Have you ever asked yourself at the end of the day, where did my day go? Or, how about as you approach the end of the week, have you ever thought to yourself, how is it already Friday? I know that I find myself asking these questions more often than I would like. If you are like me and wonder about how you spend your time throughout your workday, Microsoft’s Viva Personal Insights may be helpful in answering these pressing questions, provided you have access to it under your Microsoft 365 plan.
Viva Insights is part of the overall Microsoft Viva platform. The platform is designed as an integrated employee experience platform within Microsoft 365 and Teams to help boost productivity and engagement, as well as improve the well-being of team members. It includes multiple products, including Viva Connections, Learning and Insights, among others.
Insights is designed to identify collaboration patterns that impact productivity, workforce effectiveness and employee engagement. Depending on your plan, information can be provided at both a personal level and, for management, at a team level. Team Insights give visibility to work habits that might lead to burnout and stress, empowering managers to help their teams strike a balance between productivity and well-being. On the other hand, Personal Insights can educate individuals about their work habits and empower them to make changes that have a positive impact on their productivity and well-being.
Personal Insights provides both personalized information and actionable recommendations for individuals. The data is based upon behavior that is aggregated and shared in the app as information. The information can be used to help an individual understand their work patterns and trends within multiple areas such as how they collaborate, and time spent on communication and meetings. The actionable recommendations then provide individuals with suggestions and changes they can make to care for their well-being and better manage their day.
Insights is organized into three categories: Productivity, Teamwork and Well-being. Features within these categories include:
With the information that is tracked and provided, it is not uncommon to wonder who has access to this information, particularly since, in addition to Personal Insights, there is also Team Insights available to managers within the Viva Insights product. On their website, Microsoft asserts that personal Insights in Viva Insights “is not designed to enable evaluation, tracking, automated decision making, profiling, or monitoring.” Additionally, Microsoft asserts that as a Viva Insights user, only you can see your own data and shows you no personally identifiable information of coworkers beyond what you can already see in Outlook and Teams. As for Viva Team Insights, Microsoft further states that Viva Insights aggregates data to provide insights at a team level without revealing individual details. It is designed to show patterns and trends rather than focus on individual habits.
Insights can be accessed online through the app on the web and on Microsoft Teams. To launch Viva Insights within Teams:
Whether you access it through the web or through Teams, there is a home page that is essentially a dashboard that provides individuals with quick access information, including the ability to set focus time and see your communication habits over the last four weeks. There is also quick access to recommended mindfulness exercises.
In addition to accessing Insights on the app, there is also an Outlook add-in. It is designed to aid you in working more efficiently while operating within Outlook. For instance, when you open the add-in, you can add important people to be reminded of tasks and unopened emails from those individuals and you can set time to prepare for your scheduled meetings. In addition to the Outlook add-in, up until this past April, Insights sent daily briefing emails and a digest email twice a month about your work habits. According to the website, however, Microsoft has paused these features, with a note that they are working to improve the daily briefing emails and all the content from the digest emails can be found within the app online and within Teams.
Tracking productive data can be helpful not just in understanding where your day goes, but to learn from the data and make smarter decisions about how you work. Collecting data over time can assist you in identifying your patterns and trends and lead to changes that improve your productivity.
Within Insights, there are key features that assist with both the collection of work habits and tools to make changes. For instance, use the actionable items to plan your day effectively, ensuring you address key tasks and communications. Scheduling Focus Time can help you concentrate on important tasks without distractions and setting quiet hours can protect your personal time and reduce after-hours work, helping you to maintain a better work-life balance.
If you plan to use Insights, make sure to maximize the benefits. Regularly review your Insights by making it a habit to review them daily or weekly. This can help you stay aware of your work patterns and adjust as needed and act on recommendations. Whether it’s scheduling focus time, taking breaks or following up on tasks, acting on these suggestions can allow you to find something that might just work best for you and your schedule, improving your overall productivity and well-being. Lastly, customize the settings and preferences in Insights to align with your personal goals and working style. This ensures that the insights and recommendations are relevant and useful to you.
Overall, reviewing data about your productivity can empower you to make informed decisions, optimize your workflow and ultimately achieve better results. If you already have a subscription to Microsoft 365, you might as well give Personal Insights a try. If you find something that improves your productivity or well-being, or both, then it is worth using.
