The standard disclaimer: We are not affiliated with the product mentioned below and receive no financial gain from mentioning it. We purposefully titled this series “the tools I use,” recognizing that there are lots of wonderful options out there for everyone. If any post in the future does deal with a product with which we have some affiliation, we’ll tell you. (We like being honest like that.)
There are so many fantastic task management tools out there. I’ve personally used OmniFocus, Things, & Producteev (amongst others) and really like all of them. But the one I’ve settled into, the one I’ve really come to rely on, is Asana.
Part of the reason for the shift from a desktop-based program to a cloud-based program is the growing integration needs of my team. Asana acts as our information hub. It keeps us all on the same page.
So here’s how we use Asana for our team…
We create a workspace for each client that we have. The Bacana team members get added, and so do the clients (if they want). Transparency in how we work and what we’re doing rules.
We create projects in each workspace for the different service areas we have. We debated on whether to make the service areas projects or tags. Either way totally works. Due to the generally more ongoing nature of our work (as opposed to finite projects), this was the better choice for us. But the groovy thing is that, if a client has a finite project for us, we can add a task to both that one as well as our service area project. Bases covered.
From there, it’s all about the day-to-day. Our team members create tasks and keep them updated constantly. We have a set list of tags that describe a task’s priority level and/or what it’s waiting on. At any given time, I can look at a task and see where it is and what the next action is.
This is definitely a broad brushstrokes overview, though. What I like most about Asana are the details. On a repeating task, for instance, you have a field of notes that is sticky to all repetitions of the task, as well as a comments thread that re-sets for each iteration. This is a detail that makes me kinda giddy. (Tells you something about me, huh?)
Asana keeps track of our tasks and keeps our team members on the same page. It’s one of the vital tools we use.
What programs do you use for task management? Brag on them in the comments below!
