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At Google, I led projects and programs from one-day events through to multi-year commitments. It’d mean having a bunch of documents, meeting notes, strategy decks and more.
When someone would ask a specific question about the number of people signed up, revenue generated, or even just what copy we were using on the website, I’d have to dig through multiple files to check.
If I were doing that same job now, I’d create a dedicated AI project manager.
That’s what’s possible with NotebookLM. It can act as an expert that answers questions, finds conflicts, and even onboards new team members for you.
How to use NotebookLM for work projects
Unlike a normal chat in Gemini, NotebookLM is ‘grounded.’ That means it only uses the sources you give it. It won’t hallucinate facts from the internet; it cites the specific sources you provide.
Setup your notebook
Go to notebooklm.google.com and create a new notebook
Add sources to the notebook - anything from Google Docs to YouTube videos (with a business Google Workspace account you can add up to 300)
Find information about your project
Read the summary for an overview
Ask questions in chat to get information you need. For example:
What are the launch dates for each phase of the project?
Is there any conflicting information between the sources?
What’s [name]’s role in the project?
Create new project resources
Check all the options in the ‘Studio’ panel on the right. For example:
Create a briefing doc for new starters
Create a slide deck of the latest updates
Create an infographic with the project timeline to date
Create an audio overview to turn your project into a podcast
Make it self-serve by sharing with colleagues
Click ‘Share’
[Optional] Add a welcome message
Provide access to the whole notebook or only the chat (helpful if it’s a project that attracts lots of questions internally)
This is genuinely quick and easy to setup. Take 5 minutes now to choose one active project, gather 3-5 key documents (e.g. kick-off notes, strategy, program overview), and put them into a notebook. That’s it!
By the way, next Thursday 5th February at 9:30am PST/12:30pm EST/5:30pm GMT will be the next monthly Google Meet for paid members of Workspace Boost. I’ll share 10-15 mins of updates and live demos before opening the floor to Q&A. Want to join? Upgrade to paid here.
See you in the next one!
Dean
