Asana's CEO lets AI agents manage his inbox, monitor performance, and track rivals

Like many CEOs, Asana's Dan Rogers uses what his business sells. That method letting AI agents steer his workday.

Asana makes a platform for connecting all activity throughout a business, and it expanded in 2024 to let users collaborate alongside AI agents. Rogers, 49, took the top job the following year, and now regularly taps the bots to oversee everything from his calendar and inbox to client relationships and engineering priorities.

His regular is a modern-day method to the issue that led erstwhile Facebook engineering leaders Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein to established Asana in 2008: freeing group to expend small period coordinating activity and additional period doing it.

Rogers stated work-oriented agents differ from those group use at residence for tasks akin making inn reservations and meal planning. They're programmed to comprehend an organization's organizational knowledge, coordinate throughout group and systems, and safely grip delicate data.

Still, Rogers stated specified agents can obtain several attempt to withstand fruit. For example, a competitor-tracking delegate initially annoyed him by flagging data he didn't attention about. Only following Rogers gave it additional exact instructions did it rotate into useful.

"Some of these agents do necessitate activity to get them anywhere you desire them to be," he told Business Insider.

Here's a appearance at the AI agents that Rogers uses:

The efficiency team

Every morning, Rogers asks three agents he calls his "personal productivity teammates" to scheme out his day.

One scans his Gmail inbox for messages requiring contiguous action, prioritizing those connected to his goals and his team's projects. Another reviews his calendar to create certain he's spending his period on what matters most to him, and it alerts him if he's not. The third reviews gathering transcripts for new commitments Rogers has made and updates that have to be added to existing tasks.

"I desire to be spending my period according to my priorities, and not willy-nilly according to the random things that arrive in," he said.

The client whisperer

This delegate reviews Asana's client repository to acknowledge matters the business should cognize about, specified as if a endeavor has delayed renewing its subscription to the company's platform. It additionally digs up complaints and requests that customers article online.

Rogers stated he checks in alongside the delegate concerning formerly a week and that the data it surfaces helps him decide which customers to approach. The goal is to location their concerns before they rotate into bigger problems.

"I can be extremely proactive," he said.

Although Rogers didn't create the agent, he stated others can customize it, including how they obtain its findings and what sources it searches. The delegate checks alongside its creator before incorporating changes that could advantage another users.

The revenue coach

Created by Asana's revenue team, Rogers stated this delegate answers employees' questions concerning the company's products. It draws on inner records and training materials to provision answers.

Rogers stated he checks the agent's action daily, not so much to get answers himself, but to see what salespeople are struggling to understand. If many of workforce are asking concerning a new pricing model, for example, that's a sign the business needs to do a improved job explaining it, he said.

The endeavor analyst

With this agent, Rogers monitors Asana's performance, including revenue results and its advancement on signing up new customers. It pulls data from inner systems and turns it into reports and dashboards covering multiple key endeavor metrics.

Previously, Rogers stated he power have had to ask the CFO or a endeavor intellect squad for that information. Now he can get it himself. Because the delegate handles sensitive business information, Rogers stated Asana restricts what data it can admission and what actions it can obtain without individual approval. "Security is paramount," he said.

The competitive-intelligence analyst

Rogers uses this delegate to detect competitor application companies, tracking their merchandise announcements and what group say concerning them on social media. It produces regular briefings, which he stated he typically reviews all three or four days.

The delegate additionally communicates alongside another delegate used by Asana's chief merchandise officer. If a competitor introduces a new feature, the two agents can compare it alongside Asana's existing or planned offerings and emblem item that power justify a alter to the company's merchandise highway map.

Rogers stated the agents toggle data independently, without requiring him or the chief merchandise authoritative to initiate the conversations.

The engineering project manager

With a dependable pipeline of products and features to develop, Asana has to create strategic decisions concerning how to deploy its engineering talent. That's anywhere Rogers' engineering capability agent comes in. It basically answers the question: "How do we allocate them to activity on the correct things?" he said.

For example, if engineers have spare capability between merchandise releases, the delegate power propose small tasks they could complete during that period.

Rogers additionally uses it to keep tabs on whenever customer-requested features power be built. "It gives me comfort," he said. "I affection seeing material shipping."

The delegate additionally scratches a curiosity itch. "I'm fair nosy," Rogers said.