Sunsama: Introducing AI recommendations for planned time and channels

Sunsama introduces two new AI features: planned time recommendations and channel recommendations, which automatically suggest a planned time for a task and the channel it belongs in.

Sunsama's AI can automatically pick a time estimate for your tasks and auto-assign your tasks to a channel. ‌ ‌ ‌ AI Recommendations We are introducing Sunsama's first two AI features: planned time recommendations and channel recommendations.

January 17, 2024 3:17 PM

ashutosh@sunsama.com

Sunsama: Introducing AI recommendations for planned time and channels

Sunsama introduces two new AI features: planned time recommendations and channel recommendations, which automatically suggest a planned time for a task and the channel it belongs in.

<html lang="en"><head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"><style>  </style></head><body class="forceBgColor" style="background-color:transparent; margin:0; padding:0"><div style="display:none; max-height:0px; overflow:hidden">Sunsama's AI can automatically pick a time estimate for your tasks and auto-assign your tasks to a channel.</div><div style="display:none; max-height:0px; overflow:hidden"> ‌ ‌ ‌ </div><table class="nl-container" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="background-color:transparent"><tbody><tr><td><table class="row row-1" align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style=""><tbody><tr><td><table class="row-content stack" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" width="600" style="color:#000; width:600px; margin:0 auto"><tbody><tr><td class="column column-1" width="100%" style="font-weight:400; text-align:left; padding-bottom:5px; padding-top:5px; vertical-align:top; border-top:0; border-right:0; border-bottom:0; border-left:0"><table class="image_block block-1" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style=""><tbody><tr><td class="pad" style="padding-left:15px; padding-right:60px; padding-top:40px; width:100%"><div class="alignment" align="left" style="line-height:10px"><div style="max-width:120px"><a href="#" target="_blank" tabindex="-1" style="outline:none"><img src="https://userimg-bee.customeriomail.com/images/client-env-99697/logo-text-black.png" width="120" style="display:block; height:auto; border:0; width:100%"></a></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="row row-2" align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style=""><tbody><tr><td><table class="row-content stack" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" width="600" style="color:#000; width:600px; margin:0 auto"><tbody><tr><td class="column column-1" width="100%" style="font-weight:400; text-align:left; padding-bottom:5px; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px; padding-top:5px; vertical-align:top; border-top:0; border-right:0; border-bottom:0; border-left:0"><table class="text_block block-1" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="word-break:break-word"><tbody><tr><td class="pad"><div style="font-family:sans-serif"><div class="" style="font-size:12px; font-family:Lato,Tahoma,Verdana,Segoe,sans-serif; color:#000; line-height:1.5"><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:24px"><strong>AI Recommendations</strong></span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">We are introducing Sunsama's first two AI features: planned time recommendations and channel recommendations. </span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">When creating a new task, Sunsama can automatically suggest a "planned time" for the task as well as the "channel" the task belongs in.</span></p></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="image_block block-2" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style=""><tbody><tr><td class="pad" style="width:100%"><div class="alignment" align="center" style="line-height:10px"><div style="max-width:580px"><a href="#" target="_blank" tabindex="-1" style="outline:none"><img src="https://userimg-assets.customeriomail.com/images/client-env-99697/1705103848622_ai-announcement_01HM01QX7KJD0387CRABAHPXTV.gif" width="580" style="display:block; height:auto; border:0; width:100%"></a></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="text_block block-3" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="word-break:break-word"><tbody><tr><td class="pad" style="padding-bottom:40px; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px; padding-top:10px"><div style="font-family:sans-serif"><div class="" style="font-size:12px; font-family:Lato,Tahoma,Verdana,Segoe,sans-serif; color:#000; line-height:1.5"><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">If you take no further action, the recommended values will be automatically applied once the task is created. If you don't like the recommendation, you can change it with the <a href="#" target="_blank" class="" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration:underline; color:#555555">usual shortcuts</a> before creating the task. </span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">On average, when the recommendation is right, this should save you time - you have two fewer fields to set when creating a task.</span><br><br></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">We're most excited about planned time recommendations. Picking an accurate planned time is a hard task for humans too. Sunsama's AI uses its extensive memory of your existing task and timer data to suggest a reasonable time it will take to complete a new task.</span><br><br><span style="font-size:16px">👉 If you want to see it in action, hop into Sunsama and create a new task.</span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">🤓 If you want to learn more, keep reading below or check out our help center <a href="#" target="_blank" class="" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration:underline; color:#555555">article</a> about it! </span></p></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="button_block block-4" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style=""><tbody><tr><td class="pad"><div class="alignment" align="center"><a href="#" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none; display:inline-block; color:#ffffff; background-color:#4dcd7d; border-radius:4px; width:auto; border-top:0px solid transparent; font-weight:400; border-right:0px solid transparent; border-bottom:0px solid transparent; border-left:0px solid transparent; padding-top:5px; padding-bottom:5px; font-family:Lato,Tahoma,Verdana,Segoe,sans-serif; font-size:16px; text-align:center; word-break:keep-all"><span style="padding-left:20px; padding-right:20px; font-size:16px; display:inline-block; letter-spacing:normal"><span style="word-break:break-word; line-height:32px">Go to Sunsama →</span></span></a> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="text_block block-5" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="word-break:break-word"><tbody><tr><td class="pad" style="padding-bottom:10px; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px; padding-top:30px"><div style="font-family:sans-serif"><div class="" style="font-size:12px; font-family:Lato,Tahoma,Verdana,Segoe,sans-serif; color:#000; line-height:1.5"><p style="margin:0; font-size:18px"><span style="font-size:24px"><strong>How it works</strong></span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:18px"><span style="font-size:16px">I want to share a couple of technical notes to give you peace of mind about your data and to set expectations around accuracy. </span></p></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="text_block block-6" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="word-break:break-word"><tbody><tr><td class="pad" style="padding-bottom:40px; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px; padding-top:10px"><div style="font-family:sans-serif"><div class="" style="font-size:12px; font-family:Lato,Tahoma,Verdana,Segoe,sans-serif; color:#000; line-height:1.5"><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px"><strong>Your data is never used to train models</strong></span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">Your task data is not used to train any models. We use open source models hosted in our own cloud that generate embeddings without ever being trained on any new or existing customer data. </span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px"><strong>Your previous task data is used for future recommendations</strong></span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">If you find your recommendations aren't quite accurate, stay patient and make sure to manually set the channel or planned time. As more of your tasks get these fields set accurately, your recommendations will start looking better. </span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">This second point may seem at odds with the first. We've architected our recommendations to use semantic similarity, which lets us learn from your existing tasks without needing to train a model on your data. If you need more technical detail, just ask. </span></p></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="row row-3" align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style=""><tbody><tr><td><table class="row-content stack" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" width="600" style="background-color:#f9f7f7; color:#000; width:600px; margin:0 auto"><tbody><tr><td class="column column-1" width="100%" style="font-weight:400; text-align:left; padding-bottom:5px; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px; padding-top:5px; vertical-align:top; border-top:0; border-right:0; border-bottom:0; border-left:0"><table class="text_block block-1" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="word-break:break-word"><tbody><tr><td class="pad" style="padding-bottom:10px; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px; padding-top:20px"><div style="font-family:sans-serif"><div class="" style="font-size:12px; font-family:Lato,Tahoma,Verdana,Segoe,sans-serif; color:#000; line-height:1.5"><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:24px"><strong><span style="">Balancing intentionality with automation</span></strong></span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="">I was initially skeptical of adding any AI features to Sunsama. </span></span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="">Personally, I had never stuck with an AI tool/workflow that felt accurate, didn't distract me,  and saved me time and energy. And as far as Sunsama is concerned, I didn't want to compromise our commitment to human judgement and intentionality for more automation. </span></span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="">I worried that customers would stop relying on their own professional intuition about their work and cede that thinking to the AI's recommendations. </span><span style="">But when we launched our first internal versions of planned time recommendations, I was pleasantly surprised. </span></span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">The recommendations were pretty good. Your past task data was a good-enough estimator of how long a new task might take and that can save you tedious data-entry work letting you move through Sunsama's interface closer to the speed of thought. </span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">Inaccurate recommendations were unexpectedly helpful. They'd anchor you and push you to set a more thoughtful planned time e.g. "No way that's going to take 10 minutes, silly AI, more like 1 hour". </span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">And finally, adding any time estimate to a task, was always better than no time estimate at all. </span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">I'm not a believer in a grand vision of AI that replaces humans. Instead, thoughtfully crafted AI experiences can automate minutiae so we can focus our energies on the creative work humans excel at. We hope this feature is a step in that direction. <br></span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"> </p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">As always, write me back to let me know, I read and respond to all of these.</span></p></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="text_block block-2" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="word-break:break-word"><tbody><tr><td class="pad" style="padding-bottom:10px; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px; padding-top:20px"><div style="font-family:sans-serif"><div class="" style="font-size:12px; font-family:Lato,Tahoma,Verdana,Segoe,sans-serif; color:#000; line-height:1.5"><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px"><a href="#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration:underline; color:#555555"><span style="">Ashutosh</span></a></span></p><p style="margin:0; font-size:16px"><span style="font-size:16px">CEO <span id="2e3cd7fd-f2ee-4897-b166-85ca7c31223e" style="">@ Sunsama</span> </span></p></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="row row-4" align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style=""><tbody><tr><td><table class="row-content stack" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" width="600" style="color:#000; width:600px; margin:0 auto"><tbody><tr><td class="column column-1" width="100%" style="font-weight:400; text-align:left; padding-top:15px; vertical-align:top; border-top:0; border-right:0; border-bottom:0; border-left:0"><table class="empty_block block-1" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style=""><tbody><tr><td class="pad"><div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="row row-5" align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style=""><tbody><tr><td><table class="row-content stack" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" width="600" style="color:#000; width:600px; margin:0 auto"><tbody><tr><td class="column column-1" width="100%" style="font-weight:400; text-align:left; padding-bottom:5px; padding-top:5px; vertical-align:top; border-top:0; border-right:0; border-bottom:0; border-left:0"><table class="divider_block block-1" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style=""><tbody><tr><td class="pad" style="padding-bottom:10px; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px; padding-top:60px"><div class="alignment" align="center"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" width="100%" style=""><tbody><tr><td class="divider_inner" style="font-size:1px; line-height:1px; border-top:1px solid #bbb"><span> </span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="text_block block-2" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="word-break:break-word"><tbody><tr><td class="pad"><div style="font-family:sans-serif"><div class="" style="font-size:12px; font-family:Lato,Tahoma,Verdana,Segoe,sans-serif; color:#6f6f6f; line-height:1.5"><p style="margin:0; font-size:14px; text-align:center"><span style="font-size:12px">You receive this email because you are interested in Sunsama. 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