GitHub Copilot

Last year, we started using GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio and VS Code, the primary IDE and code editor we use, respectively. Our immediate impression was that it was "simply" a far more capable version of IntelliSense—the code completion feature that's been around for years in Visual Studio.

We've found that one of the main benefits of GitHub Copilot is that it leads you down the path of writing code that aligns with the coding conventions in use for the project you're currently in. This is particularly useful in a team, where not everyone may recall the exact naming conventions or patterns in use for a given project; especially if they're new to the project, or are having to bounce back and forth between projects with different styles.

GitHub Copilot is generally good at anticipating what you're trying to do, and offering relevant suggestions that can sometimes be used as-is, or used after some minor touch-ups upon review. This can be a real time saver, and is great at maintaining velocity when you're in a flow state. Furthermore, GitHub Copilot works well to refresh your memory on how to use an API you haven't used in a while, or guide you through the process of using a new API you're not yet familiar with.

Copilot for Microsoft 365

Earlier this year, Microsoft made Copilot for Microsoft 365 (M365)—different from GitHub Copilot—available to small- and medium-sizes businesses. So alongside GitHub Copilot, we are now using Copilot for M365 ("Copilot") as well. Though we haven't found much use for Copilot in the traditional Microsoft Office apps such as Outlook, Word and Excel, we have found it more useful in Teams.

In particular, Copilot makes it much easier to pull together meeting minutes and extract action items following a Teams meeting, through its transcription functionality. Furthermore, having M365 Chat available directly within Teams has proven handy, since it saves us from having to otherwise search for the web browser tab in which we had Copilot open, and seems to do a much better job of tracking past conversations that we might need to refer back to.

New Normal

It's clear that AI is indeed the new normal. As always, we're keen to leverage high-quality tools and technologies that enable us to improve our productivity and realize more innovative solutions—GitHub Copilot and Copilot for M365 seem to be doing just that.