How the comms team created an agent by thinking of it as a teammate.
The skills comms pros use every day can translate to building practical AI tools.
PG&E’s comms team learned this when they built “Lean Into AI,” a Copilot-powered agent that automates time-consuming internal processes by writing TIPs, or tactical implementation plans, for the company’s fifth annual Hackathon.
The team’s agent and presentation, led by Marketing and Communications Principal Angela Lombardi and Communications Representative Shannon Disney, won the challenge, beating out 34 other teams, mostly made up of engineers.
Their approach is replicable, and it offers a practical framework for any communicator wondering how to turn AI tools into problem solvers.
“I got to see my creativity, knowledge and prompting skillset in action and watch AI help turn our vision into a working agent,” Lombardi said.
Below are three things comms pros can take away from their approach and how to apply them now.
- Start with a real operational pain point
Teams need to begin by discussing what processes waste the most time. What do people complain about? What’s overly repetitive?
Lombardi’s team focused on a challenge employees at PG&E struggle with. They wanted to create a simpler, more streamlined way to generate TIPs.
When choosing a task to tackle, first audit your team’s workflows, Lombardi said. Identify tasks that are repetitive, rules-based or require pulling info from multiple sources.
Then validate with colleagues or leadership. Ask, “Is this a real problem and would a tool help?” Lombardi said.
This feedback ensures your AI project will help to solve an actual business challenge.
- Use AI as a thinking partner
To begin building an agent for a specific task, you don’t need major technical skills.
Lombardi and Disney started by using Copilot to break down the Hackathon’s instructions and scoring criteria. Their prompts weren’t fancy or complex. They clarified the task with simple questions like:
- What is this asking for?
- What needs to be clearer?
- Does this answer the question?
“We used AI as a thinking partner, not a replacement for judgment,” Lombardi said.
LLMs can help teams prioritize what matters most, checking for gaps, clarity and alignment, and drafting multiple options quickly.
- Keep the agent simple
The goal with their agent was usability, Lombardi said.
“Because we had AI helping structure our decisions, we could focus on making the agent usable and simple for real coworkers,” Lombardi said.
Using Copilot Studio, vibe coding and connectors like Excel and SharePoint, Lombardi built an agent that turned messy meeting notes into structured TIPs that didn’t require custom coding.
To build an agent, teams can start with a prompt like, “turn notes into a draft report.”
Remember the agent doesn’t need to be elegant, it just needs to work.
“We focused on clarity, consistency and saving people time,” Lombardi said.
The team’s presentation was also a major scoring factor for the Hackathon, so the team used its AI agent to explore formats and chose a video built in Vyond. Disney turned the concept into a clear, engaging story with / visuals and step-by-step explanations.
Lombardi’s team created their presentation by asking, “What are 5 ways to present this idea clearly?” and “Analyze past successes.”
“There was no magic prompt,” Lombardi said. “We just talked to AI constantly… Sometimes we rejected outputs, sometimes we kept only 10%, but that 10% saved us hours.”
The presentation worked because it provided clarity, narrative flow and an audience-first message, things communicators prioritize daily. “This is where comms pros shine,” she said.
By the end of the assignment, PG&E’s agent projected the company would save 8,000 hours annually and create more consistent operational alignment, Lombardi said.
“We used AI the way communicators naturally work – conversationally, iteratively and with a focus on clarity and audience,” Lombardi said. “AI won’t take your job. Somebody with AI skill sets and AI literacy could really change the game.”
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at courtneyb@ragan.com.
For more resources, visit Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council, a community for senior communicators and their teams.
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