Lab notes · 4 jobs
Copilot is the draft inside the tenant you already pay for
Copilot is an add-on to a Microsoft tenant. The draft starts in the mail, the memo, and the meeting you already cannot leave. That is the only honest reason to buy it. I ran four jobs: a reply in Outlook from a long thread, a rewrite of a Word memo, a Teams recap with owners, and a request to use it as a general chat for people who do not live in Microsoft. Two jobs are why an IT admin would add the SKU. One is why you still read the recap. One is why a startup on Google should not.
Run 01
I asked it to draft an Outlook reply from a long thread
What I fed itAn eleven-message thread about a renewal. Three people had said yes to different dates. I asked Copilot, in Outlook, for a reply that picked one date and named who had agreed to what.
Where it shone
It stayed in Outlook. Nobody pasted the thread into a browser. For a company that already lives in mail, that is the seat.
Where it face-planted
It assigned the decision to the last person who had said “works for me,” who had been talking about a different week. Thread summaries collapse pronouns. I put the date back on the person who had actually offered it.
The useful output was not leaving the tenant. The dangerous output was a name on the wrong Tuesday. Draft in Outlook. Check who said the date.
Run 02
I asked it to rewrite a Word memo that had gone long
What I fed itA three-page internal memo with a real recommendation buried in page two. I asked Copilot in Word to cut it to one page and keep the recommendation first.
Where it shone
It put the recommendation in the first paragraph. Most humans bury the ask because they are afraid of it. That is a useful pass.
Where it face-planted
It also added “as we continue our journey.” Nobody in that company talks like that. Copilot’s default register is a town hall. I cut the journey and left the ask.
Take the order. Leave the sludge. Copilot will make the memo shorter and slightly more like a keynote.
Run 03
I asked it for a Teams recap with owners
What I fed itA 25-minute standup. Two action items were real. One joke sounded like an action item if you were not in the room. I asked for recap and owners.
Where it shone
The two real items showed up. For a distributed team that already records, this is why the SKU exists: the notes are in the channel.
Where it face-planted
It assigned the joke to a person as a deliverable. It also invented an owner for a problem nobody had taken. Recaps hate a vacuum. I deleted the joke-task and the ghost owner before the channel froze them into work.
Read the recap the same hour. Copilot will turn a laugh into a ticket if you let the notes sit overnight.
Run 04
I asked it to be a second ChatGPT for people who do not live in Microsoft — the wrong job
What I fed itI opened Copilot Chat and tried to use it the way a team uses ChatGPT: a jump-around tab, no file, no meeting. This is a general-model job. Copilot is a tenant add-on. I ran it so we would not buy it as a second brain.
Where it shone
Nothing I would add a SKU for. It can chat. So can a cheaper tab.
Where it face-planted
The answers were fine and slightly corporate, and they did not justify ~$30 a user on top of the Microsoft stack. If the team is not in Word and Outlook all day, you bought a pane. I closed it and opened the model the team already had.
Copilot is an add-on to a life you already live in Microsoft. It is not a reason to become a Microsoft shop. If the work is not in the tenant, do not pay the tenant tax.