Effective organization of work and communication with Microsoft 365 and Outlook

1. Introduction and diagnosis of work organization

• analysis of the way of organizing daily tasks and communication,
• identification of the most common problems related to time management and information,
• identification of „time wasters” and sources of distractions,
• map of the working day work – comparison of the current and optimal way of operating,
• Microsoft 365 as an environment supporting the organization of work.

2. Task Prioritization and Managing Responsibilities

• the Eisenhower matrix in making daily decisions,
• the Pareto 80/20 principle in planning work,
• Parkinson's law and conscious managing deadlines,
• determining task priorities,
• distinguishing tasks that are urgent, important and possible to delegate,
• using flags, categories and deadlines in Outlook,
• Microsoft To Do and Planner as tools for managing tasks.

3. Outlook as the center of work organization

• organization of the inbox and reduction of message overload,
• folders, categories, flags and message markings,
• rules for automatic mail sorting,
• searching for messages and information,
• creating tasks directly from email messages,
• marking messages requiring further action,
• automatic replies and managing absences,
• signatures, message templates and quick parts,
• good practices reducing the time devoted to handling mail.

4. Outlook Calendar and effective time planning

• organization of the daily and weekly calendar,
• Time blocking – reserving time for specific work,
• planning meetings and tasks requiring concentration,
• creating recurring events,
• categories and labels in the calendar,
• sharing the calendar with co-workers,
• checking participants’ availability,
• planning team meetings,
• managing invitations, changes of dates and canceling meetings,
• reserving time for own work and limiting the excess of meetings.

5. Effective communication in Outlook and Teams

• when to use e-mail, and when to use communication in Teams,
• limiting unnecessary correspondence and the number of people copied,
• formulating messages that facilitate quick decision-making,
• managing communicationindividual and team,
• chats, channels and teams in Microsoft Teams,
• organization of information in thematic channels,
• mentions, pins and marking important information,
• managing notifications,
• availability statuses and communicating time for individual work.

6. Organizing meetings in Microsoft Teams and Outlook

• creating meetings from the Outlook level and Teams,
• preparing the correct title, agenda and participant list,
• best practices regarding the length and frequency of meetings,
• recurring meetings,
• the roles of the organizer and participants,
• sharing materials before the meeting,
• notes and arrangements after the meeting,
• managing tasks resulting from meetings,
• limiting meetings that can be replaced by asynchronous communication.

7. Microsoft To Do, Planner and task management

• creating personal task lists in Microsoft To Do,
• tasks daily and the „My Day” feature,
• deadlines, reminders and recurring tasks,
• integration of tasks from Outlook,
• Planner as a tool for organizing team work,
• creating plans, tasks and stages,
• assigning responsibility,
• completion deadlines and monitoring progress,
• board, schedule and chart views,
• managing team workload.

8. Planning the work day and week

• Time blocking in practice,
• weekly planning,
• grouping similar tasks – batching,
• the 2-minute rule,
• the Pomodoro technique,
• „eat the frog” – starting the day with the most important tasks,
• planning buffers for unforeseen tasks,
• protecting time allocated to work requiring focus,
• creating your own rhythm of the day a week.

9. Working with ad hoc tasks and an excess of duties

• managing sudden tasks and „drop-ins”,
• assessment of the actual urgency of the task,
• the „ASAP” problem versus the actual completion deadline,
• estimating the time needed to complete the task,
• renegotiating deadlines,
• delegating tasks,
• assertive communication regarding priorities and availability,
• cost–benefit assessment before taking on an additional task.

10. Microsoft 365 as an integrated work environment

• Outlook – mail, calendar and tasks,
• Teams – communication and collaboration,
• Planner – team task management,
• Microsoft To Do – organization of one’s own work,
• OneNote – notes, checklists and organization of information,
• OneDrive and SharePoint – storage and sharing of documents,
• Forms – quick collection of information from the team,
• integration of individual Microsoft 365 applications,
• selection of the appropriate tool for the type of task.

11. Automation and streamlining of daily work

• rules and automatic actions in Outlook,
• automatic organization of correspondence,
• reminders and trecurring tasks,
• introduction to the capabilities of Power Automate,
• examples of simple work automations work in the Microsoft 365,
• reducing repetitive administrative activities.

12. AI as support for work organization

• use of Copilot or ChatGPT for organizing tasks,
• creating day and week plans,
• organizing task lists,
• preparing meeting agendas,
• summarizing information and correspondence,
• creating proposed replies to messages,
• preparing checklists and action plans,
• principles of safe use of AI at work.

13. Integration of methods – own work organization system

• combining Outlook, Teams, To Do and Planner into one workflow,
• combining the Eisenhower matrix, time blocking and weekly planning,
• flow: message → task → deadline → execution → monitoring,
• organization of work individual and team,
• building your own system managing information and tasks.

14. Summary and implementation plan

• the most important functionalities Microsoft 365 supporting effective work,
• the most common mistakes in organizing mail, calendar, meetings and tasks,
• Quick wins possible to implement directly after the training,
• individual change plan,
• checklists of good practices regarding Outlook, Teams and work organization.