Hi Asana Community,
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Garrett Knoll. I’m a Neurodivergent Asana Product Leader and a Community advocate. As we celebrate Neurodiversity, I wanted to share a bit about the specific workflows that help me manage the “blank page” and stay productive.
One challenge I run into often is getting stuck before I even start. If the blank page looks like it needs to become a perfect spec, review, or post, my brain tends to stall. I start editing sentences in my head before any real thinking happens. And the anxiety of an impending deadline, or a long queue of urgent tasks waiting behind it, only makes that worse.
Breaking the loop with voice
Lately I have been using voice mode in ChatGPT and other AI tools as a way to break that loop. Instead of trying to write something polished, I talk. I open voice mode, step away from the keyboard, and start explaining (aka rambling) the idea the same way I would explain it to a friend, free of judgement. Half sentences, tangents, contradictions. Do I repeat myself or change direction mid thought? Absolutely.
That does two things for me:
- It removes the pressure to be precise. Speaking feels low stakes. I do not see every word sitting there asking to be edited. My brain can wander a little more freely, which is often where the useful ideas appear.
- It removes visual distraction. When I am not staring at a document or a blank Asana Task, I stop obsessing over formatting, headings, or whether a paragraph sounds “right” or worse / more accurately, “perfect.” The goal becomes simple: just get the thoughts out.
Using AI as the organizer
Once the unstructured thinking is out in the open, AI becomes the organizer. I ask it to structure what I said into a clearer outline, a draft spec, or a review. It turns the raw stream of thought into something readable without forcing me to do that structuring while I am still figuring out the idea.
The result is a workflow that separates two different kinds of thinking:
- Exploratory and imperfect: That is where voice helps.
- Structured and communicative: That is where AI helps.
For me, that split is the difference between staring at a blank page and actually getting started. It is also a reminder that good workflows do not have to be tidy. Sometimes the most useful setup is the one that lets your brain be a little (or really) messy first.
Optimizing meeting transcripts for productivity
Another place this approach works surprisingly well is in meetings. A lot of the best thinking about work happens live; in product discussions, design reviews, 1:1s or other meetings where ideas evolve quickly. Tools that capture meeting transcripts, whether built into Zoom or apps like Granola, create a record of that thinking.
Instead of starting a spec from scratch afterward, I often take the transcript and ask AI to turn the conversation into structured output. In many cases, a 30 minute or one hour discussion can quickly become a first draft of a spec, a decision summary, or a clear list of open questions.
Effective AI prompts for unstructured thoughts
When I use voice mode for unstructured thoughts or analyze meeting transcripts, these are some of the prompts I use that help turn unstructured thinking into something useful:
- Explain it like I’m talking to a coworker: “I’m going to think out loud about an idea. When I’m done, summarize the key points and turn them into a simple outline.”
- Turn this into a lightweight spec: “Convert what I said into a spec with: problem, context, proposed solution, open questions, and risks.”
- Organize my scattered thoughts: “Group the ideas into themes. What problem am I actually trying to solve, and what are the strongest ideas?”
- Turn a meeting transcript into a draft spec: “Review this meeting transcript and convert it into a draft product spec. Extract the problem we discussed, the proposed solution, key decisions made, open questions, action items, and any risks or tradeoffs.”
- Find the next step: “Based on this conversation, what are the smallest next three steps?”
Call to action: Supporting Neurodiversity at Asana
But time for the shameless plug: I’d love to hear from all of you on how we can better serve our neurodiverse community!
I was originally hired at Asana 4 years ago to help us achieve WCAG 2.1 AA conformance. We achieved conformance for our core workflows in record time, and a11y is now a part of our product development ethos. Neurodiversity isn’t directly represented within WCAG, so I would love to hear from you all on how we can improve our product for everyone. Leave your comments, ideas or questions below!
