Microsoft 365 has given organizations more tools than ever to communicate, collaborate, automate, and manage information. Now Microsoft 365 Copilot adds an entirely new layer of AI capability. But behind all the discussion about productivity, automation, agents, and AI, there is a much bigger question: are these technologies simply helping us work faster, or are they fundamentally changing the way we think, learn, communicate, collaborate, and work?In this episode of m365.fm, Mirko Peters sits down with Tracy van der Schyff to explore the human side of Microsoft 365 and Copilot. Tracy has spent years working at the intersection of technology, productivity, digital literacy, training, adoption, and organizational change. Her focus is not simply on teaching people which buttons to click. It is about helping people understand technology, use it with purpose, and become more capable because of it.The conversation goes far beyond Copilot features. Mirko and Tracy discuss digital fluency, Microsoft 365 adoption, information management, AI readiness, change management, responsible AI, the broken digital workplace, and a powerful idea that runs throughout the episode: we design technology, but the technology we create and use also shapes us. FROM DIGITAL LITERACY TO DIGITAL FLUENCY For many years, organizations talked about PC literacy and later digital literacy. But Tracy believes those terms no longer fully describe the skills people need in a modern workplace.Knowing how to operate a computer is not enough. Knowing where a button is inside Microsoft Teams or how to upload a document to SharePoint does not necessarily mean somebody understands how to work effectively in a digital environment.Digital fluency goes further. It means understanding the purpose of a technology, knowing when it should be used, understanding how your actions affect other people, and using technology responsibly and intentionally.This becomes even more important as AI enters everyday work. Tracy explains how her original model of eight pillars of digital literacy has evolved into eleven pillars of digital fluency, now incorporating responsible AI use and the additional skills people need when working alongside AI systems.The important distinction is that these are not simply Microsoft 365 skills. They are becoming life skills.AI is also creating unexpected opportunities to develop human skills. Communicating effectively with Copilot requires people to explain what they actually want. Better questions can produce better answers, and those answers can help people formulate better questions the next time. In that sense, working with AI can improve communication, creativity, critical thinking, and the ability to express intent clearly. THE MICROSOFT 365 TOOL OVERLOAD PROBLEM Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Loop, Planner, Lists, Power Platform, Copilot and countless other applications give employees enormous capabilities. But providing access to tools does not automatically teach people how those tools should fit together.Organizations often deploy technology and expect employees to figure out the rest.That can result in departmental information being shared from personal OneDrive accounts, Teams being created simply for individual meetings, documents being stored in inappropriate locations, and employees constantly switching between tools without understanding where work actually belongs.When that happens, Tracy argues that blaming users is the wrong response.If an employee was never taught the intent behind Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, or another application, they will naturally choose whatever tool helps them complete the immediate task. The underlying problem is often not the employee. It is the absence of a clear digital strategy. ME, WE, US: SIMPLIFYING THE DIGITAL WORKPLACE One framework Tracy uses to make the Microsoft 365 environment easier to understand is ME, WE, US.The ME space represents the individual. These are the tools and information primarily associated with your personal work.The WE space begins when people collaborate around a common goal. Microsoft Teams and collaborative SharePoint environments become particularly relevant here.The US space represents information intended for the broader organization, such as publishing environments and intranets.This sounds simple, and that is precisely the point.Employees should not need to understand every architectural detail behind Microsoft 365 before they can make a sensible decision about where their work belongs. Organizations need to translate complicated technology landscapes into models that ordinary employees can understand and apply. COPILOT DOES NOT FIX A BROKEN DIGITAL WORKPLACE One of the strongest messages from the conversation is that Microsoft 365 Copilot should not be treated as a solution for an already broken digital workplace.Copilot does not magically repair years of poor information architecture, excessive sharing, unmanaged Teams, confusing permissions, duplicated documents, abandoned SharePoint sites, or inconsistent working practices.Instead, Tracy describes AI as an amplifier.If an organization has a healthy digital environment, Copilot can amplify that healthy environment. If the underlying environment is unhealthy, AI can make those existing problems significantly more visible.In that sense, Copilot acts like a huge spotlight.Information that may previously have been difficult to discover can suddenly become much easier to surface. That can make organizations believe Copilot created a problem when, in reality, the underlying permissions, sharing practices, or information-management problems may have existed for years.The AI did not necessarily create the mess. It exposed it. ONTOLOGICAL DESIGN: THE THINGS WE CREATE CHANGE USA fascinating part of the conversation explores ontological design.The concept sounds complicated, but Tracy explains it in a very practical way: we create things, and the things we create eventually change us.That applies to software, applications, intranets, processes, social media, Microsoft Teams, Copilot, and almost every digital environment people interact with.When someone designs an application, they make decisions about how users will interact with it. Those decisions influence the behavior of the people using the application.The same principle applies at a much larger scale to the modern workplace.Employees can spend many hours every day inside Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft 365, and increasingly Copilot. Those environments are therefore not neutral. They influence how people communicate, how quickly they expect responses, how they organize information, how they collaborate, and even how they think about work.The intention behind what we design matters because what people consume eventually influences them. WHEN ACTIVITY BECOMES CONFUSED WITH PRODUCTIVITY Microsoft Teams and other collaboration tools have dramatically reduced the friction required to communicate. But reducing friction can also create enormous amounts of noise.Tracy raises an interesting problem: people can begin to use visible activity as proof that they are productive.More messages. More notifications. More updates. More documents. More meetings. More channels.But every communication creates work for somebody else.A message that takes one person a few minutes to write might interrupt dozens or hundreds of other employees. Individually, that interruption may seem insignificant. Across an organization, the cumulative cost can become substantial.The question therefore should not simply be whether Microsoft 365 allows us to communicate faster. Organizations also need to ask whether all of that communication is necessary in the first place. AI CAN BE MORE THAN A PRODUCTIVITY TOOL Many discussions about Copilot focus on straightforward productivity scenarios.Summarize my emails. Summarize this meeting. Create a presentation. Rewrite this document. Analyze this information. Help me find something.Those capabilities are useful, but Tracy argues that AI can become something much more interesting.People can use AI to learn.Someone who struggles with delegation can ask Copilot how to become better at delegating. Someone intimidated by AI can ask AI how to begin learning about AI. Someone concerned about cybersecurity can ask how to protect themselves and their family. Someone who lacks confidence with a technology can use AI as a private environment for experimentation and learning.This moves the conversation from simply asking, “How much time can Copilot save?” toward asking, “How can Copilot increase human capability?”That distinction is important.The most valuable use of AI may not always be automating another task. Sometimes it may be helping someone become better at performing that task themselves. AI DOES NOT REMOVE HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY Copilot might summarize hundreds of emails, but responsibility does not disappear if an important message is missed.AI can generate a document quickly, but somebody still needs to understand why that document exists.AI can retrieve organizational information, but companies still need to understand permissions, ownership, governance, security, and information management.AI can produce an answer, but people still need the judgment required to evaluate that answer.For Tracy, this is another reason digital fluency becomes more important as AI becomes more capable.Organizations should not respond to increasingly powerful technology by investing less in human skills. They should invest more. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/m365-fm-modern-work-security-and-productivity-with-microsoft-365--6704921/support.
