If your to-do list feels longer than your working day, you’re not alone. In a recent survey of public servants, Apolitical members told us that managing workload and competing priorities are among their biggest challenges.

That’s why Apolitical’s recent AI Skills Lab session focused on how to apply AI for Time Management. Public servants from around the world joined digital strategist Garth von Buchholz to explore how generative AI tools can act as a practical, everyday time-saver.

From quicker policy analysis to clearer communication, here are the five standout tips you can start to apply in your role.

1. Think of AI as a time multiplier, not a magic wand

AI works best as a system-level helper. It can summarise long documents, analyse information quickly and surface insights that would otherwise take hours. It can help public servants to produce actionable items, reducing the time gap between ideas and implementation.

The goal isn’t to replace human judgement, but to free up time for work that actually needs it

2. Better prompts beat longer prompts

Forget rigid formulas. The most effective prompts are clear, conversational and well-scoped. Say what you want, say what you don’t want and add constraints where useful. Too vague and the output isn’t specific enough, too detailed and you limit the way AI can respond. Finding that middle ground is where the “golden response” lives.

Comparing policies, checking documents against legislation or spotting gaps between guidance and practice are classic public service time-sinks.

AI excels at this kind of analysis. It can review multiple sources at once and flag risks or inconsistencies in seconds. Just make sure a human checks the final output.

4. Plan ahead with AI-powered forecasting

AI can help you think beyond today’s inbox. By feeding in project details, you can ask it to forecast tasks, risks and resource needs 30, 60 or 90 days ahead.

Structured outputs like tables or timelines make it easier to spot pressure points before they become problems, or help you set project goals and milestones.

5. Deal with comms overload

Public servants often have to send repetitive communications, which can really eat into important focus time. AI can be used to draft reusable communication templates that can later be adapted to different contexts and audiences.

The result is less reinventing the wheel and more getting things done — all whilst retaining a consistent format and style.

Want to see these ideas in action? Watch the session highlights video below for a quick tour of the best moments. You can also visit the event page to access the full recording, additional resources and speaker bios.

This article was written with the help of AI using an anonymised transcript and edited by a human before publishing.

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