This Is How We Do…
Leveraging AI Teammates to Build Executive Briefs from Scratch
Asana’s Smart Status is genuinely useful. It saves time and surfaces insights you might miss when writing project status updates. But it still requires a human to trigger it, review the output, and post it. The process starts and ends with manual action.
What if you set up a system where an AI Teammate produces fully automated project updates at regular intervals, in the format your stakeholders actually need?
No manual trigger. No copy-pasting. Set it up once, it runs on its own. Completely automated, completely transparent, and tailored for Exec stakeholders. 
Welcome to the Agent era of Project Executive Briefs.
How it works
Create a recurring task assigned to your AI Teammate, placed in a dedicated section at the end of your project. It picks it up at regular intervals, reads through everything, and produces a structured update, automatically.
The key insight: an AI Teammate has access to your entire work graph:
| What it reads | Why it matters |
|---|---|
 Task descriptions, assignees, custom fields |
Understands scope and ownership |
 Comments and discussions |
Catches risks flagged 3 days ago |
 Status update history |
Tracks how things evolved over time |
 Timelines and dependencies |
Detects planning drift vs. original schedule |
It sees both the big picture and the small details.
Setting it up
Three steps. That’s it.
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Create a dedicated section at the bottom of your project (e.g., “AI Teammate - Automated Reports”) |
| 2 | Create a task in that section. In the description, specify the project(s) to analyze, the audience, the desired structure, and the frequency |
| 3 | Assign to your AI Teammate with a recurring due date. It completes the task after each update, Asana creates the next occurrence automatically, and it picks it up again |
You set it up once. 
Choose your output format
Different audiences need different formats. You’re not locked into one delivery method.
Did you know AI Teammates can generate external files for Google Docs, Google Sheets, and SharePoint/OneDrive files (docx, pptx, xlsx). They can also attach files directly to tasks and read content from Google Drive and SharePoint. (Asana Help Center)
| Format | How it works |  Best for |
|---|---|---|
 Asana task |
Creates a new task per update. Stakeholders added as collaborators - each update becomes a discussion thread | Teams already in Asana |
 Google Docs |
Appends each update chronologically into one doc. One link, full project history over time | C-suite, external partners, top managers who don’t use Asana |
 Microsoft Word |
Same principle for Microsoft 365 orgs. Creates and updates .docx files in OneDrive/SharePoint | Organizations on Microsoft 365 |
 HTML report |
Generates a visual, color-coded HTML file attached directly to a task. Rich formatting with tables, progress bars, and branded styling | Visual thinkers, client-facing reports, dashboard-style summaries |
| Slides (PowerPoint) |
Creates a .pptx presentation via OneDrive/SharePoint. One slide per section - ready to present as-is | Leadership meetings, steering committees, board reviews |
See the output formats in action:
To give you a concrete idea of what these automated executive briefs look like in practice, I’ve generated real examples using each output format, all based on the same simulated project data from Show: Sydney, an event planning project. Same project, same data, five different outputs tailored for different stakeholders.
Click below to see the examples
📄 Google Doc
(Public Google Doc file) Executive Brief — Show: Sydney — Weekly Updates - Google Docs
🌐 HTML report
(converted to pdf but initially generated as html)
HTML.pdf (1.2 MB)
📊 Slides (PowerPoint)
(converted to pdf but initially generated as Powerpoint)
Executive Brief — Show Sydney — May 5 2026.pdf (291.6 KB)
For a comprehensive overview of all AI Teammate integration formats and capabilities, check out my other article The Guide to Asana AI Teammates Integrations.
The tip that changes everything: memory
AI Teammates have memory. If an update misses a key topic or uses the wrong tone, just tell it:
“Next time, include a section on budget status”
“Keep the summary under 200 words”
It stores that feedback and applies it to every future update automatically. No prompt rewriting. No task editing. You talk to it like a colleague, and it adapts.
Quick start checklist
More essources
- Smart Status
- AI Teammates
- Get started with AI Teammates
- The Guide to Asana AI Teammates Integrations
Arthur | Asana Expert 
I help teams get more from Asana + AI - more tips
