Provide more tailored task experiences with app-powered tasks, now in public preview
Tasks can range from simple to complex, requiring varying levels of detail and guidance. For simple tasks, a clear title may be sufficient to convey the work needed, while complex tasks often require detailed instructions and may include dependencies between steps. These detailed instructions can be provided through task fields like notes, checklists, and attachments. However, offering guidance in a more immersive experience can significantly enhance the accuracy and efficiency of task completion. Now your organization can do just that, with app-powered tasks – in public preview in the Planner app in Microsoft Teams. App-powered tasks allow organizations to integrate tasks with Teams apps, providing more control over users’ experiences when they open a task. Instead of the standard task fields, you can use this feature to show a workflow-specific set of fields or step-by-step guidance to walk your employees through a workflow from beginning to end. Your employees can get all the info they need to complete their work, without ever having to leave Planner in Teams. We expect these tailored experiences to benefit workers of all types, including both knowledge workers and frontline workers. App-powered tasks are an extensibility feature that relies on programmatic creation and management of tasks and facilitates integration of a task with another Teams app. We're announcing public preview for this feature, starting today. It’s supported in Planner on Teams desktop and web as well as Planner in Teams mobile. It’s not supported in clients that show Planner tasks outside of Teams. To learn about the requirements for using app-powered tasks and how you can get started, see Manage app-powered tasks in the Planner app - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn. To learn about other new Planner experiences: Sign up to receive future communications about Planner. Review our other recent improvements such as What's New for Planner in October 2024 | Microsoft Community Hub and our frontline features from earlier this year New task features for organizations with frontline workers | Microsoft Community Hub Check out the Microsoft 365 roadmap for feature descriptions and estimated release dates for Planner. Watch Planner demos for inspiration on how to get the most out of the new Planner app in Microsoft Teams. Watch the recording from September's What’s New and What’s Coming Next + AMA about the new Planner. Visit the Planner help page to learn more about the capabilities in the new Planner. Share your feedback You can share feedback through the Planner app in Teams or send us your feedback via the Planner Feedback Portal.
Orchestrating human-AI collaboration in Microsoft Planner
How Microsoft Planner is shaping the future of work management Today at Microsoft Ignite, we announced the next step for Microsoft Planner in the era of AI: Project Manager agent. Project Manager agent is an end-to-end work orchestration experience in Planner that leverages generative AI to streamline the journey from idea, to plan, to done. This is the first time the groundbreaking automation capabilities of Microsoft AutoGen will be available to customers at scale. The new Project Manager agent will be rolling out to public preview in the Planner app in Teams in the coming weeks. To explore these capabilities, customers are required to have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and also need to ensure their current Microsoft 365 licensing allows them access to Microsoft Loop. Introducing Project Manager agent A team of agents working together Project Manager agent in Planner orchestrates multiple agents like a project manager. Working directly with task-specific execution agents, Project Manager agent assures tasks are completed efficiently. This GenAI-powered system uses task decomposition, planning, and a multi-agent orchestration to enhance team productivity. The system brings together specialized agents, each with their own expertise, to work collaboratively on various tasks with humans in the loop to review and guide outcomes. These agents communicate and cross-check each other's work, much like a team of experts refining each other's contributions. At Microsoft Research, pioneering work on AutoGen has demonstrated the benefits of multi-agent systems. Project Manager agent puts these ideas into practice, streamlining completion of complex tasks: Specialized Expertise: Each agent is a specialist, ensuring high-quality outputs tailored to specific tasks. Specialized agents make output more reliable and predictable while preserving the dynamic nature of agentic systems. Team Collaboration: Agents communicate and cross-check each other's work, much like a team of experts refining each other's contributions. Adversarial agents are specifically designed to challenge each other's work to produce more refined and detailed results. Problem Solving: AutoGen research demonstrates that multi-agent systems significantly enhance problem-solving capabilities, enabling them to tackle more complex tasks effectively. For instance, the integration of multiple agents improves performance in math problem-solving (MATH), real-world reasoning (AFLWorld), and sensitive coding tasks (OptiGuide). Contextual Awareness: Certain agents provide context from your team's existing content, integrating historical data and insights into the current plan. Research on AutoGen shows that multi-agent systems facilitate improved contextual awareness and understanding by integrating multiple retrieval mechanisms, enabling a more interactive and dynamic approach to information retrieval. While in preview, Project Manager agent has access to a small set of "built-in agents" that are tuned to complete common information work tasks. Project Manager agent is scalable, and we are excited to expand the set of available agents and capabilities over time. Human-AI collaboration Whether asking Copilot a simple question or automating a complex workflow, teams in every industry are accelerating work with Generative AI. Collaboration is already a pain-point for many teams and the introduction of AI into workflows can further confound the problem. We believe that Planner’s familiar and accessible collaborative work management concepts and tools can effectively streamline human AI collaboration. Project Manager agent leverages Planner to plan, execute, and iterate agentically in an environment where the human team maintains control. Work Breakdown – When presented with a complex goal or task, Project Manager agent identifies a set of steps to achieve it. This structured approach not only breaks tasks into manageable pieces but also distinguishes work suitable for autonomous agents from higher-value or complex tasks requiring human input. Under the hood, Project Manager agent will be collaborating with multiple agents to deliver the desired outcomes. Complex task execution requires creating a plan, intelligently sequencing actions and dependencies, and maintaining a memory system to store the status of individual steps and their outcomes. Assign to Agent – The user is always in control of exactly what and how much work is assigned to Agents. Project Manager agent is flexible and can handle single tasks or orchestrate longer flows. At any time, team members can pause agent work and make manual adjustments as needed. Human in The Loop – During task execution, Project Manager agent can identify situations where more information or context is required from the team. In such situations, Project Manager agent will compile a list of questions that, when answered, will unblock the Agents working on the task. If the system lacks the tools to complete a task altogether, Project Manager agent can provide advice and assistance to the team member working on the task. Integrating Feedback – Project Manager agent won’t always complete tasks perfectly on the first attempt. Once initial agent work is complete, the team can review the task and leave comments on the content. When the review is complete, Project Manager agent will orchestrate iteration on the content, incorporating the feedback. Safety and privacy Generative AI systems have unprecedented capabilities, which introduces novel risks into our products and services. The Planner team is committed to proactive and continuous mitigation of these risks. We employ a handful of key strategies to ensure that we responsibly deploy generative AI: Impact Assessment: We audit new generative AI products in accordance with Microsoft’s responsible AI standard, identifying harms the system could potentially cause. Redteaming: We thoroughly evaluate new products for risks identified in the impact assessment throughout the development process. Ahead of release, our redteaming results are reviewed by a joint Microsoft-OpenAI Deployment Safety Board, as outlined in Microsoft’s AI Safety Policies. Harm Mitigation: Project Manager agent has multiple redundant checks to prevent harmful content, including harm-specific classifiers and a dedicated responsible AI agent. Additionally, your data remains private when using Project Manager agent. Customer data is governed by the commitments we make in the Microsoft’s Data Protection Addendum, Microsoft’s Product Terms, and the Microsoft Privacy Statement. The future of work management As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect even more advanced features and capabilities to be integrated into Planner. The vision is to create a truly intelligent work management platform that not only supports project managers but also empowers teams to achieve their best work. The orchestration of human-AI collaboration with AutoGen in Planner represents a significant leap forward in the field of work management. Project Manager agent is a testament to the potential of AI to transform the way we work, making it more efficient, productive, and collaborative. As we look to the future, we are excited about the possibilities that AI holds for work management and beyond.What's New for Planner in Teams in September 2024
This September brings bug fixes, accessibility improvements, and labels in Grid view for the Planner app for Microsoft Teams. We’ve been listening to your feedback and hope these latest features that will make managing your tasks even easier. Also, check out our recent AMA to learn more about what's coming next for the new Planner!What's New for Planner in Teams in August 2024
The Planner team is excited to share some fresh new updates in the Planner app for Microsoft Teams. We thank you for your valuable feedback that helps shape feature updates, and hope these capabilities significantly enhance your experience managing tasks and coordinating team initiatives.Use sprints to be more Agile in Planner
The Planner team uses the sprints feature in premium plans to schedule tasks, balance our team’s workload, and run team retrospectives. Today, we want to share some of our tips for how sprints planning in the new Planner app in Teams can transform both your individual task management and collaborative team processes.
Create Planner Tasks from the Viva Connections “Assigned Tasks” card
In today's busy work environment, staying organized and keeping track of tasks is more important than ever. For employees, especially those in frontline roles, having quick access to essential tools and information can make a significant difference in daily productivity. That's why we're excited to introduce a new feature on the Viva Connections dashboard in Microsoft Teams: the ability to create tasks directly from your dashboard! What is Viva Connections? The Viva Connections dashboard is your go-to hub in Microsoft Teams, offering a personalized experience with easy access to company news, resources, and apps. This is particularly useful for frontline workers, as it serves as the default homepage in Teams on both mobile and desktop. What's New? This update builds on the existing integration of Microsoft Planner with the Viva Connections dashboard. Along with the existing integration, where users can view their “Assigned Tasks”, we’ve added two new buttons to the 'Assigned Tasks' card on the Viva Connections dashboard: Add Task Button: Easily create new tasks right from the dashboard by clicking the 'Add Task' button. This quick task capture feature helps you keep track of new tasks as they come up, without needing to navigate away from your main dashboard. Open Planner Button: For a more detailed view of your tasks and plans, use the 'Open Planner' button to jump directly into the Planner app for Microsoft Teams.This provides a seamless way to manage your tasks and see everything at a glance.You can access this option from the larger format task card. This enhancement is now generally available on Teams Desktop, Web, and Mobile, ensuring that Planner users who work with Viva Connections can benefit from streamlined task management, no matter which device they’re using. Share your feedback Your feedback helps inform our feature updates and we look forward to hearing from you as you try out Planner’s new and existing capabilities! To share your feedback about the new Planner app in Teams, you can navigate to the?icon in the Planner app and select 'Feedback' as seen in the GIF below. We also encourage you to share any features you would like to see in the app by adding it to ourPlanner Feedback Portal. Learn more: Learn about the Viva connections in Teams: Overview: Viva Connections | Microsoft Learn Watch thenew Planner demos for inspiration on how to get the most out of the new Planner app in Microsoft Tea... Read about our investments fororganizations using the new Planner with frontline workers. We’ve got a lot more ‘planned’ for the new Planner this year! Stay tuned to thePlanner Blog - Microsoft Community Hub for news. For future updates coming to the new Planner app, please view the Microsoft 365 roadmaphere.What's New for Planner in Teams in July 2024
The Planner team is excited to share some fresh new updates in the Planner app for Microsoft Teams. We thank you for your valuable feedback that helps shape feature updates, and hope these capabilities significantly enhance your experience managing tasks and coordinating team initiatives.
