Agentic tasks: multi-step work, Claude in Chrome, Excel, PowerPoint and Slack

0:00 From answers to outcomes

For most of AI's short history, you asked and it answered. In twenty twenty six, Claude increasingly does the work, planning steps, using your tools, creating files and checking back with you. This lecture shows you where Claude can now act, how to delegate a task so it actually succeeds, and the guardrails that stop an eager assistant from making a very real mistake.

0:28 Why this is a step change

Why is this a step change? Because an answer saves you minutes, while a delegated task can save you hours. Compiling a weekly report, pulling numbers from three places, drafting the update, formatting the chart. That is the work agents now take on. But there is a catch. Once an assistant can act, mistakes become real. An email sent, a sheet overwritten, a form submitted. So think of it like handing a task to a capable new hire. The more you delegate, the more your briefing and your guardrails matter.

1:07 How we got here

A quick history. Anthropic launched Claude Cowork as a separate workspace for multi step tasks, generally available from April twenty twenty six and on web and mobile from July. Then in September it merged Cowork into the main Claude conversation. Today you simply describe the outcome you want. Claude decides whether to answer, create a document or work through a task, checks in with you along the way, and you keep the final say. You can even schedule recurring work, like every Monday, draft the team update from the KPI sheet.

1:47 Where Claude works now

Claude now works in several places. In the main conversation, it runs multi step tasks across connectors, files and code. Claude in Chrome is a browser extension that reads and acts on pages you have open, with your permission. Claude for Excel and PowerPoint works inside your workbook or deck, and since March can move work between them. In Slack you can delegate by tagging Claude in a thread. And computer use, still a research preview, lets Claude operate desktop apps through screenshots and clicks. Many of these are paid plan features, and admins control them on business plans.

2:30 Delegation fails for human reasons

Here is the key insight. Agentic tasks fail for the same reasons delegating to a person fails. The goal is vague. The assistant lacks access to what it needs. Or nobody defined what done looks like. So we use a task brief.

2:48 The task brief

A task brief has seven parts. The outcome, for example a one page weekly performance update. The inputs, such as a connected Google Sheet and last week's update. The steps Claude may take, like read the sheet, calculate changes, draft a Doc and create one chart. A do not list, do not send, post, share, edit the sheet or contact anyone. Check ins, ask me before any step not listed. A definition of done, numbers match the sheet with the cells shown, three insights, three actions, a checks needed list. And finally, a schedule, but only after a supervised run succeeds.

3:32 Guardrails

Agentic tools act with your permissions, so set the scope carefully. Connect only what the task needs, and prefer read only access. Write explicit stop rules. Approve consequential actions yourself, especially in Chrome on sites where you are logged in, like banking, ad accounts or admin consoles, which are best avoided entirely unless your organisation has approved it. Remember that web pages and documents can carry instructions aimed at AI. Anthropic builds defences, including permission prompts and security scanning for plugins, but narrow tasks and human review are your best protection.

4:12 Simple example

Let's start simple. Ask Claude, with read only access to one shared folder, to summarise every Friday what changed in that folder this week, as a draft Doc, and to send or share nothing. Run it once while you watch. Check the summary against the folder. Did it catch the renamed file? Did it misread anything? When the first run is right, schedule it. You now have a small, safe, useful agent, and a pattern you can extend to bigger jobs like the weekly trading update later in this lecture.

4:51 Worked example: Monday trading update

An e commerce manager in Manchester connects Google Drive with read only access and asks Claude to produce the Monday trading update from a KPI sheet. Because her brief required showing the cells used, she spots on the first run that refunds were counted as revenue, thanks to an ambiguous column header. She fixes the header, adds a rule to the brief, and reviews the next two runs closely. By week three, ninety minutes of compiling has become ten minutes of reviewing. Posting to Slack stays a human step. She also learned where not to use an agent. When she tried to have it reconcile supplier invoices in the finance system, the task needed judgement calls about disputed charges and access she did not want to grant. So that stayed manual, with Claude only drafting a summary of discrepancies from an exported file. Knowing where to stop is part of delegating well.

5:57 Pitfalls

Watch for four pitfalls. Granting broad write access to make it easier. Scheduling a task before it has succeeded under supervision. Letting a browser agent loose on logged in admin or payment pages. And treating an output as final because the process was automated. Automation changes who does the work. It does not change who is accountable.

6:22 Try this now

Try this now. Choose one weekly chore that uses information Claude can reach, a status update, a folder summary, a KPI digest. Write the seven part brief. Outcome, inputs, allowed steps, a do not list, check ins, a definition of done, and the schedule you want later. Run it once while you watch, and review every number and every action it proposes. Correct anything, and add a rule to the brief for each correction. Only after a clean supervised run should you schedule it, and even then, review the first three scheduled runs closely.

7:03 Watch me do it, part 1

Let me set up the Monday trading update. First, connectors. I enable Google Drive with the narrowest access my admin allows, reading only. Then I paste the seven part brief. Outcome, a one page weekly update. Inputs, the Weekly KPIs sheet and last week's update. Allowed steps, read the sheet, calculate week on week changes, draft a Claude Doc, create one chart. Do not, send, post, share, edit the sheet or contact anyone. Check ins, ask before any unlisted step. Definition of done, numbers match the sheet with the cells shown, three insights, three actions, a checks needed list. I leave the schedule for later. Claude shows its plan, and I approve it.

7:52 Watch me do it, part 2

The draft arrives with a cells used appendix, which is why I asked for it. I compare it with the sheet and spot the problem. Revenue includes column E, which is refunds, because its header just says adjustments. I rename the header in the sheet, and I add a rule to the brief, refunds are negative revenue, never add them. I rerun, and the numbers now match my own calculation. Only now do I set the schedule, every Monday at eight, UK time. For the next three Mondays I will review the output closely before I trust it. Posting to Slack stays with me.

8:37 Recap and next step

Recap. Claude can now carry out multi step work in chat, in Chrome, in Excel and PowerPoint, and in Slack. Brief it like a good manager, with outcome, inputs, allowed steps, stop rules, check ins and a definition of done. Keep access narrow and approve anything consequential. Your next step: pick one weekly task, write the brief, run it once under supervision, and only then put it on a schedule.