Automate PMO meetings with n8n Automation

In today’s world, data and time are two of the most valuable things. The power of data is always in the news, but what about time? There are still a lot of actions that are performed manually and can easily be automated. Today I’m going to talk about one of those manual tasks that take forever to complete.

Yes, I’m talking about preparing for PMO meetings. But you might be wondering: how can you automate it? Well, here’s how I did it using n8n automation.

Before moving on to the main topic, let me give you a brief review of n8n for the people who have heard this word for the first time.

A quick review of n8n

Using n8n, a powerful low-code automation tool that is open-source, you can create workflows between different programs. With n8n you can transfer data between tools, automate tedious activities, and launch events across platforms. The versatility of n8n is what sets it apart from other automation solutions; Because it’s self-hosted and open source, you can tailor workflows to your specific requirements while maintaining ownership of your data.

Now let’s move on to our main topic. Let’s talk about PMO meetings for a moment. These meetings play a crucial role in the success of any organization as they review the progress of all ongoing projects, make crucial decisions and ensure that everything is moving in the right direction.

However, the preparation for these meetings takes hours. The reason for that is that we have to manually collect updates from Asana and Jira, pull reports, and spend way too much time organizing everything into something digestible, which is undoubtedly a headache, and more importantly, a huge time-suck.

So I came up with a better way to do it. This is where I came up with my n8n automation. With a few workflows I was able to automate much of this process. I’ll show you how I did it.

Step 1: Automate data collection

The first thing I did was set up n8n to connect to our project management tools: Asana and Jira. This was critical as we needed to gather real-time updates on all projects before our meetings. Using n8n, I created a workflow that pulls the latest updates from both tools an hour before our PMO meetings. Instead of manually checking each project, n8n takes care of it for me, so the data is always current and ready to use.

Step 2: Summarize the data

Once n8n has retrieved the data, the next challenge is making sense of it. I didn’t want raw data; I wanted something that was quick and easy to digest. That’s why I integrated OpenAI into the workflow. The AI ​​helps summarize the project updates and organize everything in a neat table format. This way we can quickly see which projects are on track, which require attention and which actions the team has committed to. The key here is that it cuts out the fluff and focuses on the essentials.

Step 3: Automate report delivery

Now that I had a summarized report, the next step was to make sure everyone got it before the meeting. n8n made this easy too. I’ve set up a workflow that sends the report via email or Slack, depending on who is on the distribution list. An hour before each PMO meeting, the report is automatically delivered to anyone who needs it, so they have time to review it and come to the meeting prepared.

The outcome

The results of this automation were immediately visible. What used to take more than an hour to prepare now takes less than 45 minutes. The data is more accurate and the format is easier to understand, so we spend less time searching through information and more time making decisions. It’s a small change in the big picture, but it has had a big impact on our efficiency.

In this case, n8n wasn’t just about saving time; it also changed the way we approached our PMO meetings. With less manual work to be done, meetings have become more focused and we are better equipped to address issues head-on. It’s the kind of change that makes you wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

Final thoughts

To me, this is just the beginning of what we can do with n8n. The flexibility of the tool means we can automate not only simple workflows, but also complex, multi-step processes involving multiple systems. Whether you run a start-up or a large enterprise, tools like n8n are becoming essential for increasing efficiency and letting teams focus on what they do best: solving problems, not managing processes.

If you’re looking for ways to improve your workflows, give n8n a try.