Lab notes · 4 jobs
Gemini is the draft layer inside Google
Gemini is Google’s general model. The reason to buy it is not that it writes better than ChatGPT. The reason is that the draft can start in the Doc, the thread, and the sheet you already cannot leave. I ran four jobs: a reply from a six-message Gmail thread, a formula pass on a messy Sheet, a summary of a shared Doc with comment threads, and a fiction continuation I asked for on purpose. Two jobs are why a Google shop should stop paying a second tab. One is why you still open the comment pane. One is why a novelist should not start here.
Run 01
I asked it to draft a Gmail reply from the thread
What I fed itA six-message thread about a delayed invoice. The last note from the vendor blamed “our AP queue.” Our last note had already said the PO was missing. I asked Gemini, in Gmail, for a reply that restated the fact and did not pick a fight.
Where it shone
It stayed in the thread. It did not ask me to paste the history into another window. That is the product: the model is standing where the work already is.
Where it face-planted
It apologized for “the confusion on our side.” The confusion was a missing PO on their side. Gemini likes a warm close. A warm close that accepts blame is a concession. I cut the apology and left the PO number.
The useful output was not leaving Gmail. The dangerous output was a courtesy that moved the fault. Draft in the thread. Do not let courtesy rewrite the record.
Run 02
I asked it to fix a Sheet that had two totals
What I fed itA refunds tab with a SUM that ignored a filter and a human total in a yellow cell. I asked Gemini in Sheets why they disagreed and for a formula that matched the filter.
Where it shone
It pointed at the yellow cell. Most chat tabs never see the sheet. If the team already lives in Google, this is the highest-leverage seat: the model can see the grid.
Where it face-planted
The first formula used a range that stopped two rows above the last refund. It explained the formula as if the range were complete. I watched it miss a $400 line that was still in the filter. I fixed the range by hand.
I kept the diagnosis. I checked the last row. Gemini will tell you why two numbers fight. It will not promise the last row is in the range.
Run 03
I asked it to summarize a shared Doc that people had been arguing in
What I fed itA two-page brief with twelve comments. Three comments contradicted the body. I asked for a summary that included the unresolved fights, not just the headings.
Where it shone
When it worked, it named a fight. “Section 2 still has no owner” is a useful sentence. A heading-only summary is a waste of a seat.
Where it face-planted
On the first pass it summarized the body and ignored the comments. The argument was in the margin. If you do not tell it to read the comments, Gemini will write the polite version of a document that is not settled.
Ask it for the fights. If the summary only restates H2s, you did not need a model. You needed to scroll.
Run 04
I asked it to continue a novel with a character bible — the wrong job
What I fed itSame rules as the ChatGPT miss: glass left eye, no drinking on the job, a kitchen at 2 a.m. I asked inside a Doc. This is a manuscript job. Gemini is a Workspace pane. I ran it so the miss would be ours, not a guess.
Where it shone
Nothing a fiction desk would pay for. It can write a paragraph in a Doc. It cannot hold a book.
Where it face-planted
It remembered the kitchen and forgot the eye. Then it offered a “next chapter outline” like a summer reading packet. There is no Describe on the sentence. There is no Story Bible that wins a coin flip. You are drafting in a memo tool.
If the file is a Doc the company already shares, stay. If the file is a novel, leave. Workspace gravity is not a plot engine.