Defining Digital Labor and AI Agents

👉Full Show notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/751

Hosts: Mark Smith, Meg Smith

Humans need sharper collaboration and delegation to work with AI agents as digital labour. The episode maps how to brief agents with clear goals, definition of done, checkpoints, and feedback loops, and when to keep humans in the loop by risk. Expect interfaces like Microsoft Teams surfacing agent actions while BPM and process mining reshape workflows. The hosts weigh responsibility, repeatability, and trust, noting variability in large language models and law such as the EU AI Act. Practical exercises and consumer examples show how to build these skills now.

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🎙️ What you’ll learn

• Define goals, constraints, and a clear definition of done for agent tasks.
• Set feedback loops, checkpoints, and timeframes to prevent rework.
• Calibrate human-in-the-loop oversight by risk tier and impact.
• Use BPM and process mining to prepare and optimise workflows for agents.
• Practise explicit, testable instructions to improve delegation and collaboration.

✅Highlights

• “what are the human skills that we need to learn to work with AI better.”
• “software-based labor that partners with humans on specific processes.”
• “We can't be future-proofed anymore. The best we can hope for is future ready.”
• “delegation being an important skill for people who are going to be working with and instructing agents to do tasks.”
• “I think that the human to human collaboration is going to be such an important part.”
• “What does the definition of done look like?”
• “Parkinson's Law states that you will stretch out the completion of your task until they fill the time available to complete them.”
• “how should responsibility be managed when these agents make mistakes?”
• “communication happens at the listener's ear, not at the speaker's mouth.”

🧰 Mentioned

• Business Process Management (BPM) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_management
• Bon Appétit YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbpMy0Fg74eXXkvxJrtEn3w
• Lisa Crosbie YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/lisacrosbie
• Parkinson's Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law
• The Four Hour Work Week https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_4-Hour_Workweek

Connect with the hosts

Mark Smith:  
Blog https://www.nz365guy.com
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nz365guy

Meg Smith:  
Blog https://www.megsmith.nz
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/megsmithnz

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Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

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Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith