Welcome to the 10th edition of Work in Beta.

In this edition, we help you understand what are Claude Skills. They have been the hype for the last few months now. We help break down what Skills actually are, how they differ from what you already know, and where they make a real difference.

Also, this is your last opportunity to join our AI WORKSHOP for non-technical professionals this week on 14th March 2026 (9 pm - 11 pm IST). The details are below in this email.

So, let’s dive in!

Claude Skills have been all over the AI news. It could seem like yet another AI feature and a lot of noise associated with it. BUT! This is a feature you should pay attention to.

Skills are one of the most practical features Anthropic has shipped for people who use Claude for real work. That is exactly what we have covered in this edition of our newsletter.

If there is one key take-away, it is for you to understand the importance and use a Skill right away after reading this. So let's jump in.

A Skill is a reusable playbook that teaches Claude how to do a specific kind of work.

Not a one-time prompt. Not background context. A set of instructions and resources that Claude loads when it detects a task that matches.

Think of it this way: a prompt is like giving AI verbal instructions once. A Project is like handing AI a briefing folder. A Skill is like training it on a procedure - something it can repeat, consistently, every time that type of work comes up.

The operative word here is reusable. You define the procedure once. Claude applies it automatically whenever the task fits - across any conversation, any project.

This is where most people get confused, so here's the simple breakdown:

Projects hold your context. Skills teach Claude what to do with that context.

Here's a concrete example: Imagine you have a "Product Launch" Project with your specs, research, and timeline as files. A documentation Skill with specific instructions about how to write documents teaches Claude on how to format briefs in your team’s standard format. An advantage with Skills is that the same Skill, created once, is available across the entire Claude workspace (Claude.ai, Claude Code and Claude Cowork) and not just inside “Product Launch” project.

Not all Skills are created equal, and there's more already built than most people realize or can ever consume.

Anthropic Skills (built-in): Pre-built by Anthropic. These handle common file tasks - Excel spreadsheets with formulae, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, fillable PDFs. They invoke automatically when Claude detects the task at hand needs them. No setup required.

Custom Skills: Created by you or sourced from the community. A Custom Skill is a set of written instructions - your output structure, your rules, your format. You write what you want Claude to do, how you want it done, and what the output should look like. Or you find one that someone else has already built and shared. More on this in a moment.

Organization Skills (Team/Enterprise): Admin-distributed Skills that standardize workflows across a whole team (or even organization). Everyone gets the same procedures, same output quality, same format.

You have messy data - exported CSVs, copied tables, rough numbers. You need a clean spreadsheet with proper formatting, column headers, and working formulas.

The built-in Excel Skill handles this without any setup. Claude detects that the task involves spreadsheet creation and loads the Skill automatically. It applies formatting, builds formulae, and structures the output as a proper .xlsx file - not a text table you still have to copy + paste manually.

No configuration. No instructions to write. It just works when the task calls for it.

You're writing a blog post or newsletter and the process is always the same - research the topic, find sources, build an outline, draft sections, revise. Every time, you start from scratch explaining what you need.

The Content Research Writer is a community-built Skill (shared by Composio on GitHub) that turns this into a structured workflow. It walks you through outlining your main arguments, researches credible sources and manages citations, then gives you section-by-section feedback on clarity, flow, and evidence quality - all while preserving your voice instead of flattening it into generic AI-speak.

The point isn't that this specific Skill is the one you need. It's that someone already built it, shared it publicly, and you can add it to your Claude setup in minutes. The community is creating Skills for content workflows, research processes, technical writing and the library is growing fast.

While we sold you the concept of Skills, it’s worth spending a few minutes understanding what Skills are not:

Skills aren't a power-user feature. They're a shift in how AI tools work - from one-off conversations to repeatable procedures.

The core pattern is simple - write your instructions once, reuse them every time. Whether you build your own or grab one from the community, the result is the same: you stop re-explaining and start working.

Pick one workflow. Write the instructions. Or find someone who already has.

This is your last chance to join us in the for the workshop that has helped participants from diverse functions including engineering, consulting, marketing, operations, product management, investment banking and more, to get more efficient at work using AI.

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