First let’s talk about the problem. It’s that the average worker switches between apps and tabs about 1,200 times a day. That’s just under four hours a week, or about five weeks a year. Bloomberg called it the “toggling tax.” And it’s exactly the kind of hidden cost that’s easy to miss until you take a closer look.

Every one of those switches is a moment when you or your team aren’t doing real work. It’s wasted time. Like copying from one tool to paste into another. Or checking a spreadsheet against an email just to see where things stand. It’s not the work. It’s the stuff around it.

And there’s a big reason it happens. The tools you’re using were built for some general purpose, not for exactly what you’re trying to do. So you spend all these little moments filling that gap. And the cost is time.

So that’s the opportunity. If, instead of all these “one size fits all” tools, you create something that actually works the way you do, the switching becomes unnecessary. And the time you’ve been spending as “the glue,” you get back.

Tomorrow we’re going to take a look at the Google tools that make this possible, and even easy.

See you then,
Doug

Over the last few days I’ve mentioned that there are Google Workspace tools that let you create your own tools. A picture is worth 1,000 words (and a video is worth 10,000) so I created this video to show the tools rather than trying to describe them.

We’ll go a little more in depth (still sticking to 3 minutes) on each one of these each day, starting with AppSheet tomorrow.

Talk then,
Doug

Today we’re going to look at AppSheet. It’s included with most Google Workspace plans, and the simplest way to think about it is this: your data stays in Google Sheets, but AppSheet gives you a better way to look at it and work with it. Either on your computer or your phone.

And beyond just a better view, it does some things that Sheets isn’t particularly good at: Required fields so bad data doesn’t get in, offline access from your phone, with automatic sync when you’re back online, and basic automations that run in the background without anyone having to remember to do them.

In this video I’ll give you a quick look at how creating an app with AppSheet works:

Tomorrow we’re going to look at Google Workspace Studio. It’s for creating workflow automations, much like Zapier.

See you then,
Doug

PS: Just a reminder that if you have any questions you can reply to these emails. The replies go right to me, and I’ll get back to you quickly.

Today we’re looking at Workspace Studio. It’s Google’s newest addition to Workspace, and the simplest way to think about it is this: you tell it what kind of things to watch for, and what to do when those things happen. From there, it handles those things automatically, without anyone having to remember to do them.

If you’re familiar with Zapier, it’s kind of like that but built right into Google Workspace.

Here’s a quick look at how it works:

Tomorrow we’re going to look at AI Studio. It’s an exciting one. Kind of like magic.

See you then,
Doug

Today we’re looking at AI Studio, and the simplest way to think about it is this: you describe the app you want, and it builds it for you, custom, from scratch. Here’s how it works:

Wow, AI Studio looks amazing! Why not just use it for everything?

Because that endless freedom comes with a few tradeoffs.

When you use a “no-code” tool like AppSheet or Workspace Studio to build your app, it has built-in guardrails that control what you can do, which naturally prevents you from breaking the app. The downside is that it starts to get a little rigid when you want to do more than just create better views of your spreadsheets.

A “vibe coding” tool like AI Studio is the exact opposite. It gives you complete flexibility, but you don’t have those types of built-in safety nets. And without those guardrails, it just means you need to be more careful about what you’re doing.

Don’t let that deter you, though. AI Studio is still essential to building exactly what you imagine, and you can even combine it with AppSheet so that you can get the best of both worlds. You just need to take the right steps to ensure your custom apps run securely and are built to last. If you’re curious about how these tradeoffs might apply to your specific situation, just reach out and I’d be happy to discuss.

Tomorrow we’re going to look at Google Cloud. It’s how you, your team, your customers, or anyone else you choose can actually access the tools you’ve built with AI Studio. It’s also where you’ll find more advanced capabilities, like storing your app data in a true database when it becomes too big for a spreadsheet.

Talk then,
Doug

Yesterday we looked at building custom tools with AI Studio. But an app on a single screen isn’t much use until the people can use it.

That’s where Google Cloud comes in. It provides the actual cloud servers where your apps live, taking the custom tools you build and running them online so everyone you want to have access can use them securely.

This video shows what Google Cloud is and how easy it is to deploy your AI Studio apps:

Beyond just hosting your custom apps, Google Cloud acts as a long-term foundation for a growing business. As your needs expand, it gives you access to an ecosystem of advanced services that are there for you whenever you’re ready for them.

For instance, when you eventually outgrow basic spreadsheets, you can easily spin up robust, proper databases on the exact same platform. If you ever want to build more specialized machine learning workflows down the road, tools like Vertex AI are already built in and waiting. It essentially ensures that no matter how big your vision gets, your business will never outgrow your technology stack.

Tomorrow we’ll recap everything we’ve covered and talk about how you and your team can get started with everything we’ve talked about this week.

Talk then,
Doug

Hopefully this week has given you a good sense of what’s possible, and maybe even sparked ideas for specific things you could build in your own business. And if the ideas aren’t flowing yet, I built a tool for exactly that. It asks a few questions about your business and finds the quick wins you could build on Google Workspace. It’s quick, it’s free, no email required.

If you haven’t already tried any of the tools we covered this week, here are the links. Google provides excellent documentation for each one to help you get started.

• AppSheet
• Workspace Studio
• AI Studio
• Google Cloud

I also have a YouTube channel, “The Workspace Way,” where I share new tips, demos, and tutorials on building with Google Workspace. So if you find this stuff interesting, be sure to follow along there.

One last thing. If you’d like a partner for your first project, that’s something I do. With an Alliance Project, I work alongside you and your team to plan, prototype, and build your first app, so you get going faster without having to learn everything from scratch.

Whether we work together or not, I want to help you succeed. If there’s anything I can do, just reply to this email. It comes right to me.

Thanks for joining me this week, and happy building.

Doug