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Project Manager’s & Traffic’s Guide to Asana

A Quick Introduction
Asana is a task management system that the Focus Group creative team
uses. The core feature of Asana starts with a project that can be broken
down into tasks that can be assigned to a team member. You can set due
dates/times on tasks as well as include files, information and comments on
the task.

First Thing’s First…


Asana is composed of projects (1), team members (2), and your personal
space (3).

Asana centers around projects (#1). The Focus Group organizes them
alphabetically and has three project categories. The first category are our
templates- they are marked with a green border to the side and are
updated as needed. They are not used individually but can be copied for
future projects so that the team has a protocol and process for every
website project. The next category are our Ongoing Clients who routinely
gives us work. Active Projects and Campaigns are for projects with a start
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and end date- (important to note that whether its set on a calendar or not,
this is understood by everyone). An example would be creating and
launching a website or running a digital ad campaign for a client. It starts
but eventually is completed. Therefore can be deleted from our projects
list once its over.

#2 in the image shows each member of our Asana team. You can click on
their profile, assign them a task and see their tasks that have you as a
follower or set as public. Everyone can have private tasks that others
cannot see unless they set you as a follower of the task.

#3 is much like your team member’s task page except for you. There you
will see all the tasks that are assigned to you. Let’s talk about tasks.

Tasks
To create a task, you simply click the Add Task button at the top of your
list

You write what the task is and press “enter” or click again to be finished.
When a task is complete, click the check mark. The task will disappear into
your archive.
By default, you see incomplete tasks. But you can set view to all tasks
(incomplete and complete) or by project, due date or tasks completed in
the past day to three weeks.
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Sections and Organization


Before looking more closely at tasks, I want to point out the button Add
Section in the image above. It appears when your cursor hovers over the
Add Task button. Sections are very useful for organizing your tasks and
projects. They are basically just text without a check box and in bold to
signify a section in your to do list. Some examples of their uses: organize
tasks by Today, Upcoming and Later. Remember, you can click and drag
tasks anywhere on your lists and even drag them into another task for it to
become a sub-task (more on those later). Dragging tasks to their
appropriate sections can be a big help in keeping your list clean and
organized.

My organization system can sometimes include other sections called SLT


Meeting Tasks or Down Time Tasks. Other people have used it to
organize by the type of tasks or project. Sometimes we get a list of
revisions and organize each revision task by sections. Some people do not
use them at all. You’re free to use these however works for you. We
encourage you to play around and see what works for you.

Let’s deep dive into each component in a task:

#1 is where you can


assign someone to a task
just by clicking and
choosing which user in
the drop down. Tasks can
only have one person
assigned to it. This is to
keep people accountable
to tasks.

#2 is where you can set


the date the task is due.
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You can even set its due time or set it as a


recurring tasks by choosing that option
underneath the calendar that pops up when
clicking this.

#3 is the sub-task button. You can create a


new list within a task. This is another savvy
way to organize your tasks. Because, as you
know, many tasks can be broken down into
smaller tasks.

#4 is where you can attach files to a task. It is important to note that you
can find all the files that have been uploaded to a project or your list by
going to the project’s file page. This is a cheat way to find a list file.

#5 pulls down another list of options that are somewhat self-explanatory.


However, worth mentioning is the mark as waiting on… feature gives you
the option of picking another task as waiting on before the task can be
checked off. Creating a follow-up task is just that- creating a task set to
come up once this task is checked off.

Read more on the Waiting on Tasks:


https://asana.com/guide/help/tasks/dependencies

#6 is the project this task is under. Sometimes this is empty and is set
simply to someone’s personal to do list. You can add the task to a project
simply by hovering for the option in this area and typing/clicking/searching
through the list of projects. A task can be included in multiple project lists.
Also note, that if you assign your task to a project, followers of that project
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will now be able to see the task as if it is public to them. Though, they
won’t be automatically following the task. Simply able to see and access it.

#7 are custom fields and may not be included in every project. A task must
be in a project that has custom fields set in order for them to be listed.
The Focus Group currently has the following fields: priority (ranging from
low to high), hours (meaning the hours allotted to this task), status (cold,
following up on, waiting on, in progress), type (range of type of work, from
copywriting to web programming), hours worked. The Focus Group sets
these fields purposefully and invite employees to update tasks especially
with its status if applicable on the task. This is a great way for clear
communication on tasks. If a task is missing these custom fields that you
think needs it, let us know and we will set it up for you.

#8 is a place to provide more information on the task.

#9 is a record of the task’s history. It is a nice way to check when a task is


created and what has happened with this task since.

#10 is where anyone can comment on the task. This is a great way for
make sure everyone is on the same page and ask questions.

A great feature to specifically target someone (or a task or project) in a


comment is to use the @ feature. You type @ and start writing the name
of what it is you’re mentioning and it will pull up on a drop down list. This
will alert the person mentioned or point people to what you are referring
to. Note, mentioning someone in this way will automatically add them as a
follower to the task.

For naming tasks, we recommend you keep it clear and concise. “Upload
ASPA logos to the server” tells us: the client, what logos, what to do and
where. If there are more details, simply write it in the task’s description.
Whereas “Upload to server” is unclear. What logo? What client?
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#11 shows everyone following the task. You can add followers to the task
or take someone off as a follower. Related to followers:

Above, is a task not involved with any project and by default, private to
me. I can make it public. This means anyone can see and access this task.
It will show up on calendars. If I add a follower, it will only be accessible by
that follower and me. If privacy is important, knowing how Asana’s privacy
settings work is crucial.

To make it clear, followers will not only be able to access the task but will
see any updates within the task in their inbox and notifications. Speaking
of inbox…

Staying Informed: Inboxing and Archiving

Welcome to your new best friend! The Focus Group loves and strongly
recommends Asana team members practice inboxing and archiving. We
do this because we found email notifications confusing and crowding. And
also because the inbox feature just works!
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You’ll find the Inbox right at the top of the screen. Once there, you will see
something like this: a list of everything that has happened since you’ve last
checked your inbox, and of all the tasks you follow or assigned to.

In here you can click on a


task and it will pull up to
the side. From there you
can do whatever you need.
Once you are done with
being updated with a task,
you can click the X that
shows up when you hover
over a task. Hovering on a
task will archive it. You can
access your archive by
clicking the “Archive” tab right next to “Activity” tab at the top. You can
“X” off all your tasks or simply click Archive All. A fun picture will show up
to show you are all up to date.

And that’s how you use Asana!

How will you know if there’s new information? You will see at the top of
your window an orange dot on the Inbox link:
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This is your visual cue that there is news. It will go away once you are up to
date again. This is a cleaner way to keep you up to date on Asana while
keeping your email inbox free of clutter. It does require a commitment to
create the Asana inboxing habit.

Speaking of email settings…

Your Personal Settings


You can navigate to your personal settings in the drop down menu by
clicking your circle icon to the top right of the screen. We recommend
checking off all notifications under “To Email”. Check out what else
you can personalize in this modal while you’re here.

Starting Projects and Managing


Since we have already defined Active Projects and Campaigns versus
Ongoing Clients, let’s get into the details of starting projects. To create a
project, click the + symbol in the side panel. A model will come up and
you will have several options to choose from.
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For campaigns and new ongoing clients, you’ll typically start with a blank
project. For campaigns and active projects, use the job number and name
in WMJ. We do this for clarity for the entire team. For ongoing clients,
name it the client name.

The most common layout we use is List. However, if this is an idea,


brainstorming or mood board, we recommend using the board layout. If
you are familiar with Trello, then you will have an idea of what the board
layout is. Basically you create columns with tasks underneath them. You
can drag tasks between columns too. It is a neat way to organize ideas in a
fluid way.

Privacy setting depends on the project. Since the Focus Groups employs
freelancers who use Asana, it may be something to consider if a project
has a sensitive or private nature. Keep in mind that this is simply privacy of
who can SEE and access the project. It doesn’t have anything to do with
followers.

If you are opening a website project, then it is recommended you use a


template.
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Currently we have these templates that follow our website process. Please
note that small website process is meant for template websites.

An important step when creating a project is adding followers to the


project. A follower of a project should be involved in the project. It is
important to add followers to projects so that they will be notified of its
changes and any conversations or project reports inside the project.
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Just click the plus sign to add team members or edit its privacy status.

Custom Fields
Custom fields are a great way to gather more data on projects and tasks.
Going through how to create them will give you an idea of what I mean.
Go inside a project and click the down arrow next to the project’s name in
the near top of the page. You will see a drop down menu with links such as
Edit Name & Description, Sync to Calendar, Print, etc. You will click
Manage Custom Fields to see a modal pop up.

It is important to note that you manage custom fields on a project basis


rather than having global fields that will affect every project you have. So
when you add custom fields to a project, all tasks inside the project will
have these custom fields. Here is a list of all the available custom fields we
have now.

Priority is a nice way to let the assignee know how important this task is so
they can plan their day accordingly.

Hours is how many hours have been allotted for the task.

Status is another way to keep up-to-date on a task labeled as waiting on,


in progress, cold, or follow up on this.

Type gives you a list of what the task pertains to; administrative, logo, etc.

Hours worked allows the assignee to put in how many hours they worked
on the task.
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Budget can help with how the assignee may approach a task.

Review can verify who to go to once the task is done to review it.

As you can tell, these fields help our freelancers with tracking their hours
and help everyone know crucial details on a task.

If this modal is empty or doesn’t show all of these custom fields, simply
click the Add Field to Project button to see a list of all our custom fields
to add it to a project. You can create a custom field inside this drop down
menu too!
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Give it a name and

declare its type. Your options will appear


like this:

You have text, number and a drop down


to choose from. The Text field is simply that; it also gives everyone the
chance to type something in this field. Number gives you the opportunity
of picking its decimal place- which is good for hours (example: 1.5 hours).
Drop-down gives everyone the opportunity of picking between options.
You can give each option its own color and add new options as you go.

Back inside the Manage Custom


Fields modal, you can click the gear
for each custom field to see this
drop down:

Edit field is a way to globally edit a


field, meaning editing will effect other projects with this field.

You can remove a field from a project or show this column in the task list.
This means in the task list it will show this particular field and its current
entry inside the project list. If you do not show it, everyone must go inside
the task itself to see the fields. Showing it can enable quick changes to the
custom field without having to go into each task to make a change. You
simply hover over the “-“ in the task list and change it from there.
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To see what this looks like, it can look something like this in the task list.

To read more about custom fields, check out:


https://asana.com/guide/help/premium/custom-fields

Viewing Tasks, Files, Conversation, and the Calendar


Knowing how use Asana effectively means having a few tricks to navigate
it, as well as communicating effectively through it.

Opposite of Add Task you can see the view button.

Clicking it will give you options between tasks by project, due date, and
even further with tasks completed today, yesterday, the past 1 to 3 weeks.
This can be extremely helpful with searching for a specific task or to see
what has been done. Oftentimes, I look at web projects by All Tasks so I
can see exactly what has been done and what hasn’t. Inside projects, you
have more options: by assignee, by custom fields, due dates, and popular
tasks.

These are the recommended views. You can customize it by priority, date,
project, and even giving hearts, while also displaying it by incomplete to
completed tasks. I recommend exploring these to see how this can all
work together.

Files
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As you know, you can attach files to a task. But what happens when you
need to see that file on a task buried in a list of completed tasks? Under
both people’s tasks list and a project’s task list, you can click on Files.

From here you’ll see every file that’s ever been attached to a task assigned
to you. It is a quick way to navigate and find files. Simply scroll down to
reveal more files if you aren’t finding it in the first results.

Now

under calendar

You’ll see tasks by due date. You can see how a person’s schedule is
panning out by looking at their personal calendar. However, it is important
to note that you will only see other people’s tasks you have access to in
their calendar. If it is private, it will not show in their calendar. This goes to
the Team Calendar as well; this is above the projects in the left side
navigation. The team calendar is a great way to see how the team’s month
and week is going with what tasks they are up to and their due dates.
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Note
You can navigate between team members on the left side panel. You can
see all team members by clicking the + sign.

Inside the team conversations and project conversations you can post
comments. In team conversations, everyone in that team will be able to
see it, be notified of it, and able to comment back. The same goes to
followers of a project in project conversations.

Using Your Dashboard and Progress Reports


A clean way to keep up with projects is by adding them into your
dashboard. From your dashboard you can see a quick view of its current

progress.

From inside the dashboard, you can


ask for a project update or issue an
update in a project that will alert all
project followers. You can even set
a reminder to update the project’s
status every Friday. You can see
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how many tasks are in the project and how many are completed. This is all
the same as the project’s progress page.

You can select what section of tasks to count in the progress view by
clicking the gear and checking off/on what section of tasks.

Also to be clear, you can find a project’s progress while viewing it by


clicking Progress.

You can add it to your dashboard by clicking its down arrow drop down
menu or by clicking the Add to Dashboard button on the progress page.

To learn more about project progress, go to


https://asana.com/guide/help/projects/progress

To learn more about dashboards, go to


https://asana.com/guide/help/fundamentals/dashboards

Obviously the key to making the progress reports and dashboard work is
to keep project and communications updated. It requires a team and
commitment as well as a project leader keeping everyone on task.

Managing Teams and Organization’s Settings


To learn more about this, I recommend going to the following links.

Managing an Organization
https://asana.com/guide/help/organizations/basics

Team Basics: Creating, joining and settings


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https://asana.com/guide/help/organizations/team-basics

Team Members: Inviting, Approving and Removing Members


https://asana.com/guide/help/organizations/members

Setting Team Permissions: Hidden, Public and Membership by Request


https://asana.com/guide/help/permissions/team-permissions

Project Permissions: Public and Private


https://asana.com/guide/help/permissions/project-permissions

Premium Organization Administration


https://asana.com/guide/help/premium/admins

Onboarding New Members


I recommend new members are given a chance to read their Focus Group
user guide, the Asana onboarding checklist, watch training videos and
even receive personal training.

As a test, assign them a task to create a new project using the Asana
onboarding template. This template will have tasks all ready inside with
basic things they will need to do in order to complete the project. It is
simple: create a task, join a project, assign a task, add a follower and
comment, but it is a good starting point for a new user.
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Additional Features Asana Offers:


Sync your Asana account to your Google Calendar & email yourself tasks
How-to: https://youtu.be/JBMghE-9dOI

Get the Asana App:


iTunes Store
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/asana-team-tasks-
conversations/id489969512?mt=8

Google Store
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asana.app&hl=en

Get the Asana Chrome Extension:


Chrome Extension, Assign Tasks From Anywhere Inside Chrome
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/asana-extension-for-
chrom/khnpeclbnipcdacdkhejifenadikeghk

Additional How-Tos For Quick Tips

Planning Your Day (2 minutes) - https://youtu.be/UltFHzfjE08

Understanding Asana in A Minute - https://youtu.be/V3WkgVpv1Zk

Creating a Project (1 minute) - https://youtu.be/LO4WmcUdsLo

Task Management (Recommended, 1 min) -


https://youtu.be/_vwvbgiejhQ

Project Management (1 minute) - https://youtu.be/qqANMTvVp_E


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Understanding Asana Capabilities (Recommended) -


https://asana.com/guide/get-started/share/features

Idea/Mood Boards (1 minute) -


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmZaZGydfPY&feature=youtu.be

Everyday Workflow - https://asana.com/guide/resources/info-


sheets/everyday-workflows

Power User Checklist -


https://asana.com/guide/resources/checklists/power-user

Dashboard Reporting (Recommended, 1 minute) -


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkW7_As9k6w&feature=youtu.be

Calendar (Recommended, 1 minute) -


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8t6KYiVPyc&feature=youtu.be

Admin Quick Start - https://asana.com/guide/resources/get-


started/admin-quick-start

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