Why Asana is Great for Project Management

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DOMINIC CUSHNAN
Why
is Great for Project Management

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It keeps your team
coordinate and stay aligned
Asana allows multiple users to share ideas, tasks, and projects in one
place. It provides seamless communication and coordination, which cuts
down on meetings and status reports, and not to mention
miscommunication.
You can assign a task to someone on your team, and he/she can assign a
task to you. You can tag a team member to follow one of your tasks to
keep him or her in the loop. Team members can make comments on
each other’s tasks and projects.
Essentially, Asana puts conversations and tasks together, so you can go to
one place for all the history of the work. For example, if the due date
changes for a task, it shows who changed the due date and when.

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It works like a notepad app
When you use Asana, it really is as fast as using a text editor. Hitting
return starts a new line and a new task, likewise deleting a line of text will
delete that task.
It really feels like you are using a word doc, but with the ability to give
each task more depth when needed.
When using Basecamp, never once had a client add a list of items as
separate tasks. More often than not feedback comes back in the form of
bullet points in an email which I would then painstakingly copy and paste
individually into Basecamp.
With Asana, all you need to do is paste the items in and it knows that
each new line is it’s own task.

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It’s powerful
when you need it to be
Even though you can use it just as a text editor, Asana allows you to use
some powerful features when you need to.
You can select multiple tasks if you want to edit them all at the same
time, such as assigning multiple tasks to 1 person or assigning dates at
the same time. It seems like such as small thing but if you have ever had
to assign more than 10 tasks to the same person in Basecamp it starts to
get old.
You can also give each task a bunch more detail like sub tasks, tags,
attachments, notes and conversations. Helping to give each item more
detail and a history.

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Everything
is in one single screen
No digging around back through multiple project layers, with Asana
everything is only 1 click away. All your projects are to the left, all tasks
for the current project are center, and a detailed history view of the
selected task is to the right.

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It doesn’t dictate
how you should use it
> Drag tasks into other projects.
> Tasks can easily be changed to a section heading by adding a colon at
the end.
> You can remove the task heading and tag them instead.
> Edit multiple tasks at once.
> If you find your project is getting too big it can be split into 2 projects
simply by dragging and dropping selected tasks over to a new project.
All of this flexibility let’s you apply your workflow to Asana, instead of
Asana dictating your workflow.

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It doesn’t dictate
how you should use it

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It doesn’t try
to manage your files
Between Google Drive and Dropbox we can have our file management
sorted. It always seemed like duplication to upload files to Basecamp and
there was never a user friendly way to browse through lots of files.
Asana doesn’t try to do this, instead it lets you attach files through with
Dropbox or Google Drive, meaning the original file stays where it should
without having to second guess which is the most current version.

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It helps you
declutter your email inbox
One of the coolest features of Asana is the ability to take an email from
your inbox and assign it to yourself as a task in Asana. You’ll just take an
email containing a task you want to assign to yourself or one of your
team members, and forward it to x@mail.asana.com.
It will then show up in Asana with the attachments and everything from
the email intact. This helps declutter your inbox, and add the task to your
task list and/or calendar so that you actually get the task done!

10. @ d o m c u s h n a n
It has a project
planning third-party app
Asana does not have a Gantt feature, but Instagantt is available as a third
party integration. Through Instagantt, you can create a Gantt chart,
schedule tasks in a timeline, and set start dates and dependency lines.

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It has a project
planning third-party app

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Instagantt:
> Your tasks aren’t stored
Everything happens in live sync with Asana. Your tasks will never be stored here unless
you take a public snapshot. Additional information like start dates and dependencies are
stored as metadata in the task's description field.
> Drag and drop interface
Drag tasks to change dates. Drag corners to change duration, or drag dependency lines
to create hierarchy between tasks. To schedule tasks without dates, just click over a day
column to set it's due date on that day.
> Create public snapshots
At any time you can create a snapshot of your Gantt chart's current state. It won't be
affected by future modifications, and it can also be shared with anybody through a
public link.
It has a project
planning third-party app

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It is widely accessible
Available for desktop, iOS and Android.

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Keyboard shortcuts

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Pricing
Standard Plan
FREE
up to 15 members
Plans with Premium Features
$50 per month
up to 15 members
$100 per month
up to 30 members
$300 per month
up to 50 members

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Asana
> charges when you pass 15 users
> everything on one single screen
> has keyboard shortcuts
> can easily filter out completed tasks from
any project within the system
> can create subtasks within single task
> can link a person/task by typing @
> can merge and copy tasks
> allows bulk task editing
Asana vs Basecamp
Basecamp
> charges for projects and space
> centered around one thing on a screen
> everything is a click-type action
> can only view a “Completed to-do’s”
which aggregates everything completed
> cannot create subtasks within single task
> cannot link a person/task to another task
> cannot merge and copy tasks
> does not allow bulk task editing

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Asana
> charges when you pass 15 users
> everything on one single screen
> can merge and copy tasks
> allows bulk task editing
Asana vs Podio
Podio
> charges when you pass 5 users
> navigation can be slow and confusing
> cannot merge and copy tasks
> does not allow bulk task editing

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Asana
> charges when you pass 15 users
> has Application Program Interface (API)
> has visual report feature
> can link a person/task by typing @
> can merge and copy tasks
> allows bulk task editing
> has email integration (i.e. create tasks,
comment, assign and complete tasks via
e-mail.)
Asana vs Proofhub
Proofhub
> charges for projects and space
> no Application Program Interface (API)
> no visual report feature
> cannot link a person/task to another task
> cannot merge and copy tasks
> does not allow bulk task editing
> no email integration

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References
http://www.sennza.com.au/2014/03/24/asana-for-project-management/
http://www.stephaniecalahan.com/4-reasons-why-she-is-in-love-with-asana-and-her-team-
has-never-been-more-productive-app-review-and-how-to/
http://blog.grovo.com/2012/02/3-ways-asana-helps-grovo-manage-tasks/
https://asana.com/apps/instagantt
http://instagantt.com/
https://asana.com/pricing
http://gobblelogic.com/2014/04/05/basecamp-vs-asana/
http://www.betsmartmedia.com/5-reasons-we-switched-from-basecamp-to-asana
http://www.sitepoint.com/top-5-tools-for-project-management/