4 ms·

Am I the only one that has tried asana multiple times and given up after each major iteration?

desireco42 8y ago
Nope. And after several times I am using it now and looking to switch. It just isn't working well. Empty tasks get generated, it takes 3 clicks to remove them for example. It is not as easy to organize work.
- ummonk 8y ago
  You can click in their text field and press delete to remove them. The list view works sort of like a document, with each line being a task title.
- wj 8y ago
  Tab + backspace to delete those empty tasks that are created when you hit enter. I love Asana though. I put everything in there and have it hooked up to Alexa. The only downside is that I put everything in there. I haven't had a morning email with less than 30 tasks in over a year.
dawhizkid 8y ago
I also don't get it and have not been on a team where it's been successfully used. But hey it looks like a great place to work.
- alehul 8y ago
  Another great point about the tech boom and venture funding: a place can be great to work at without necessarily having a successful product. I'd expect those two premises to be highly correlated if not for funding.
  - dawhizkid 8y ago
    but it seems like they are getting customers?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- mythrwy 8y ago
  It looks like a very annoying place to work to me. Big fan of gravitas in the workplace. Probably because I'm over 40 (thus not qualified for "diversity") but wow, how does any work get done from the photos? Looks like something straight out of my elementary school in the 70's.
  - fipple 8y ago
    Well the Googles of the world are absolutely pulverizing the IBMs of the world so it’s really the people with “gravitas” who are playing House and the “elementary school” students who are getting shit done.
    - mythrwy 8y ago
      Meh, to be fair I don't want to work at an IBM either. Nor a Microsoft. Guess truth be told I like working from my couch. No diversity teams blowing soap bubbles. No "Corporate accounts payable, Nina speaking". Limited opportunity to play political games over Slack. Although we will see if Asana lasts as long as IBM. Guessing not. And they seem to be a little further along the social engineering scale than Google is.
      - therealx 8y ago
        Isn't your couch the ultimate lack of gravitas for a workplace? Not throwing shade just didn't see how your two comments connect.
        mythrwy 8y ago
        Compared to those pictures, my couch is a veritable church pew. If people enjoy working in that kind of environment, fantastic. But it really looks like it would drive me bonkers and I'd long for a bland cubical with a neckbeard neighbor who didn't really like people.
heavymark 8y ago
Yes, it looks great in theory compared to the other available options, but each time I give a whirl it ends up not sticking and working with my flow. Far better than things like Basecamp for my usecases but yes hasn't been a fit yet either here.
FabioFleitas 8y ago
We tried it very early on at our company and it didn't work out. We ended up using Wrike and it has been _much_ better for us. We've been using it for a while now for engineering/project management for our small team of 6 engineers. Unclear if it will scale, but works great so far.
rixrax 8y ago
Nope. I'd like to hire their sales/marketing people though, for they seem to have an uncanny ability to solution sell it to execs who will then force it down on their organizations. :P Anyone here that actually had to use Asana, and somehow found it beneficial/useful? How?
- jimejim 8y ago
  I like the fact that the list view is more like a notepad where you can just keep typing. Many other task list tools make you hit a few extra keys to create tasks and most of the time you just need a simple todo list. It makes it easier to convince others to use it too for the simple stuff. Beyond that, I don't like how their board view (Kanban style) is hacked on and doesn't coexist with the list view yet, and a lot of the more complex stuff is done better elsewhere.
- cjhanks 8y ago
  It was better than nothing. But only slightly.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- SkyPuncher 8y ago
  Its ceiling is too low. I have only found it useful for the most basic of tasks (like a personal priority list) or a single project's sprint tracking. It falls apart terribly when you need to introduce any sort of collaboration and process. Compare that to something like JIRA. JIRA has a high floor, but can be very useful as long as people don't go crazy.
- therealx 8y ago
  We tried a LOT of tools and Asana has been by far the best. Even just finding a product that had dependencies, gantt charting, and decent multi-user support was nearly impossible.
  - janlukacs 8y ago
    Have you looked at Paymo? http://www.paymoapp.com http://www.paymoapp.com
submeta 8y ago
I end up going back to Trello. - Years ago I was using PivotalTracker. But Trello was way better. Every couple of months I try to see if there is anything better, that's when I check out Asana and go back to Trello.
- wuliwong 8y ago
  I find pivotal tracker to really be my sweet spot amongst all these offerings. Maybe I just didn't know how to use it but Trello seemed a little too simplistic. What do you like about Trello vs. PT?
  - kartickv 8y ago
    Not the OP, but I found that PT has too much friction to create a task. Trello is much easier -- just type and press enter, then type another task and press enter, without even touching the mouse. I found that the friction of PT made me remember things in a mental TODO list, or Google Keep, or Inbox. Maybe it's not rational or "correct" but when tools have friction, we seek out simpler alternatives even if we know we're not supposed to do that. The other problem with PT is that it promotes a bottom-up view of your project rather than a top-down view. You end up missing the forest for the trees. With Trello, I can create a list for a high-level goal like "Validate that users want the features we're building" and then list sub-tasks within that.
cdnsteve 8y ago
I did the same

Nope. And after several times I am using it now and looking to switch. It just isn't working well. Empty tasks get generated, it takes 3 clicks to remove them for example. It is not as easy to organize work.

ummonk 8y ago
You can click in their text field and press delete to remove them. The list view works sort of like a document, with each line being a task title.
wj 8y ago
Tab + backspace to delete those empty tasks that are created when you hit enter. I love Asana though. I put everything in there and have it hooked up to Alexa. The only downside is that I put everything in there. I haven't had a morning email with less than 30 tasks in over a year.

dawhizkid 8y ago

I also don't get it and have not been on a team where it's been successfully used. But hey it looks like a great place to work.

alehul 8y ago
Another great point about the tech boom and venture funding: a place can be great to work at without necessarily having a successful product. I'd expect those two premises to be highly correlated if not for funding.
- dawhizkid 8y ago
  but it seems like they are getting customers?
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
mythrwy 8y ago
It looks like a very annoying place to work to me. Big fan of gravitas in the workplace. Probably because I'm over 40 (thus not qualified for "diversity") but wow, how does any work get done from the photos? Looks like something straight out of my elementary school in the 70's.
- fipple 8y ago
  Well the Googles of the world are absolutely pulverizing the IBMs of the world so it’s really the people with “gravitas” who are playing House and the “elementary school” students who are getting shit done.
  - mythrwy 8y ago
    Meh, to be fair I don't want to work at an IBM either. Nor a Microsoft. Guess truth be told I like working from my couch. No diversity teams blowing soap bubbles. No "Corporate accounts payable, Nina speaking". Limited opportunity to play political games over Slack. Although we will see if Asana lasts as long as IBM. Guessing not. And they seem to be a little further along the social engineering scale than Google is.
    - therealx 8y ago
      Isn't your couch the ultimate lack of gravitas for a workplace? Not throwing shade just didn't see how your two comments connect.
      - mythrwy 8y ago
        Compared to those pictures, my couch is a veritable church pew. If people enjoy working in that kind of environment, fantastic. But it really looks like it would drive me bonkers and I'd long for a bland cubical with a neckbeard neighbor who didn't really like people.

heavymark 8y ago

Yes, it looks great in theory compared to the other available options, but each time I give a whirl it ends up not sticking and working with my flow. Far better than things like Basecamp for my usecases but yes hasn't been a fit yet either here.

FabioFleitas 8y ago

We tried it very early on at our company and it didn't work out. We ended up using Wrike and it has been _much_ better for us. We've been using it for a while now for engineering/project management for our small team of 6 engineers. Unclear if it will scale, but works great so far.

rixrax 8y ago

Nope. I'd like to hire their sales/marketing people though, for they seem to have an uncanny ability to solution sell it to execs who will then force it down on their organizations. :P Anyone here that actually had to use Asana, and somehow found it beneficial/useful? How?

jimejim 8y ago
I like the fact that the list view is more like a notepad where you can just keep typing. Many other task list tools make you hit a few extra keys to create tasks and most of the time you just need a simple todo list. It makes it easier to convince others to use it too for the simple stuff. Beyond that, I don't like how their board view (Kanban style) is hacked on and doesn't coexist with the list view yet, and a lot of the more complex stuff is done better elsewhere.
cjhanks 8y ago
It was better than nothing. But only slightly.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
SkyPuncher 8y ago
Its ceiling is too low. I have only found it useful for the most basic of tasks (like a personal priority list) or a single project's sprint tracking. It falls apart terribly when you need to introduce any sort of collaboration and process. Compare that to something like JIRA. JIRA has a high floor, but can be very useful as long as people don't go crazy.
therealx 8y ago
We tried a LOT of tools and Asana has been by far the best. Even just finding a product that had dependencies, gantt charting, and decent multi-user support was nearly impossible.
- janlukacs 8y ago
  Have you looked at Paymo? http://www.paymoapp.com http://www.paymoapp.com

submeta 8y ago

I end up going back to Trello. - Years ago I was using PivotalTracker. But Trello was way better. Every couple of months I try to see if there is anything better, that's when I check out Asana and go back to Trello.

wuliwong 8y ago
I find pivotal tracker to really be my sweet spot amongst all these offerings. Maybe I just didn't know how to use it but Trello seemed a little too simplistic. What do you like about Trello vs. PT?
- kartickv 8y ago
  Not the OP, but I found that PT has too much friction to create a task. Trello is much easier -- just type and press enter, then type another task and press enter, without even touching the mouse. I found that the friction of PT made me remember things in a mental TODO list, or Google Keep, or Inbox. Maybe it's not rational or "correct" but when tools have friction, we seek out simpler alternatives even if we know we're not supposed to do that. The other problem with PT is that it promotes a bottom-up view of your project rather than a top-down view. You end up missing the forest for the trees. With Trello, I can create a list for a high-level goal like "Validate that users want the features we're building" and then list sub-tasks within that.

cdnsteve 8y ago

I did the same