Why I’m Excited About Microsoft’s “Vibe Working” and Agent Mode

Nev N

— 2 min read
Why I’m Excited About Microsoft’s “Vibe Working” and Agent Mode

Working in Midtown Manhattan means my days are a blur of Excel models, Word reports, and coffee runs. Between early mornings on the 7 train, grabbing a quick bagel near Grand Central, and late nights in the office polishing decks, I’ve realized one thing: busywork eats life.

I don’t mind analyzing numbers or presenting insights—that’s the fun part. What drains me is the endless tweaking: fixing formulas that break, copy-pasting charts, rewriting sections in Word so they “sound more polished.” It’s hours of admin work that no one really sees but that everyone expects.

That’s why Microsoft’s new vibe working approach, especially Agent Mode in Excel and Word, has me seriously excited.

Here’s the pitch: instead of being just an “assistant,” the software actually works with you. In Excel, I could ask for a three-year cash flow forecast, and instead of fighting with nested IF statements at 11 PM, Agent Mode breaks it down step by step, builds the model, formats it, and even shows how it got there. In Word, it’s like having a co-writer—drafting sections, smoothing transitions, and structuring reports so I can spend less time rephrasing and more time focusing on the bigger picture.

For someone like me, this hits differently:

  • Brain space back. I’d rather think about markets and client strategy than debug why VLOOKUP isn’t working.
  • Time saved. That means I can actually make the 6:30 reservation at Izakaya in Hell’s Kitchen instead of canceling again.
  • Transparency. I like that it shows reasoning—if I’m presenting to partners, I need to trust the numbers.
  • Confidence. Walking into a Monday meeting knowing my reports are polished feels like a win.

And yeah, I’ve seen the competition. Google Sheets has smart add-ons, Notion AI is clever, and ChatGPT helps me draft quick emails—but none of them live inside the apps my entire firm depends on. Embedding this directly into Office? That’s a real shift.

Sure, it’ll mess up sometimes. I’m not handing over final models to AI without checking them. But if Agent Mode can shave even 30% of the grunt work off my week, that’s huge. More time for deep work, more time for clients—and honestly, maybe even more time for myself.

So when Microsoft talks about “vibe working,” I get it. To me, it means leaving the office a little earlier, walking down Fifth Avenue without staring at Slack, maybe grabbing a slice near Bryant Park before heading home. If tech can give me back those small New York moments, then yeah—I’m all in.

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