Summary
Highlights
Two crucial daily habits for Asana users are stressed: regularly checking the 'My Tasks' page to see all assigned work across projects, and using the Inbox. The 'My Tasks' page can be organized into sections like 'Today', 'Upcoming', and 'Later', and can be viewed by project or date. The Inbox serves as a central notification hub for task updates and comments, and the importance of archiving notifications after dealing with them is highlighted to maintain a clear overview of new activity.
The video concludes by discussing how teams often start with Asana for a specific use case and then expand its usage across the business once value is proven. It mentions that at Minoco, Asana is used for all business operations and team communication, eliminating the need for email or other chat apps for internal discussions. Additional resources for advanced training, including a tour of Minoco's Asana setup and a playlist of useful training videos, are provided.
The video introduces Asana as a project management tool that has evolved beyond simply tracking 'what, who, and when' to include 'how' and 'why' work is done. It highlights the importance of goals and purpose behind tasks. Pricing models (per user per month, cheaper annually) and recommended plans (Starter for beginners, with options to upgrade to Advanced or Enterprise) are discussed, mentioning a discount available through Minoco.
The tutorial explains Asana's new navigation sidebar, which might already be rolled out to new users. It covers the 'Work' tab for quick access to home, inbox, and 'My Tasks' (a crucial page for individual task management). It also touches on the 'Plan' tab for goals and reporting, and the 'Workflow' tab for advanced features like templates and rules, and the 'Company' tab for team management.
The video emphasizes the importance of properly structuring teams in Asana. It suggests aligning Asana teams with company departments (e.g., Marketing, Operations) for larger organizations, while smaller teams might use fewer, broader categories. A key piece of advice is to keep teams simple and minimal to avoid clutter and improve navigation. The process of creating a new team, setting its name, and configuring privacy settings (public, private, by request) is demonstrated.
The tutorial explains three types of projects: ongoing work (evergreen), process/workflow management (like a Kanban board), and traditional time-bound projects. It demonstrates how to create a blank project, set its visibility (public or private), and choose initial views (recommending the list view for simplicity). The speaker advises against creating separate private teams solely for private projects.
Projects are organized using sections, which can represent phases, stages, or subcategories of tasks. Milestones are introduced as major deliverables or important deadlines, distinct from regular tasks as they represent a point in time. The process of creating sections like 'client onboarding', 'design and planning', and 'production', and then adding milestones within them is shown.
Tasks are elaborated on, covering how to add detailed descriptions, use @mentions to involve team members, and create subtasks for smaller steps. The focus is on answering 'what are we doing?', 'who's doing it?', and 'when is it due?'. Attachments are explained as a way to provide necessary resources directly within the task. The functionality of task comments for internal communication is also highlighted.
The concept of task dependencies is introduced, showing how one task can block another, which helps in clarifying workflow and accountability. The timeline view (Gantt chart) is demonstrated as a visual tool to see task start/finish dates, milestones, and dependencies, and how delaying one task can automatically shift dependent tasks.
The 'Overview' tab of a project is detailed, explaining where to find a project summary, description, and manage project members. It covers adding members, setting their permissions (admin, editor, commenter, viewer), and the notification system for project updates. The importance of regularly updating project status to keep members informed is also emphasized.