AI is already changing how teams work. It can do things like automate manual tasks and find trends in large data sets, just to name a few. But when we talk about its features, most of what we talk about is how it manages our busy work and makes it more efficient. This lets teams focus on building the next big thing. In a sense, it’s like a really smart assistant who takes on the tasks you’ve outgrown.
But when it comes to diagramming, especially here at Miro, AI takes on a new role. Whether you’re making a product, designing a system, or planning a new process, AI won’t just help with the manual tasks. It’ll amplify your creative powers, helping you to iterate, collaborate, and innovate more effectively.
Here we’ll talk about how Miro AI can be your new strategic diagramming partner. It will let you make dynamic designs to show complex processes, speed up work, and get your product out there faster with what you’re designing next.
How AI is transforming diagramming
Whether you’re making an org chart to show who does what or a journey map to understand how your customers use your products and services, it’s important to make sure your diagram is clear, works well, and easy to change. But starting from scratch, especially with a big team and many people involved, can be very hard.
Miro’s diagramming tools help teams start the diagramming process and work together better from the start. And with Miro AI, our generative AI tool, it’s now even easier for teams to go from idea to production. Here’s how.
AI amplifies creativity
When Agile Product Evangelist Dave Ross wrote about how AI advancements are impacting product development, this was one of his main arguments. He compares the technology to your brainstorming partner. It doesn’t just handle common tasks, but it also helps product developers come up with new ideas and think in new ways. Maybe that’s by making mind maps to organize a brainstorm, showing ideas to leaders, or suggesting ways to improve a product prototype.
“AI’s ability to instantly develop narratives … allows you to easily experiment with new formats so you can transform ideas into new structures to see what works best,” he says. By leaning on AI for conceptualization, teams can explore more ideas, faster, and even uncover more points of view.
It speeds up iteration
In our 2024 report, The Future of Product Development, we found that “Generative AI can support more efficient product analysis, provide continuous recommendations to improve product usability, and help to speed up the concept phase in new product development.”
Because teams can use AI to instantly create. This is especially true when using AI with a tool like Miro. Stakeholders can work together, edit, and give feedback live or in the background.
For example, Matt Anderson, the founder of ThinkStartup and creator of our 3D Innovation and Change Journey Map Template, suggests using AI tools whenever possible when you’re building a journey map. His team used to take eight weeks to make the 3D journey maps. Now, it takes just five days using AI image maker Midjourney to create them.
And enhances collaboration
Sitting in a room with a group trying to create a diagram from scratch together is a serious challenge. Adding asynchronous and remote teammates can be even more difficult. But with Miro’s collaborative features that allow for live and asynchronous work — like stickies for quick notes — you can remove a lot of the friction that gets in the way of successful diagramming.
Plus, once your first iteration is complete, stakeholders can view the diagrams, edit them, and give feedback live or on their own time.
Harness the power of Miro AI for diagramming
Now let’s talk about how you can start to implement generative AI into your workflows with Miro AI. With new features just launched in beta in July, Miro AI can now create UML (Unified Modeling Language) class diagrams, UML sequence diagrams, flowcharts, and ER (Entity Relationship) diagrams. All you have to do is type in a text prompt. Once the diagram is generated with AI, it’s fully editable in the canvas.
If you want to create a diagram using Miro AI, navigate to the top left of your creation tool bar and click Create with AI. Choose the diagram type you want, write down the diagram you want in the prompt field, and click Create the diagram to add to the board.
Need help with your prompt? We’ll provide you with pre-written text that you can select and edit, and choose specifically what on your board you want to use as input. And this is pretty revelatory.
As we continue to improve our AI features at Miro, your canvas ultimately will be your prompt. That means all you’ll need to do is highlight all those sticky notes, for example, to create the first iteration of your diagram, then select other frames, text, shapes, or stickies from your stakeholders to get better outcomes for your next iteration — creating more informed versions and alternatives in a flash.
Let Gen AI be your guide (when it comes to diagrams)
It’s clear that when it comes to diagramming, generative AI is more powerful than just a data sifter. By giving you more time, more connections, and more ideas, it can help you make your best work. This could be a better product, a more accurate picture of your customer, a more detailed organization chart, or an innovation you haven’t found yet.
