Chapter 1
The Mental Model
Last updated April 27, 2026
The single line that fixes most onboarding confusion:
If you need a tangible deliverable — a file, a folder, an updated workbook, a memo — use Cowork. For everything else, use Chat.
Chat is for informational and instructional questions. Cowork is for getting work out the door. The interfaces look similar; the muscle memory should not be. Default to Cowork the moment a real file is involved — a 10-K to parse, an Excel workbook to update, a draft memo, a model to populate.
Use Chat for
- ·Quick questions and explanations
- ·Brainstorming and framing
- ·One-off summaries you don't need to keep
- ·Asking about emails, files, or SharePoint via the M365 connector
Use Cowork for
- →Anything that touches a real file
- →Multi-step workflows (research, modelling, memo prep)
- →Tasks you'll repeat (turn them into Skills)
- →Scheduled / recurring work (month-end, weekly close)
A reality check before you start
Cowork is not Chat. Treating it like Chat gets partial value and leads to the conclusion it's not worth the effort. The people who get the most out of it share three habits:
It clicks on session two or three, not day one
You'll feel slower at first. That's normal — the interface is familiar but the workflow isn't. By your second or third session, you'll stop thinking about the tool and start coming in with your own use cases.
Twenty minutes of play saves three hours of work
The most common failure mode: “I don't have time to learn it.” The math doesn't hold. Give it twenty minutes on something you'd be doing anyway and you'll recover the time before the week is out. Block it on the calendar.
Bring real work, not toy examples
Don't practise on the example folder. Bring an earnings prep you'd be doing anyway, a workbook you actually need to update, a quarterly letter you're drafting. The transfer to live work is the point.