Discussion Forum > Asana.com anybody use, thoughts?
I've looked at Asana, too. And also wonder if had value to an individual, not a team. I like the look and feel--would love to hear what you think after you've given it some time!
September 14, 2012 at 3:43 |
danno
danno
@danno
it works for an individual, and is free. only charge for 30+
the UI is clean, however it was much confusing for me at first. do take some time to explore.
some of the confusion is as it is meant for multiple people. so if you put something on your list directly, you can use as task list, but if you put something on a project, you only see it on your list if you assign it to yourself. which makes sense for multiple people.
iOS app is a problem. any offline use is lost. unlike toodledo.com and other apps which let you synch up later. worse, it DOEs let you enter offline, but then the entries are dropped. not sure if this happens in all situations, but did happen in my test.
has a nice ability to have 1 level of outline. I'd prefer if when move outline top level, the sub levels went with it.
pure keyboard entry is nice/novel. This is more geared for online. just enter a :
and will make into outline title.
i wish there was a way to move between projects.
feels like some basic functionality we expect is missing, but then other abilities never seen are there. I'd give it a try.
and I'd really like to know how is with an actual team, that is what is built for and where it may shine.
it works for an individual, and is free. only charge for 30+
the UI is clean, however it was much confusing for me at first. do take some time to explore.
some of the confusion is as it is meant for multiple people. so if you put something on your list directly, you can use as task list, but if you put something on a project, you only see it on your list if you assign it to yourself. which makes sense for multiple people.
iOS app is a problem. any offline use is lost. unlike toodledo.com and other apps which let you synch up later. worse, it DOEs let you enter offline, but then the entries are dropped. not sure if this happens in all situations, but did happen in my test.
has a nice ability to have 1 level of outline. I'd prefer if when move outline top level, the sub levels went with it.
pure keyboard entry is nice/novel. This is more geared for online. just enter a :
and will make into outline title.
i wish there was a way to move between projects.
feels like some basic functionality we expect is missing, but then other abilities never seen are there. I'd give it a try.
and I'd really like to know how is with an actual team, that is what is built for and where it may shine.
September 24, 2012 at 19:10 |
matthewS
matthewS
Thanks for the follow-up report. I looked, but wasn't tempted enough to really dig in.
September 28, 2012 at 3:40 |
danno
danno
@ danno. what are your reasons for not being tempted?
the more i explore it, the more it seems to have features i thought it did not have. such as i thought i could not move a task from one project to another. well, i can. & even better, a task can be in multiple projects at the same time, something rarely seen.
however, even with my growing admiration for the product, i still am also not tempted to use it. not sure why directly. mostly a vague feeling of confusion and being overwhelmed.
lacks clear visual hierarchy
curious what more specifically your reasons are. thanks
the more i explore it, the more it seems to have features i thought it did not have. such as i thought i could not move a task from one project to another. well, i can. & even better, a task can be in multiple projects at the same time, something rarely seen.
however, even with my growing admiration for the product, i still am also not tempted to use it. not sure why directly. mostly a vague feeling of confusion and being overwhelmed.
lacks clear visual hierarchy
curious what more specifically your reasons are. thanks
October 1, 2012 at 22:56 |
matthewS
matthewS
Yes, this: "lacks clear visual hierarchy."
Honestly, I didn't give it enough time to make a fair appraisal--just enough to see that it was an immediate hit for me.
I've been drawn more and more back to Evernote, which is what I used for Final Version, as soon as that was announced.
There's a nice website/software called zendone, which works as a front end to Evernote, and provide more structure, with room for projects, due dates, and more.
I really liked the basic idea and that fact that it piggy-backed on the Evernote, which is what I'd been using for collection already.
But what I quickly came to see was that I didn't really want or need the extra organization. By using lots of tags within Evernote, I had most of that sorting power, but I didn't have to decide what was a "context" vs. an "area" vs. a "project" and such.
And that at any time, I can just sort all tasks by date modified and be back in pure Final Version mode.
So, I think Asana struck me as both too structured in the same was as zendone, and, strangely, not structured enough to draw me and make me see the value of the structure.
Whew, long answer. See what happens when you ask!
Honestly, I didn't give it enough time to make a fair appraisal--just enough to see that it was an immediate hit for me.
I've been drawn more and more back to Evernote, which is what I used for Final Version, as soon as that was announced.
There's a nice website/software called zendone, which works as a front end to Evernote, and provide more structure, with room for projects, due dates, and more.
I really liked the basic idea and that fact that it piggy-backed on the Evernote, which is what I'd been using for collection already.
But what I quickly came to see was that I didn't really want or need the extra organization. By using lots of tags within Evernote, I had most of that sorting power, but I didn't have to decide what was a "context" vs. an "area" vs. a "project" and such.
And that at any time, I can just sort all tasks by date modified and be back in pure Final Version mode.
So, I think Asana struck me as both too structured in the same was as zendone, and, strangely, not structured enough to draw me and make me see the value of the structure.
Whew, long answer. See what happens when you ask!
October 2, 2012 at 0:21 |
danno
danno
And if you're curious: https://www.zendone.com/
October 2, 2012 at 0:22 |
danno
danno
I have been using Asana for some time. Quick feedback
- it's still "green" - the UI is still confusing or more exactly assumes some prior training (and still, it never feels elegant or pleasing - it feels like a good toolbox, a efficient professional tool, not something that can make you smile)
- the focus is on structure and collaboration. Their vision is to bridge the gap between Enterprise software (one version of the truth, but not what people use day to day, hence reconciliations issues) and email.notepad.excel (what people use, but creates a mess in communication). As such it's quite the opposite of what Mark has been looking for: a "system" so elegant and powerful that I should prefer to go to my AF or FV list for the fun of it rather than checking cnn.com or facebook
- once you spend a full two days looking at the on line videos and trying to make it work, it is actually VERY powerful. The comments section of each task allow to track progress, do two minutes to advance something, note the outcome, and move on ; it's really a platform with a lot of potential, and a good project management tool -- just keep in mind that this is probably overkill to just create and manage a list (despite their video that says the opposite and recommend to just create a flat list to assign task to yourself automatically: sure, but what's the point of learning a structuring tool and not using it?)
- it's still "green" - the UI is still confusing or more exactly assumes some prior training (and still, it never feels elegant or pleasing - it feels like a good toolbox, a efficient professional tool, not something that can make you smile)
- the focus is on structure and collaboration. Their vision is to bridge the gap between Enterprise software (one version of the truth, but not what people use day to day, hence reconciliations issues) and email.notepad.excel (what people use, but creates a mess in communication). As such it's quite the opposite of what Mark has been looking for: a "system" so elegant and powerful that I should prefer to go to my AF or FV list for the fun of it rather than checking cnn.com or facebook
- once you spend a full two days looking at the on line videos and trying to make it work, it is actually VERY powerful. The comments section of each task allow to track progress, do two minutes to advance something, note the outcome, and move on ; it's really a platform with a lot of potential, and a good project management tool -- just keep in mind that this is probably overkill to just create and manage a list (despite their video that says the opposite and recommend to just create a flat list to assign task to yourself automatically: sure, but what's the point of learning a structuring tool and not using it?)
October 3, 2012 at 21:27 |
PJ
PJ
Hello, Thanks for asana. I tried. I found it nice when you have a team and you need to collaborate. It is free until 30 people so that's great ;-)
For the software it self I found it usual. Nothing revolutionary, just a collector of projects and tasks. No diary, well nothing new...
I rather prefer something simpler such as an AF/FV list which is more efficient for me as I work on my own. Anyway thank you it was interesting to have a look at it.
For the software it self I found it usual. Nothing revolutionary, just a collector of projects and tasks. No diary, well nothing new...
I rather prefer something simpler such as an AF/FV list which is more efficient for me as I work on my own. Anyway thank you it was interesting to have a look at it.
October 5, 2012 at 13:44 |
Jupiter
Jupiter
I use Evernote for FV (thank you Avrum!) and that covers the vast majority of my needs. But I am finding that for some projects that have a number of moving parts, the note body in Evernote is not adequate for keeping track of what I have already done and what remains to be done.
I am sure that I could create tags or notebooks in EN to organize my projects, but this is a case where I would just prefer to use software that is designed for managing projects.
For many years I have been using a desktop application called Achieve Planner and I have always been very happy with it. It was more than adequate for any kind of project planning. But, nowadays, with EN and dropbox and all my other tools and resources being accessible on the cloud, I decided to look for some kind of project planning software on the cloud.
I tried Trello, but never could get it to work in a satisfactory manner for the projects I have. I loved workflowy's intuitive clean interface, but it didn't have any way to link to files or URLs. I have to have that in some kind of project planning app.
So, that leaves Asana. Asana is very team-focused and I am using it as a lone individual. Much of the information in my project plans refers to tasks that others have to do, but I don't expect anyone else to use my project plan.
So far, Asana is working well. It doesn't have a very sophisticated way to create task dependencies, but I can live with what it does have.
Now, what I do is create a task in FV with the project name. In the body of the EN note there is a link to the Asana project plan. I can still make notes in the EN note, but the heavy lifting of project planning is done in Asana. I've been doing this for a few days and it is working well so far.
Yesterday I was out of my office and checked Asana on my phone. It was very helpful.
I am sure that I could create tags or notebooks in EN to organize my projects, but this is a case where I would just prefer to use software that is designed for managing projects.
For many years I have been using a desktop application called Achieve Planner and I have always been very happy with it. It was more than adequate for any kind of project planning. But, nowadays, with EN and dropbox and all my other tools and resources being accessible on the cloud, I decided to look for some kind of project planning software on the cloud.
I tried Trello, but never could get it to work in a satisfactory manner for the projects I have. I loved workflowy's intuitive clean interface, but it didn't have any way to link to files or URLs. I have to have that in some kind of project planning app.
So, that leaves Asana. Asana is very team-focused and I am using it as a lone individual. Much of the information in my project plans refers to tasks that others have to do, but I don't expect anyone else to use my project plan.
So far, Asana is working well. It doesn't have a very sophisticated way to create task dependencies, but I can live with what it does have.
Now, what I do is create a task in FV with the project name. In the body of the EN note there is a link to the Asana project plan. I can still make notes in the EN note, but the heavy lifting of project planning is done in Asana. I've been doing this for a few days and it is working well so far.
Yesterday I was out of my office and checked Asana on my phone. It was very helpful.
December 14, 2012 at 14:00 |
moises
moises
Just came across this thread by chance. Can I suggest you have a look at our similar tool Dooster.net
Our aim has been to make this the ultimate task manager for individuals or teams.
We'd love any comments.
Thanks !
Ed
Our aim has been to make this the ultimate task manager for individuals or teams.
We'd love any comments.
Thanks !
Ed
May 14, 2013 at 8:57 |
Ed Parry
Ed Parry
We have been using Asana for a couple months now. A bit of a learning curve and continue to find bugs. All and all we are happy, but Asana could use some improvement. Some common sense options could be added and moved around to streamline things. Honestly, I would wait to buy until they work things out.
July 11, 2013 at 18:19 |
Jason
Jason
I have used asana and found it's user interface quite boring and also many of the important features are missing. Nowadays, I am playing around with proofhub which seems to be quite better as compared to asana. http://www.proofhub.com
August 6, 2013 at 13:36 |
Emily Cook
Emily Cook
I have used asana, it lacks in many features like time tracking, casper mode etc. So now I am using proofhub.com that has all the desired features.
February 21, 2014 at 11:32 |
Alex
Alex
I tried Asana last weekend but then it had a server issue for about three hours and I couldn't access my projects or tasks. The interface was interesting but accessibility / reliability is critical.
February 21, 2014 at 16:40 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
You might want to get team clerk ( http://www.teamclerk.com ) a try. It also offers a free plan.
January 20, 2016 at 3:12 |
John
John
Check out this Asana User Guide for more help - http://www.hivedesk.com/blog/how-to-easily-manage-your-projects-with-asana/
June 24, 2017 at 11:52 |
Ramesh
Ramesh
Wow, this is what I love about this forum. So much awesome material. This is a topic I started in 2012. I don't use Asana, do check in on them occasionally. One recent feature of note, they have added a Trello style kanban board, if anyone into those. Thanks for everyone for contributions and continue to contribute. And of course for Mark for making this all exist.
June 28, 2017 at 16:16 |
matthewS
matthewS
I've been using Asana for a couple of years.
It's pretty flexible once you understand the thinking behind it. The two killer features are the extensive collaboration options and the ability to have a task genuinely in multiple projects at once.
I found this GTD-related video helpful in figuring out other tricks to make it even more flexible: https://asana.com/guide/resources/customer-interviews/tracking-organization/springest
Because Asana allows you to specify your own manual task sorting (if you want), it works quite well electronically with most of Mark's systems. You can treat the "New Tasks", "Today", "Upcoming", "Later" sections as different types of tasks/pages for different systems.
For example, if you are doing something like AF4 then you can use "New Tasks" as the open list and "Upcoming" as the closed list. The four sections operate slightly differently in how tasks are added - a task added to "New Tasks" will go straight to the bottom of the list (ideal for AF4). "Later" lets you get recurring/future tasks out of the way of your lists and lets them automatically reappear on the due date.
I don't find Asana that useful for a system like GTD, I prefer MyLifeOrganized for that but, alas, MLO still lacks decent collaboration features and, these days, that's becoming more and more important even if it's just to collaborate with your "significant other".
It's pretty flexible once you understand the thinking behind it. The two killer features are the extensive collaboration options and the ability to have a task genuinely in multiple projects at once.
I found this GTD-related video helpful in figuring out other tricks to make it even more flexible: https://asana.com/guide/resources/customer-interviews/tracking-organization/springest
Because Asana allows you to specify your own manual task sorting (if you want), it works quite well electronically with most of Mark's systems. You can treat the "New Tasks", "Today", "Upcoming", "Later" sections as different types of tasks/pages for different systems.
For example, if you are doing something like AF4 then you can use "New Tasks" as the open list and "Upcoming" as the closed list. The four sections operate slightly differently in how tasks are added - a task added to "New Tasks" will go straight to the bottom of the list (ideal for AF4). "Later" lets you get recurring/future tasks out of the way of your lists and lets them automatically reappear on the due date.
I don't find Asana that useful for a system like GTD, I prefer MyLifeOrganized for that but, alas, MLO still lacks decent collaboration features and, these days, that's becoming more and more important even if it's just to collaborate with your "significant other".
June 29, 2017 at 9:19 |
Frank
Frank
only just started looking. is clean, easy to use entry and re-order. just starting to look into the overall grouping of sections, teams, projects. to find out if of value to me, one person, and for me a member of various groups I do paid and volunteer work with.
been around for a year or so from what read. started by early Facebook founders.
there are already so many of these, basecamp, toodledo, manymoon which is now do.com to name just a few. some for personal use, others for teams. some with apps, some web only. and I'm not going to put full investment into testing each. so far toodledo works for me. basecamp was never able to grasp the UI, just too weird.