Asana, The Project Management Platform You Need to Know About

Protect your employees from unclear priorities, unnecessary meetings, and uncertainty by leveraging the beautiful side of technology. Here's what you need to know about Asana to get started.

To get to know what Asana is, let's start with this quote first:

“You don't actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it. When enough of the right action steps have been taken, some situation will have been created that matches your initial picture of the outcome closely enough that you can call it "done.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

David Allen, an author and consultant, created the time management method "Getting Things Done" or GTD. His idea is that putting everything you have on your mind in a trustworthy place (paper or a digital equivalent) will help you efficiently manage both your personal life and work. So, what does Asana has to do with GTD?

What is Asana?

Asana is a work management platform that captures the exact value mentioned above. If you type "Asana" in Google play store, you'd find the name followed by "work in one place."

Work in one place is the very concept of Asana. It's a place where you can divide projects into steps or milestones, manage tasks and several projects, and collaborate and communicate with relevant people.

Any workplace of any size as well as individuals can use Asana.

Let's take a look on what Asana offers to help you manage your projects and tasks.

Setting goals for your company in Asana

One of the impressive features that Asana has is linking your company goals to your projects. To benefit from feature, first use a goal-setting methodology such as OKRs to set your overall company goals.

Then, once you're settled on your goals for the next quarter you can add them to Asana. Under "Goals," you create a goal, choose a time period, and assign collaborators. You can also choose how you'll measure your progress towards this goal.

Project and task management in Asana

Instead of having scattered tasks in emails, spreadsheets, or post-it notes, Asana has a handy hierarchy where you can add tasks with an assignee and a due date.

Then, your tasks can be grouped into projects, so the team can collaborate and communicate in one place.

Also, Asana is a shared space for the whole organization, in which teams create projects and then tasks visible for relevant people.

There are different views for the tasks, so each employee can see details that are important to their role.

Projects in Asana

When you create a project, in the overview, there is a "how we'll collaborate" area, where you can add meeting details and communication channels as Asana suggests.

• Project roles. You can add people who will collaborate on the project and assign a role to each of them.
• Key resources. You can add a project brief and supporting resources, so everyone is on the same page
• Milestones. Set major milestones and assign due dates and responsible people to each of them.

Goals that support this project: As mentioned before, you can add your overall company goals to Asana, and then you can link the project to a specific goal or more.

Another thing you can do is set status for your projects. You can choose from on track, at risk, off track, on hold, or complete.

Tasks in Asana

Tasks include several features that cover almost everything you need. 

• Add subtasks. If needed, you can break your tasks into small steps to complete the task assigned.
• Add task assignees. You can assign tasks to relevant people. They're the ones who'll be responsible for task completion.
• Assign due dates to each task, which will reflect in Asana calendar.
• Check the history of every action related to the task.
• Mark your task as a project milestone, which will reflect in the project overview under "Milestones." 
• Convert your task into a template that can be reused to easily kick off certain tasks.
• View your tasks as a list or a board (group your tasks into sections or columns) or in a timeline (see the project chronologically).
• Add task dependencies if they're certain tasks that should be finished before others.
• Attach files to the task from either your computer or integrated apps.

Workflow in Asana

Using Asana, you can build your very own workflow.

• Customize your task fields. You can choose what fields to add to your tasks or customize your own.
• Set rules. You can set rules to automatically assign tasks and collaborators. Moreover, you can add rules that apply to integrated apps like Slack. For example, you can set a rule to send a "task complete" message via Slack to relevant people.
• Create forms. Each project in Asana includes a “Forms” tab. When you create a form within a certain project, it's connected to that project. Forms are created to collect requests from people outside of your team or company. People who don't have an Asana account can access and fill out forms to submit requests to help you track all pieces of info in one place.

Asana blog recommends creating forms for the following purposes: creative requests, bug reports, customer feedback, IT or facilities requests, and team brainstorms or ideas.

The forms come with two default questions, name and email, and you can customize them according to your preference.

Communication tools

Teams succeed when they communicate effectively. And of course, Asana had to integrate communication into the software.

Project discussions

Have discussions within your project. You can send messages from the "Messages" tab in each project to discuss progress or new ideas or add comments.

Proofing

Asking for and receiving feedback from stakeholders is a critical part of communication. Organizing feedback and putting it in the right context is a hectic task. And if done incorrectly, it'll leave you unsure about what you need to do to complete your work. 

Asana provides the proofing option, where your team can create a task and attach an image or a pdf. Then, they assign a review subtask to each stakeholder. This way, all feedback is seen by everyone at once.

Asana integrates with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. So, stakeholders can click on the image to open up the lightbox and click “Add Feedback" and add edits directly to the image. The feedback will automatically create a subtask assigned to the person who uploaded the image.

Team pages

One of the excellent features that enhance communication across organizations is team pages. Team pages include three tabs: overview, conversations, and calendar. So, you've all the info you need to more context about the purpose of the team, its members, and its tasks.

The overview includes the team description, the member list, and the projects the team is working on (you can view projects as tiles or list). You can also create a new project.

In the conversation tab, you can celebrate your team's achievements, share team-wide announcements, or discuss multiple projects at a time.

Team calendars help senior managers stay informed on the tasks their teams are working on for the days and weeks ahead. Tasks from all of your team's projects are shown in a single view.

Roles in Asana

Let's take a look on what roles are available in your workspace.

Admins

Asana has two admin roles: super admin and admin. Only members belonging to an organization can have the admin or super admin roles.

Admins have access to user and team management features and security settings for individual users.

Super admins have access to all admin features and security settings for the entire organization; a super admin is usually an IT administrator. The first Super Admin for an organization must go through a verification process. 

Task collaborators (followers)

You can add people in the organization as task collaborators (followers). They are people who aren't responsible of the task, but you need them updated on the progress and task information. 

They receive notifications on the following: new attachment added, new comment posted, someone likes the task, and when the task is marked complete.

Guests

In Asana, a user who does not share your email domain is called a guest. They're people who are invited to work on a specific task, project, or team. They can be vendors, contractors, or customers.

They have limited access and only see what you share with them, such as tasks, projects, teams, or portfolios they've been invited to.

Note: You don't have to pay for guests in a paid organization.

Privacy in Asana

Asana believes in a balance between transparency and privacy within an organization. Work done publicly encourages accountability, effective communication, and empowerment across an organization. That's why you'd find an Asana project public by default.

However, it's understandable that some info within certain teams is more sensitive and should be limited to those who need to see it, such as finance and legal teams, or feedback from one-on-one meetings.

So, to make a project private, you need to click the + button at the top of the project and select "Make Private."

Another feature that adds a bit of privacy is comment-only projects. You can set the project as comment only, so only certain project members can edit the project. The rest can only comment on tasks and work on the tasks assigned to them.

Asana integrations

Asana can't capitalize on the "work in one place" motto if they ask you to leave your favorite tools behind. They have a rocking list of apps that integrate well with the platform, so you can have all your work done in one place. The most popular are as follows.

Making meetings actionable with Asana and adam.ai

Every project, task, subtask you add to Asana comes from one place: highly productive meetings. Productive meetings are ones with a clear goal, clear agenda, and clear action items.

A software that helps you run meetings that fulfill the above criteria and is directly linked to your projects on one of the strongest project management platforms is what you need on your side when growing your business.

An all-in-one meeting management software, like adam.ai, has all the features necessary for running an actionable meeting, from having solid timed agenda items to creating detailed actions, where you can add a description, important files, and comments, and of course assign a date and a person to the action.

An integration with Asana helps take your meetings to the next level. Imagine this: you're in a meeting where you decided a certain action should be taken. You discuss with your meeting participants who should be responsible for it and its deadline and then assign both to the the action.

You ask the meeting participants to share their description of the the action to increase accountability. You can vote on the best description. Or skip this part if you're settled on what perfectly describes the action.

Then, you move to adding files that are necessary to understanding or completing this task. You also ask the meeting participants to remind you if there're any other important files you need to add.

Feeling satisfied with the action you created? With a click of a button, send it to the right working space and right project on Asana. And voila! You've just finished your first actionable meeting and your team is ready to start on their tasks the minute you close this meeting and thank them for their time.

Asana and adam.ai integration

Check out this video to see how easy it is to integrate Asana with adam.ai.

We understand how, most of the times, you end your meetings frustrated because it took so long and you aren't sure about the outcome. We feel you!

We're inviting you to experience the opposite: reduce your meetings' time, run actionable meetings, and unleash the growth potential your business deserves. Enjoy your 14-day trial on adam.ai with all the features unlocked and no credit card needed. And don't forget to link your Asana account!

Asana Pricing

And now, let's discuss an important part in your decision to use Asana, the pricing.

Asana has three plans Basic, Premium, and Business.

Asana Basic

The basic account is free for 30 days, after which you need to choose between premium or business account or else your account won't continue to work.

What does the Asana Basic account include?

In your basic account, you have access to all basic features: unlimited essentials, such as projects, tasks, activity log, storage, and comments; list, board, and calendar project view; basic workflows; free integrations with 100+ apps; basic reporting: status updates in Asana and exporting projects PDF or CSV; security essentials; community support through Asana's forum, webinars, and guide.

Who is the Asana Basic account for?

It is for individuals or teams just getting started with project management.

Asana Premium

This year (2022) Asana Premium costs 10.99$ per month per user if the total amount is billed annually. However, if you choose to be billed monthly, the account per user costs 13.49$.

You can try the Asana Premium for free for 25 days. But you'd have to enter your credit card details for that. Once your trial ends, your account will be billed for the type of subscription you chose.

You may cancel your trial at any time before the end of your trial period. If you cancel on or before your trial expiration date, your account won't be charged. 

What does the Asana Premium account include?

The Premium account is an upgrade to the Basic account. Same as the Basic, you'll have access to unlimited projects, tasks, activity log entries, file storage, and comments and free app integrations.

Besides the above, you'll have four project views (instead of only three): list, board, calendar, and timeline views.

You can set automated workflows, with limited pre-set rules, forms, and custom templates, and have unlimited dashboards across unlimited projects, custom fields, advanced search, and milestones.

You can also add any number of users and any number of guests (people who do not share your company's email domain) to your account. And you can set private projects.

Regarding support, you have personalized customer success options.

Who is the Asana Premium account for?

Asana Premium account is used for teams that need to collaborate on projects and members of the same team that work on various projects together.

Asana Business

This year (2022) Asana Business costs 24.99$ per month per user if the total amount is billed annually. However, if you choose to be billed monthly, the account per user costs 30.49$.

You can try the Asana Premium for free for 25 days. But you'd have to enter your credit card details for that. Once your trial ends, your account will be billed for the type of subscription you chose.

You may cancel your trial at any time before the end of your trial period. If you cancel on or before your trial expiration date, your account won't be charged.

What does the Asana Business account include?

Asana Business account includes the same privileges as Asana Premium account, plus the following: (1) advanced workflows with unlimited dynamic and custom rules, forms, and custom templates; (2) advanced reporting, including integrations with Tableau and PowerBI.

Who is the Asana Business account for?

It is for managing projects across a company to monitor progress, determine blockers, and reach goals.

The Bottom Line

Asana is one of the most powerful platforms that you need to consider when running your business. You have various plans to choose from and you can try each of them for free. 

And what makes Asana stand out as a project management platform is the various integrations it offers. You can manage your work in one place.

One of the integrations Asana sought out is an all-in-one meeting management software, like adam.ai, because productive meetings grow businesses. In this article, we've covered how Asana and adam.ai can help your business skyrocket.

And while there may be multiple meeting management solutions available, here are a few reasons to consider adam.ai:

• adam.ai is one of Atlassian Ventures' portfolio companies.

• adam.ai is ranked a leader in the meeting management software category by G2 for both quarters, Summer 2021 and Winter 2021.

• adam.ai has been included in the Forrester Report in the AI-enabled meeting technology landscape.

• adam.ai is trusted and used by powerful teams worldwide from Johns Hopkins University, The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), Microsoft, and other renowned organizations.

• And most importantly, adam.ai integrates with your existing workflow, provides a free plan for life for small teams, and is the most affordable tool for larger teams (starts at $4.99).