You’re building. You're busy. The last thing you need is another generic "AI will change everything" pep talk. So here’s the actionable truth: Anthropic’s Head of Product for Claude Code, Cat Wu, isn't just talking about AI. She’s using it to pump out 20-page presentations in an hour, while she sleeps. That's a direct shot at your manual drafting workflow.

Key Takeaways

  • Tailor your AI tools for the task: Wu distinguishes between Anthropic's tools: Claude Code in the terminal for quick coding tasks, Desktop for front-end work, and Co-work for all non-code outputs like emails, docs, or slide decks.
  • Co-work thrives on connection: Its power comes from integrating with your data. Wu emphasizes connecting Co-work to essential communication and data sources like Google Calendar, Slack, Gmail, and Google Drive. Without this context, the output quality tanks.
  • Automate your most tedious tasks: Wu describes feeding Co-work a few links and a desired narrative, then waking up to a ready-to-present 20-page deck. This isn't just editing; it’s synthesizing and structuring a complex document from diverse sources.
  • Treat AI like a skilled but ignorant junior PM: It needs clear instructions, access to all relevant context, and an existing template or design system to produce polished work. Think of it as a force multiplier for synthesis.
  • Adopt the Co-work Slide Deck Generation Method: This systematic approach can drastically cut the time you spend on presentation creation, freeing you for higher-level strategic work.

The Co-work Slide Deck Generation Method

Here’s how Cat Wu uses Anthropic’s Co-work to automate complex presentation creation:

Step 1: Connect Data Sources: Connect all the data sources that are relevant to your role because co-work can only do a great job if it has access to all the context that it needs... so that it just knows it has the flexibility to find relevant context to ask questions to pull in threads. So what that means for me is I connect it to my Google calendar. I connect it to my Slack, to my Gmail, to my Google Drive.

Step 2: Provide Prompt and Initial Context: I just wrote make me a slide deck for the code with cloud conference. This is what our PMM suggested it should cover. This is the current draft that I made that I don't like. This is one that I made manually that I don't like, but I linked it. Can you start by creating a proposed outline with details? Also, make sure it doesn't overlap too much with a keynote talk, which is more important.

Step 3: Review and Refine Outline: Claude read a bunch of the links that I sent to it and created a proposed outline. So then I read through its proposal and all the different ideas that it had generated for what we could cover and I just made a decision on what I wanted to actually be in the final deck.

Step 4: Incorporate Design System (Template): We actually already have like a standardized deck that we use across all of our external engagements. And so I just gave Claude access to that. And so it's able to see like what colors we use, what fonts we use, the different kinds of... slide formats that are possible. And so it has like 20 of these example slides. You can also connect to like your Figma MCP if you if you have your slide format um saved there and it can pull that in.

When This Works (and When It Doesn't)

Wu explains this method dramatically reduces the time spent on creating polished, contextually relevant slide decks. It is particularly effective for PMs and other knowledge workers who frequently need to synthesize information and create presentations, allowing them to focus on high-level strategy and content refinement rather than manual drafting and design. This method shines when your core task is synthesizing existing information into a structured format. It’s less effective when the presentation requires deep, novel insights that haven't been documented, or when the tone and narrative need a truly unique, human-centric voice at every turn.

What to Do With This

Stop wasting hours manually crafting your next investor update. This week, pick a crucial presentation you need to build—say, your Q4 board deck or a pitch for a new feature. Connect your Co-work instance to your Google Drive (for past reports and data), Slack (for team discussions and decisions), and your Google Calendar (for meeting context). Then, feed it your existing brand template and a detailed prompt outlining your goals, key metrics, and target audience. Let it generate the first draft, then spend your time refining the narrative and impact, not fighting with formatting or copy-pasting data.