Navigating some of Gmail ‘s functionality can be a little frustrating. In this tutorial we will concentrate on Gmail ‘s Smart Reply and Smart Compose auto-completion tools, which are designed to save time.

Allowing a machine help you write emails and subject lines may make you feel a little weird, but if you’re willing to at least try it out for yourself, here are the ways to automate your Gmail responses.

Enabling Smart Reply and Smart Compose

To allow Gmail to generate responses and email text, you first have to opt in from your Settings menu. If you are a regular Gmail user (instead of G Suite enterprise edition), here’s what to do:

On desktop

• Click on the gear icon on the upper right side and find the Settings page.
• Scroll down to the separate Smart Reply and Smart Compose options and choose “On” for either or both to enable the automated suggestions.
• You can also choose to allow Gmail’s machine learning to personalize the suggestions based on the way you write your emails by choosing “Smart Compose personalization.” For example, if you greet your colleagues with “Hi, team” versus “Hello, everyone,” it will automatically drop in whatever you use most often.

If you use G Suite, you may notice that the option to toggle on Smart Compose is not available. Your G Suite admin must enable this for the organization, so contact the person in charge if you’d like to test this out at work.

On the Android or iOS app

• Tap the hamburger icon on the upper-left side to open the side drawer. Scroll down to Settings.
• Select the Gmail account you want to address
• Tap the checkbox on Smart Reply and / or Smart Compose to toggle the mode on

Once the settings are turned on, your Gmail is set up to suggest replies and help auto-finish sentences based on your writing style.

What it looks like

Basically, you just start typing, and Gmail will begin suggesting words that might fit the sentence you’re writing.

Be aware that it won’t always come on for every email you write. Because Gmail needs context, you’ll likely find Smart Compose chiming in when you’re responding to an email or if you’re starting emails with some generic statements like “Nice to meet you” or “Hope you’re well.” If Gmail has a suggestion, an opaque set of text will appear next to what you’re typing.

On the desktop version of Gmail, you can press Tab to accept the suggestion. On the mobile app, if a suggested word or phrase appears, swipe right to add it to the email.

Smart Compose can also suggest email subjects. Leave the subject line blank, and start writing your email. Once you go back to fill out the subject line, Gmail will offer a suggestion that you can accept by pressing Tab on the desktop app or swipe right on mobile.

Smart Reply for canned responses

Smart Reply works a little faster than Smart Compose. Instead of suggesting words or short phrases for you, Gmail will offer three responses that might suit the email you’ve received. For example, if you’ve gotten an email reminding you of an appointment, Smart Reply may suggest responses like “Confirmed,” “Thanks,” or “I can’t make it.”

If you are in an email conversation with several people, be aware that responding with a Smart Reply will CC everyone on that email. You’ll have to manually remove the people you don’t want in that response, so it’s best to only choose Smart Reply for emails you mean to send to everyone in the thread.

Should you actually use it?

Choosing to let a machine write your emails may feel impersonal, but it’s not designed to write the whole email for you. Smart Compose and Smart Reply work best when you use them to add filler sentences or quickly respond to yes or no emails. Plus, Gmail has gotten a lot better at suggesting responses that will make sense 90 percent of the time. (In my experience, the responses tend to veer toward affirmative answers, so they may not work best if you’re less prone to agreeing to everything.)

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Despite the fact that OS skills development is nothing new, the subtle changes in business requirements over the years mean the need has progressed beyond foundational skills. Today, companies are looking for people who have more advanced OS skills reflecting a more dynamic, connected business landscape.

While the market for this in South Africa is relatively small when compared to more developed countries, there is certainly significant potential for growth. As demand for OS-based solutions increase here, and on the rest of the continent, so too will the skills requirement.

According to the 2016 Open Source Jobs Report published earlier this month, 65% of hiring managers say OS hiring will increase more than any other part of their business over the next six months, and 79% of hiring managers have increased incentives to hold on to their current OS professionals.

Furthermore, the report found that 58% of hiring managers are seeking DevOps professionals while the need for developers remains the top position on their list at 74%. Perhaps the most telling statistic is the one that shows that 31% of OS professionals say the best thing about their jobs is working on interesting projects, while working on the most cutting-edge technology challenges (18%) and collaborating with a global community (17%) also feature prominently.

This last point indicates just how far OS has come in the business adoption cycle. No longer just limited to core back-end systems, OS provides decision-makers with a way to manipulate the underlying platform to suit more diverse organisational needs. This link between mission-critical platforms and systems are resulting in an increased demand for the associated skills to extract the most value out of the transition.

However, as with any IT component, there are a dizzying array of skills on offer. While much attention is placed on Linux, this is only one part of the OS offering. Companies need to consider the benefits of attracting talent with skills that talk to open customer relationship management, open databases, the open cloud, and even an open management system.

This is resulting in companies increasingly starting to take OS more seriously from a skills perspective. They understand that new requirements mean they have to adopt revised learning programmes that can encompass the likes of online courses, virtual-led classrooms, and self-paced programmes to enhance their existing OS skill set.

It must be remembered that there is no silver bullet approach to take to strengthen OS skills in the organisation. Decision-makers need to be considered and align their development with the company strategy. The most pressing needs are to start taking those first steps to build in-house capacity or to attract more advanced OS talent. The business world of today and the future demands it.

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