Beyond the prompt: Part 7 — Googler Serge Lachapelle shares his lightbulb generative AI moments

Welcome back to Beyond the prompt, our blog series focused on actionable tips to get the most out of Gemini for Google Workspace. Today, we’re showcasing how one Googler, Serge Lachapelle, uses generative AI to unlock new capabilities.

Give us a glimpse into your role. 

I am a Director of Product Management on the Outbound Product Management team for Google Workspace. I get to spend my days with customers from all around the world. I’m responsible for representing the voice of the customer to our Google engineering and product teams, and at the same time, I get to be a Google Workspace ambassador for our customers.

You’ve been at Google for over 17 years, and you’ve seen Google Workspace evolve over the years. What makes this moment with Gemini for Workspace so special for you personally? 

This is the first time in my life where I have an opportunity to really evaluate how I do my work, and it takes proactive thought to figure out how I can bring the amazing power of generative AI to my daily work and life. As someone with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Gemini for Workspace makes my life so much easier. I don’t like to read on a screen, but I especially don’t enjoy reading lengthy, dense information on a screen. Being able to distill documents to their key points saves me time and helps me focus on the most important information to do my job faster and better. 

Also, I live in Sweden, my mother tongue is French, but I often speak English at work. I’m always context switching between three languages. Being able to quickly translate using generative AI, especially technical terms, has unlocked new superpowers for me. This aspect has been a revelation. The quality and speed of translations, the ability to ensure I’m choosing the right words to lend credibility to my work no matter the language I am presenting in, that’s groundbreaking for me.

Have you had any lightbulb moments with customers when it comes to generative AI?

Yes, I’ve seen Gemini make a seemingly impossible task possible. I met with an enterprise customer, and they had a configuration that caused an unusual chain of technical events. These events were documented in multiple lengthy reports all in different formats—chat messages, tickets from support systems, emails, and more. There was no easy way for me to comb through all this to understand what happened—there was too much, and the problem was very complex. So I gathered everything and began copying and pasting it into gemini.google.com. I used Gemini to summarize what had happened, and I eventually prompted Gemini to write a root cause analysis. I needed to make zero changes to the final report. This is a task that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do. It would have required a team with many days of work to do what Gemini for Workspace helped me do in a matter of hours.

What is your favorite prompt?

I have a flavor of prompt that I use every day. It always uses variations of persona, task, context, and format, and it goes like this:

I am a product manager with an outbound facing role. I need to synthesize [information or document] into [specific format or content type]. 

This prompt has been hugely useful for a variety of tasks for me. Using this, I can create scripts for presentations, I can turn notes into a root cause analysis, I can do so many different things.

Can’t wait for the next post in the series? Download the Prompting guide 101 ebook and get started with Gemini for Workspace today. Revisit the prompting session from Google Next 2024, presented by Serge, and learn how shifting your mindset about prompting can help you get the most out of generative AI.