You come out of three hours of meetings to forty unread Teams messages across six chats. Somewhere in there, someone asked you something. Reading all forty to find it is the job you were hoping to skip.
There are two different things to want here, and they are not the same: a summary of what was said, and a list of what is yours to answer.
Summary versus what is yours
| A summary | What is waiting on you | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers | What happened in this chat? | Who asked me something I have not answered? |
| Scope | One chat at a time | Every chat you are in |
| You have to | Open the chat and ask | Ask once |
| Risk | You summarize the wrong chat | None of the forty is missed |
What Teams offers
If your organization has Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot in Teams can summarize a chat or a channel conversation and list the open questions in it. You open the chat, open Copilot and ask. It is good at this.
Two limits. It needs the Copilot license, and it works one conversation at a time: you choose the chat, then ask. It does not come to you with “these three people are waiting.”
Without Copilot, the Activity feed shows mentions and replies, and that is the extent of it.
Asking across every chat
alfred_ is an AI personal assistant for work. Connect Microsoft Teams with your Microsoft work account and it reads your 1:1 and group chats, so a question someone asked you there does not slip.
Teams · Northwind kickoff
Priya Shah
Is the kickoff deck ready to share with the client?
alfred_
Today 9:41 AM
Anything in Teams waiting on me?
Delivered
One. Priya asked in the Northwind chat yesterday if the kickoff deck is ready.
Remind me about Priya at 10
Delivered
Got it. I'll text you at 10:00 AM.
It answers with the message, who sent it and when. Then the summary question, when you want it:
What did the team say about the renewal?
Searching Teams for renewalChecked TeamsTeams
Northwind renewal · Tom Reyes · Tue 10:18 AM
Northwind renewal · Priya Shah · Tue 10:41 AM
Tom is in for another year if the rate holds. Priya said she'll send the paperwork once you confirm.
What did the team say about the renewal?
Three things to ask on day one:
- “Is anyone in Teams waiting on an answer from me?”
- “Catch me up on my Teams chats from today.”
- “What did the team say in Teams about the renewal?”
With Outlook in the same answer
Work rarely stays in one place. The client emails, and the team discusses it in a chat. alfred_ reads your Outlook mail and calendar as well, so “where are we with Northwind?” draws on the email thread, the Teams chat and the next meeting together.
What to do with what it finds
- “Remind me about Priya at 10” sets a reminder.
- “Add a to-do to send the kickoff deck today” puts it on your list.
- You reply in Teams yourself. alfred_ does not post as you.
How to set it up
- In alfred_, open Integrations and choose Microsoft Teams.
- Sign in with your Microsoft work account.
- Ask who is waiting on you.
Plans start at $29.99 a month with a 7-day free trial. More is on the Microsoft Teams page.
