If you use Microsoft 365, you may find emails and Teams notifications at the end of the workday from something called Viva Insights. Viva Insights is an app in Microsoft Teams that provides you with recommendations to improve work habits based on your Microsoft 365 data. For example, if you have a lot of meetings booked in your diary, Viva Insights might recommend you book some focus time to get work done.

To access Viva Insights in Teams, click on the 3 dots in the task bar and search for Viva Insights.

 

When you click to open Viva Insights, it will take you to the home page with some initial recommendations on things you can do to improve work habits.

My initial activities are to send praise to some colleagues which is something I might not have done in a while, or do some mindfulness exercises:

 

Scroll down to see a personalised list of actions to complete. This is where Viva Insights provides you with reminders of actions someone has asked you to complete via email, book focus time so you can get work done, or see any tasks you have outstanding.

In the Stay Connected tab, Viva Insights will list all of the recent tasks someone has asked you to complete. You can tick them off as done to mark them as completed.

 

Click the more drop down arrow under the card to view all tasks that same person has asked you to complete.

 

 

Set reminders for yourself to complete a task to ensure they are not missed.

 

Or even pin them to the top of your list if they are important.

 

In the Protect Time tab, you can schedule focus time based on spaces in your calendar for the week.

 

At 5pm, Viva Insights will send you a notification in Teams to start wrapping the day up. This is called a Virtual Commute. A Virtual Commute is a way to finish your work for the day by closing off tasks, reviewing meetings for tomorrow and reflecting on the day. It is a great way to wind down virtually, since working from home most of us don’t have a commute. You can start a virtual commute at any time by clicking start in the Protect time tab.

 

When you start your virtual commute, you can review tasks from Microsoft To Do, or set new tasks.

 

You can look at your meetings for the next day and see if any require your response.

 

Reflect on how you are feeling after the work day.

 

And finally close out the commute with some meditiation.

 

You can repeat the virtual commute as often as you want.

 

Viva Insights can be incredibly useful to catch up on tasks, make sure you are connecting with the right people in the organisation and booking time to get work done outside of meetings. The Insights are only visible to you to help you create better work habits.