in analysis of data and generating formulas. I am not what they call an early adopter in AI, but learning fast and appreciate these capabilities.

Darla Weber

How is AI helping me work smarter? I leverage AI for quick answers to logic based if / then or general questions, common AI tools will return results faster than I could find them on a search browser, waiting for the book I ordered, finding the 5 books in my personal library and then the chapters that I know have the information I seek, reading many articles… It will even direct me to the articles or resources that I could dive into for further understanding. I can complete research in a fraction of the time, it aggregates the data for me.

I put my own thought to the research, use multiple AI tools to broaden the responses, and then validate using AI results. A key component of getting good results is proper prompt engineering or design (my perspective or role, the scope, questions, goals, rules or special considerations-even the human element, the format of the results…) One example, I didn't have to write a survey from scratch. Using prompt engineering I assembled the survey incorporating and refining questions I generated and those that were presented by more than one AI tool to the and had my survey prepared in far less time.

I love the AI for formulas in Smartsheet, however, I did find that the formula for a couple of scenarios did not work. I haven't invested enough time to figure that out yet. That said, it's still a great feature and time saver!!!

kowal

I am trying to limit my usage of AI because I know it will make me lazy and I will delegate all the work on it.

I remember I used it once when I needed to create a training on Basics of Project Management and I did not know what should be there so my prompt was sth like: I have only 2 hours and I need to teach about basics of Project Managment - what should I talk about. Just like a magic it creted me the whole agenda with time in minutes on which topic I should talk.

I am mostly using AI for my private stuff if the article is too long or too technical I tell AI to summarize it for me etc.

lav_bratis

It is my helping hand every day. Feels like I have an assisstant 😊.
Sure it helps us all with the whole bunch of technical solutions such as long text and presentation overviews, building charts, translations, quick answers etc. But, whats the most important is the time it helps me save for myself.

One simply has to love the AI.

Jacob A

AI AI AI.

The mention of it literally make some people cringe. For me, it's the way forward. I understand and appreciate the concern some people have by saying it would take over jobs but people would always be needed.

I had an issue some days back that I had to write a complex IF formula to run some calculations on a sheet. After writing it, I decided to use the Smartsheet AI tool to see how the script would look and I was surprised to see that the AI formula was totally off. I took time to read the lines and noticed that the way I structured the question was different from what I needed.

for giggles, I tried different questions and got different results each time. I ended up using my formula but I was able to streamline the formula to make it shorter than what I initially wrote as I got some more ideas from the AI generated formula. For me, this is a perfect example of not only collaboration between HI and AI but also a learning curve that allows us to be better in what we do.

No matter how smart AI is, the input from people is still vital and critical to getting the desired results.

AntonioC

I haven't used AI for work due to company-wide restrictions, although we have now our internal AI tool, but I still have to adopt it.

However, I've been using Copilot for non-work-related tasks sometimes daily. I found easier to get my questions answered by chatting with the AI rather than google it and go over multiple webpages that oftentimes don't give me the answers.

I've also used Copilot to generate various logos for my ideas

My next step would be to start adopting the internal company internal AI tools to increase my productivity and see what I can stop doing and delegate to the AI

Humashankar

I'm excited about the potential of AI to revolutionize my work. Currently, I'm leveraging AI to:

Automate repetitive tasks, freeing up time for strategic thinking.

Analyze complex data, providing actionable insights.

Enhance content generation, improving quality and efficiency.

Streamline research, quickly identifying relevant information.

In the future, I'm eager to explore AI's capabilities in:

Predictive analytics for informed decision-making.

Personalized content recommendations.

Intelligent project management tools.

If I weren't using AI yet, a game-changer would be:

AI-powered virtual assistants for task management.

Advanced natural language processing for seamless communication.

AI-driven process optimization for increased productivity.

The possibilities are endless is what I see, and I'm excited to continue exploring AI's potential to work smarter, not harder.

Janelle

I haven't tried AI yet, but from all the comments listed here, makes me want to start. I will see what happens.

Sherry Fox

How is AI helping you work smarter, not harder — or how could it help you in the future? Well I just love AI. I use it in Smartsheet and in Excel. Both Smartsheet and Excel, AI allows me to get help in writing complex formulas. This is a huge deal, as often times the correct formula is close, but the syntax is wrong. Or as I call it, the "formula grammar" is wrong. This means having a comma or parentheis in the wrong location. Once you locate and fix, your formula is correct. AI is often essential for this.

Paul.Woodward

How is AI helping you work smarter, not harder - or how could it help you in the future?

Wow, this is a loaded question (s).

Currently, I am NOT utilizing the full capability of AI. I have used items such as Chatgpt, and Google AI but not so much in the professional work realm.

Now, I am very excited that we are growing at my workplace that we will be transitioning to the Enterprise Plan soon, and I look forward to using the new AI functions. Personally, for the formula function but everything else it helps with.

For me personally, I love when AI assist me with formulating my sentences, and suggesting ways to words things, as sometimes I have a tough time gathering my thoughts.

I look forward to reading everyone's posts!

Jennifer Kurtz

I use AI at work to help "jazz up" training session titles and descriptions, and occasionally for a jump start pulling together a training outline.

In Smartsheet, AI has helped write social media posts (based on a "description" column, and some formula tweaking. (Admittedly, though, I just really like writing my own formulas!)

For personal use, AI is awesome for generating amusing songs and images. :)

Ray Lindstrom

Admittedly, I'm not all in on the AI front yet. Maybe one day I'll be more brave and trust it to do more for me.

I have used AI to help summarize paragraphs. I haven't used it to create anything from scratch.

I've attempted to have it write a formula for me. It got close, but I still had to make edits.

I do get a good laugh out of some of the images and memes I've seen created by others using AI.

There's a lot of great potential with AI, but also a good bit of risk involved with using it.