How to Make the Most of Asana Intelligence (Ai) in Your Projects and Workflows

Summary

In this video, Marque, CEO of Surface Systems, discusses addressing workplace burnout through a free webinar on May 30th. He then explores Asana's AI tools for enhancing productivity, including smart summaries, subtasks, and editors. Marque demonstrates how these features streamline project management, from summarizing tasks to drafting status updates. He emphasizes the value of AI in improving workflow efficiency and hints at exciting future developments. Viewers are encouraged to subscribe and share the video to benefit their teams.

Takeaways

• 📈 Workplace burnout is a growing epidemic, impacting team well-being and productivity.
• 🗓️ Join a free webinar on May 30th at 12:00 p.m. EST for seven practical strategies to reduce stress and build a resilient team.
• 🤖 The video explores AI tools on the Asana platform and their role in enhancing productivity.
• 🔍 The AI feature 'smart summaries' helps summarize long task descriptions into concise paragraphs.
• 📋 AI can generate subtasks from a task description, making it easier to identify action items.
• ✍️ The 'smart editor' feature can refine, shorten, or change the tone of text in task descriptions and comments.
• 🧠 'Ask AI' allows users to ask project-specific questions and get detailed responses.
• 📊 AI can analyze project data and provide insights, such as the percentage of non-urgent tasks.
• 📧 Weekly email summaries can be generated by AI, providing an overview of project activities.
• 📝 Project managers can use AI to draft detailed status updates and goal progress reports, enhancing communication and efficiency.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the webinar being promoted?

The webinar focuses on addressing workplace burnout and provides seven practical strategies using Asana to help reduce stress and build a more resilient team.

Who is the presenter of the webinar?

The presenter is Marque, an Asana partner and the CEO of Surface, a systems improvement consultancy.

What are the benefits of using AI in Asana as described in the video?

AI in Asana helps with smart summaries, generating subtasks from descriptions, refining and editing text, and providing project-specific answers and status updates, thereby enhancing productivity and workflow efficiency.

What specific AI feature is demonstrated for summarizing long project descriptions?

The smart summaries feature is demonstrated for summarizing long project descriptions into concise paragraphs.

How does Asana's AI assist in generating subtasks from a project description?

Asana's AI analyzes the project description and generates relevant subtasks automatically, such as identifying a suitable domain name, choosing a reputable hosting provider, and installing an SSL certificate.

What can the AI smart editor in Asana do?

The AI smart editor can refine text, change its tone to be more professional, direct, or friendly, and adjust the length or format of the text based on user preferences.

What is the purpose of the 'Ask AI' feature in Asana?

The 'Ask AI' feature allows users to ask AI questions related to the project, such as key milestones, task progress, and tasks assigned to specific stages, providing detailed and useful information.

What is required to access advanced AI features in Asana?

To access advanced AI features such as 'Ask AI' and project-specific insights, users need to have an Enterprise license. Basic AI features like smart summaries, subtasks, and edits are available on the Advanced plan.

How can Asana's AI help with project status updates?

Asana's AI can draft detailed project status updates by analyzing all the comments, links, tasks, and subtasks within the project, which can then be reviewed and edited by the project manager before posting.

What is the anticipated future of AI features in Asana according to the presenter?

The presenter mentions that there are many exciting AI features in the 2024-2025 roadmap, which will further streamline workflows and enhance the functionality of Asana.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Free Webinar on Mental Health Awareness and AI Tools

This paragraph introduces a free webinar on May 30th at 12:00 p.m. EST, focusing on workplace burnout and its effects on team well-being and productivity. The speaker, Marque, an Asana partner and CEO of Surface, a systems improvement consultancy, will share seven practical strategies to reduce stress and build resilience. The video also discusses the benefits of AI tools in enhancing productivity. Marque encourages viewers to register for the webinar and subscribe to the channel for more content on maximizing SAAS investments.

05:01

🤖 Exploring AI Features in Project Management

The speaker delves into the practical applications of AI in project management, specifically within the Asana platform. They demonstrate how AI can generate smart summaries, draft subtasks, and provide smart edits to streamline project management tasks. The speaker uses a website launch project as an example, showcasing how AI can summarize lengthy descriptions and generate subtasks from them. They also highlight the ability to adjust the tone and format of text through AI recommendations, emphasizing the time-saving potential of these features.

10:02

📈 Leveraging AI for Project Insights and Updates

This paragraph discusses the use of AI to gain insights and generate updates on project progress. The speaker shows how AI can provide an overview of tasks and progress in specific stages of a project, such as the launch and post-launch stages. They also demonstrate how AI can calculate the percentage of tasks marked as not urgent and list them. The speaker emphasizes the value of AI in generating detailed project summaries and status updates, which can be used for internal communication or shared with external stakeholders.

15:03

🚀 Future AI Enhancements and Closing Remarks

The speaker concludes by expressing excitement about upcoming AI enhancements in the 2024-2025 roadmap, which will further streamline project management processes. They encourage viewers to book a call for more information on implementing AI in their businesses. The speaker also invites feedback on the AI features discussed and reminds viewers to share the video with their teams. They end with a reminder to hit the like button, subscribe, and turn on notifications for future videos.

Keywords

💡Workplace Burnout

Workplace burnout refers to a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress in the workplace. It is a significant issue that can negatively impact employees' well-being and productivity. In the video, the speaker addresses this problem and offers a webinar to discuss strategies for reducing stress and building resilience in teams.

💡Mental Health Awareness Month

Mental Health Awareness Month is an annual observance held in May to raise awareness about mental health issues and the importance of mental health. In the script, the speaker invites viewers to a webinar during this month, emphasizing the relevance of discussing workplace burnout and mental health in the context of business leadership.

💡Webinar

A webinar is an online seminar or workshop that allows participants to learn or discuss a particular topic remotely. The video script mentions a free webinar on May 30th at 12:00 p.m. EST, where the speaker will share strategies to address workplace burnout, highlighting the importance of such events in disseminating knowledge and solutions.

💡AI Tools

AI Tools refer to software applications that utilize artificial intelligence to perform tasks more efficiently. In the video, the speaker discusses the use of AI tools in enhancing productivity, particularly in the context of project management and task organization, demonstrating how these tools can assist in summarizing tasks, drafting subtasks, and editing content.

💡Smart Summaries

Smart Summaries is a feature of AI tools that can condense lengthy text into shorter, more digestible summaries. The script describes how this feature can be used to quickly understand complex project descriptions or meeting transcripts, thereby speeding up the process of returning to work and making decisions.

💡Subtasks

Subtasks are smaller, more manageable tasks that are part of a larger project or task. The video script mentions the ability of AI tools to draft subtasks from project descriptions, which can help in breaking down complex projects into actionable steps, making project management more efficient.

💡Smart Editor

Smart Editor is a feature that uses AI to suggest edits and improvements to text. In the script, the speaker demonstrates how this tool can adjust the tone and format of text, making it more suitable for different audiences or purposes, and can be a valuable asset in refining project documentation and communication.

💡Project Management

Project Management involves the planning, organizing, and controlling of a project from start to finish. The video script discusses various AI features that can aid in project management, such as summarizing project tasks, drafting updates, and analyzing project progress, emphasizing the role of AI in streamlining this process.

💡Enterprise License

An Enterprise License refers to a type of software license that is designed for use within an entire organization, often providing access to advanced features and support. The script mentions that certain AI features, such as Ask AI and status updates, require an Enterprise license, indicating the level of access and functionality provided by this type of license.

💡Status Updates

Status Updates are reports that provide information on the current state of a project or task. In the video, the speaker shows how AI can draft detailed status updates by analyzing project data, including progress, blockers, and next steps, demonstrating the utility of AI in keeping stakeholders informed and engaged.

💡Draft with AI

Draft with AI is a feature that allows users to generate drafts of documents or reports using AI. The script describes how this feature can be used to create comprehensive updates on project status, goals, or other relevant information, showcasing the potential of AI to automate and enhance the process of reporting and communication.

Highlights

Workplace burnout has become an epidemic affecting team well-being and productivity.

Join a free webinar on May 30th at 12:00 p.m. EST for strategies to reduce stress and build a resilient team.

Marque, an Asana partner and CEO of Surface Systems Improvement Consultancy, shares insights on AI tools.

AI tools in Asana can help boost productivity by summarizing long project descriptions into succinct paragraphs.

AI in Asana can generate subtasks from project descriptions, streamlining task management.

AI tools can summarize Zoom meeting transcripts, identifying action items and summarizing meetings efficiently.

Smart editor in Asana can refine text, changing tone and format to suit professional or casual needs.

Ask AI feature in Asana provides project-specific information and insights, enhancing project management.

Asana's AI can analyze project data to provide detailed progress updates and summaries.

AI-generated project summaries can be automatically emailed, keeping stakeholders informed without manual effort.

Draft with AI feature in Asana allows for automatic creation of project status updates.

Asana AI features include generating goal updates to track progress and inform team members.

Enterprise license is required to access advanced AI features in Asana, including Ask AI and project status updates.

The 2024-2025 roadmap for Asana AI promises further enhancements to streamline work processes.

Marque encourages viewers to book a call for more personalized assistance with implementing Asana AI features.

Transcripts

workplace burnout has quietly become an

epidemic and if you're a business leader

then you've seen its impacts on your

team's well-being and productivity so

this Mental Health Awareness Month join

me for a free webinar on May 30th at

12:00 p.m. EST addressing this very

problem I'll be sharing seven practical

strategies using as sauna to help reduce

stress and build a more resilient team

click the link in the description to

register hope to see you there in this

video we're talking all about AA AI now

ai on the platform has been available

for some time now but how does it really

help in your overall productivity I

haven't seen a lot of videos I haven't

seen a lot of people talking about it

and so I've actually spent quite a bit

of time going through the AI tools

myself and in today's video I kind of

want to walk you through some of the

things I've learned what we've seen what

it kind of looks like and how you can

use this to speed up your productivity

but if you're new to the channel my name

is Marque I'm an assuna partner and the

CEO of surface a systems Improvement

consultancy and I make videos like these

every single week to help you get the

most out of your SAA investment and so

if you haven't already make sure to hit

the like button and please subscribe to

the channel so that we can reach more

people like you and don't forget to hit

that not little notification so that you

never miss a video when it's uploaded

let's get into the demo all right so in

this case we're starting off with the

top at a portfolio I want to show you

something in the portfolio afterwards

regarding AI but I'm going to drill down

into one of the projects first so we're

going to go to this website launch

project and we're going to just go

through some of the features and I'll

walk you through what they look like the

first one we're we're going to look at

our smart summaries and so we we asked

our friend Chad to just come up with

some just text for us to use Within

These where we could um summarize these

within the project here and so what

we're going to do is we have our

description have all the information and

let's say that this was you know way

longer and there's lots of information

lots of links there we just had this

little feature where we can ask AI

assist to summarize this task okay so

that's the first thing that I'm going to

do so here we can see it's summarizing

it's thinking this task involves

securing a catchy and memorable domain

name that reflects the brand identity

and setting up reliable hosting

infrastructure security measures server

optimization and so on so it's taken

what we have here and I I guess this

wasn't super long in this case but it's

taken these two pretty long paragraphs

and it summarized them into one succinct

paragraph to so you can get an

understanding but sometimes these

descriptions can get pretty lengthy

there's lots of information in there

there's lots of links you're linking to

other projects um and other tasks and so

smart summaries can help you just to you

know summarize everything so that you

can get back to work faster the other

thing that we can do here and actually

like that one let's like it there we go

other thing we can do here within the

description is if we um wanted to we

could draft subtasks from this as well

okay so I'm just going to see what it

pulls up from this description and how

it's thinking about assigning these

subtasks so it says generating preview

great okay so it says research and

identify a suitable domain name right

that was one of the things from the the

paragraph next is choose a reputable

hosting provider and configure hosting

environments install SSL certificate and

then fine tunes server settings I love

those those are great and so now I don't

have to think about what were those

action items you know this is great for

even like Zoom meetings sometimes I do

that where I'll just have like the

transcript from a zoom meeting I pop it

into a sauna and I'm like assign subtask

and it will and it'll come up with all

the action items and it will also

summarize the meeting for me so um some

really cool use cases you can um use for

a sauna AI here okay and the next thing

we're going to look at here are the uh

is a smart editor and so that was the

last one here we can do it in the

description we can also do that in the

uh in the comments here as well in this

case I'm just going to get some

recommendations on how you know AA would

write this so going to recommend some

edits here just drafting some text

generating preview and so there's a few

options here we can refine it where we

want to change the tone if we want it to

be something more professional more

direct friendly and so on we can shorten

this lengthen it or change the format of

it so in this case I'm going to change

this to be casual let's just see what it

comes up with and then maybe I'll

shorten it as well so make sure you get

a catchy and memorable domain name that

really represents your brand also make

sure the domain name you want is

available and matches the purpose and

audience of your website so yeah it's

definitely a bit more casual here we can

obviously play around with this to get

it what we want let's just shorten this

and see what it gives us as well I

wonder if it will give us that same

summary choose a catchy and available

domain name so what it's done is it's

just pulled out some words it's

streamlined the copy we still have those

two separate paragraphs but it has made

it shorter as well and so let me just go

back in here I'm going to make this

friendly let's see what it does just for

fun please select a memorable and easil

and easily accessible domain name that

um accurately reflects your brand and

aligns with your target audience on your

website it's important so yeah I mean we

can obviously refine this I'm going to

replace this and like we always

recommend with AI like don't just take

it at face value you want to go in and

make sure you make those edits make sure

it makes sense but working with a

workflow like this and having AI as the

assistant can make your workflow so much

faster and what's also nice is you'll

notice in the top right corner here um

you have this ask AI Button as well and

so you can open this up and ask AI

pretty much anything so what it's going

to do is it pulls in um all the

information from the project and

generates you know some topics that it

thinks would be helpful for you so what

are the key milestones and stages of the

website project right of course if I'm

coming in I'm leadership I would want to

know something like that I'm a project

manager I'd want to know something like

that can you provide an overview of the

tasks and progress in stage four launch

postlaunch August section and then the

last one is show me the tasks assigned

to me in stage two so I'm actually going

to click on this one and see what it

what it comes up so Gathering tasks

analyzing info and now it's writing the

answer so it's going to give me an

overview of all the sections in stage

four which is down here launch and post

post launch in August so let's see what

it's doing it's writing our answer it's

analyzing a lot of data so I'm sure it's

going through all the subtasks right now

it's going through all the

descriptions comments maybe there we go

here we are so stage four of the website

launch project contains t tasks related

to launching the website and postlaunch

activities this includes launch

activities the official launch Milestone

which covers um unveiling the website

publicly and monitoring performance the

post-launch marketing task for driving

continued interest after launch and then

there are post-launch activities so this

is incredible because you can you can

then go in and you can take that answer

yep thanks so much if we go back we can

ask any follow-up questions here as well

and then as will go through this so I

can say um what percentage of the tasks

are marked as not urgent right as you

can see we've got this priority we can

see all the purple there that are not

urgent and let's see what it comes back

with so Gathering tasks note that this

could take up to 2 minutes depending on

how much information there is in your

project and it's writing our answer

there we go all right so let's see oh

it's giving me some some numbers here um

some some coding Snippets here so to

determine the percentage of the tasks

marked is not urgent priority I analyze

the task data contained between tasks

tags out of 37 total tasks seven tasks

were marked priority not urgent love

that therefore the percentage of task

marked is not urgent priority is 7 over

37 which is 18.9% rounded to 19% the not

urgent priority task I didn't even ask

it for what the not urgent priority

tasks were but it it gave them all to me

so I love this so this is one of the

ways you can use this um aski is Project

Specific and I should note this that you

need to have at least the Enterprise um

license or an Enterprise license to

access some of these AI features the the

smart summaries the smart subtasks and

the smart edits those are all available

on the advanced but if you want ask Ai

and some of the um ones that I'm going

to show you now around status updates

you do need to be on at least the

Enterprise plan and so now we're going

to go into the overview of this website

launch project to show you what we can

do with our project summary here and so

I love this feature because for example

in our deal pipeline at surface I have

not only asked it for a summary but I've

asked it to email me automatically every

single week a summary of everything that

went on inside of the project so anyone

can come in here they can do that they

can get that email summary and it's

really really good uh I don't have one

here to show you right now it's in my

email but it broke down everything over

the last two weeks it showed who did

what it had links to tasks it mentioned

people and there's so many things that

would have been lost inside of the

subtasks or the comments that were all

there in a really well- defined succinct

email so I was really happy with the

results so let's go and view this

summary like the ask AI feature it's

going to take a little bit it's

analyzing a lot of information right so

it's considering the information that

has been generated and added to the

project whether it's files or comments

or links since the start of this project

right so you want to give it a little

bit which is why I suggest as soon as

you start your project turn on this

feature turn on the email um weekly

updates and so it will start gathering

information as soon as you start the

project and be delivered to your inbox

here we go website development is

underway with testb completing front-end

and backend implementation domain set

and hosting infrastructure has also been

taken care of by Matias testing and

refinement the testing and refinement

phase is underway with testb conducting

initial testing and user acceptance

testing and so it's going to continue

populating but it's given me a really

quick snapshot of exactly what's

happened inside of the project over you

know uh the last couple of weeks here or

the last week here and so I'm going to

give this a thumbs up because I love

this summary right and so again imagine

getting this in your email not having to

go through a son I'm not having to chase

anyone down to ask them what's going on

what's the status of this and then you

know project managers could easily take

this information and put that in their

status update which is where we're going

to go next so I'm going to go back to

our portfolio for this and I'm going to

click on no recent updates and so we

could go in like we have in the past

okay and um we could do you know on

track off track whatever the case may be

but the other option that I want to show

you is that you can draft with AI so as

the PM or the owner of this project you

can you pretty much know if it's on

track off track or at risk um but we're

going to ask it to draft with AI and so

what's the range of the update we want

to look at you can change that as well

so that you're not going too back too

far back sorry in the historicals so we

can also add some guidance what would

you like to cover in this update if we

did want to um fine-tune the response a

little bit and get it to focus on

something specific we could add that

information in here as well and then we

can also update the status if we

selected the wrong one by accident so

I'm going to draft this update getting

information reviewing guidance analyzing

information finding progress analyzing

potential blockers considering next

steps like it's it's going into all this

detail and I have not seen this in

another Work Management tool where it's

actually showing you where it's um

pulling this information from there's

full transparency here and it's laying

it all right in front of you so let's

wait and see it's still analyzing all

right here we go so it's given us a

really nice summary again it's gone

through all the comments all the links

all the subtasks all the tasks in the

project and it's assessed I'm not going

to read it for you pause to read if you

really want to but look how detailed

this is and again you want to go through

as the PM or the project owner and just

make sure this information is accurate

right as long as you put it into a sauna

it's going to display it so just make

sure it's accurate make sure we're not

missing anything um look at the current

blockers and then we can go we can edit

this draft and now we can bring in our

highlights as well so if we did want to

add some visuals here um we can now add

this information in and we can get a

really well laid out and thorough update

um as well that we can um bring other

collaborators into or we can export to

PDF and and then send off um to outside

stakeholders so check out draft with AI

um I'm not going to do it for us cuz

it's going to take a little bit but you

can do the same thing at the portfolio

level so when we go to progress we can

now update said status and we can draft

this with AI as well so now it's going

to give us an overview of all of the

different statuses of the projects um

that are within said portfolio actually

maybe I will drafted here all right and

there we go so now we have a summary of

all four projects uh within our

portfolio here we can see all the

current blockers and there are no major

current blockers identified in the

portfolio data we can see what

Milestones are upcoming and then of

course we can edit that draft in this

case I'm just going to post it as is all

right and the last thing that you you

can do at at this current point in time

uh what is it April 2024 um is you can

also draft goal updates as well which is

really really cool um because as you're

moving towards your goals whether

they're in manual or automatic progress

mode you can draft updates on those

goals as well to inform the people that

would need to see that information but

I'm not going to show you that because

as you can see we're not in the system

builder Academy space we're in the

surface space today because we have

these AI features turned on and you

don't need to see all my company's

personal goals um so tell me what you

thought of these AI features um if you

are curious about this and want to see a

bit more um you can book a call with us

um if you want to see how you can

Implement some of these in your business

or with your team uh we'd love to help

you as well and one thing I'll say

before signing off is that I have seen

the 2024 2025 road map and there's so

much more coming down the pipeline when

it comes to AI um I can't tell you any

of that that stuff right now but be very

excited it's going to get so much better

it's going to involve some of the

features we use today and it's going to

just work to streamline a lot of the

ways we work and so just be on the

lookout for those and I'll be sure to

report on them as they come out but as

always thank you so much for watching

hope you found this a SAA AI video

helpful and if you did and someone else

on your team could also benefit from

this do me a favor just go and share it

with them um so that they can also

benefit hit the like button if you

haven't subscribe if you haven't hit the

notification button if you haven't so

that you can get notified whenever

videos come out thanks as always for

watching we'll see you in the next video

bye for now

[Music]