How does Asana compare to other Work Management Solutions?
Running a business requires many organizational techniques that help streamline and enhance communication. With so many task management systems out there, why do we choose Asana?
Asana is our work management tool of choice because it helps businesses to streamline their communication as well as stay on task.
In this article, I want to outline the top features, benefits, and even a few drawbacks (because it’s not for everyone.) This system has worked well for my company and our clients, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Why Work Management Software Is So Important
Maybe you think your business isn’t big enough to consider a work management platform. On the contrary, even small teams need a system that will keep them on task. Coordinating projects, scheduling employee tasks, and planning the execution process can be confusing for any size company. That is where work management software comes into play.
Whether you are a company of one or a larger corporation with multiple teams, these systems will help you organize your client load and keep you from dropping the ball. As you grow your business, you will be glad you have systems in place, because it makes it much easier to track what needs to be done for each of your clients.
A work management system allows you to:
Store all project related information in one place.
Create specific tasks to be completed for each project.
Track time spent on internal and external projects.
Communicate to other team members what tasks need to be completed.
Assign tasks to employees with due dates and;
Report on the status of work.
These are just a few of the ways a work management platform can keep you and your team on track.
Why We Recommend Asana
When you’re searching for the right work management software to fit your business needs, the features are usually the first thing you explore. In my business, I want to use a management system that offers a wide variety of features, allowing me to choose exactly how to customize the organization within my teams.
Here’s a look at a few key features of Asana.
Project Boards
If you’ve ever worked with a project management tool, then you’re probably familiar with boards. These digital boards act like virtual sticky notes, allowing you to edit, move, and track work progress. List and timeline functions can connect to these boards (or toggle between these different views), which allows anyone to follow the steps of projects and tasks.
Project Management Features
You can usually find project management features included in work management systems. This feature helps you manage your projects from beginning to end, who’s working on each step, and edit anything you need. It can also help you keep track of specific needs, such as:
Tasks and subtasks
Sections of projects
Tracking time on projects
Due dates and time zones
Multihoming tasks
Rules and automations
When you have many hands working on a project, it’s easy to lose track of certain steps in the process. With Asana, you can easily keep track of where you are in the process and pick up where you left off.
Portfolio Management
If you want a feature that gives you an overview of many projects at once, Asana’s Portfolio feature may have what you need. This feature allows you to keep track of deadlines, progress, and updates of each project for your company. It can also give you insights regarding the specific resources you need and how to diversify each one. This feature is also helpful for keeping track of work-based goals.
Administrative Control
Many companies, including my consulting business, handle projects for other clients. This requires companies to have high privacy standards to protect the company and the client. Asana’s permission and privacy controls allow the project administration team to customize the settings on every project. Data security is another key feature that protects and backs up data on a separate server for optimal security.
Two-Factor Authentication
This is a security feature that will prompt Asana to send you an email with an additional code when you sign in to your account. Having this feature activated will also alert you if an unauthorized users is trying to get into your account.
Time Tracking
Time tracking for task management is important for two reasons. It allows the administration to keep track of how much time to allot for certain tasks and streamline timekeeping for payroll. It also helps the one assigned to the task to set aside enough time to complete it.
Asana allows you to set time tracking on a project. You can set it up with an estimated time of completion as well as the actual time it took to complete the assignment. As time is added to the project, the total time is automatically accounted for. It has a live timer feature that lets you start the clock when you begin work and stop it when you’re finished. This feature makes it easy to accurately track the time it took to do a task.
Benefits Of Using Asana For Your Business
Asana is one of the simplest ways to streamline tasks and keep track of work for your company. Let’s look at some of the benefits of using this system for your business.
Clear and Simple Outline
Have you ever tried to put together a project for your team but struggled to complete it on time? Perhaps your team met together for several meetings about how to accomplish the goal but had a hard time keeping track of the steps. Asana’s system makes it easier to reach your project goals with a clear and simple outline of the process. You even have access to multiple templates to get you started.
Enhances Communication
Communication is essential to the success of every company, especially when handling projects. Asana provides team members with action steps that reduce the struggle of getting started. It’s easy to get distracted by email and meeting updates, and these can take time away from finishing the project. Since each team member has access to timeline and tasks features, everyone can stay on the same page and complete the project on time.
Streamlines Collaboration
Working on any project requires commitment from the entire team. Asana provides real-time communication ability, so team members can effectively share information and increase productivity. This feature can also increase accountability, as everyone knows who is working on which task and when they are working on it. Asana’s third-party integration features also increase communication by upgrading reporting capabilities.
Free Plan Option
If you’re a smaller company or you’re just getting started with work management software, Asana offers a free plan for your task management needs. Some software systems don’t offer this option, so this can definitely help smaller companies get started with organization. While you won’t have complete access to all the features, you will have unlimited access to features such as time tracking, messaging, project and task listing, and more.
Drawbacks To Using Asana
Like all task management systems, Asana has a few drawbacks that I want to share with you. If you know me, you know that I love Asana but the truth is that Asana is not for everyone. Here are some ways that Asana may not be right for your team.
May Overwhelm New Users
If you are not familiar with work management solutions, then you may feel overwhelmed when you first use Asana. Honestly, this could be the case with all new software. However, if you have ever been in any other system like Clickup or Monday, you’ll find it easier to navigate Asana. Due to this fact, we offer Asana training and onboarding services for new users. We usually see the lights come on after one 60-min session.
One thing I appreciate about Asana is that they have great customer support. If you have questions or you are having a hard time making the system do what you want, you can reach out and they will help you.
Single Assignee Tasks
When you’re working on multiple projects or have a few people assigned to a specific task, productivity often increases. However, Asana only provides tracking for a single-person task. While this may limit confusion on who is working on each task, it makes it tough to assign several people to one task.
What we do instead, is create a duplicate of the task (Asana makes this easy) so that multiple users can complete the version of the task that is assigned to them.
Can’t Create a Burn-Down Chart
A burn-down chart is a project management chart that predicts how likely your team is to complete their task on time. Asana has something called Sprint Planning Templates that can show how much work is left in a specific iteration. However, it doesn’t show how much work is left in a project.
No Way to Create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Unfortunately, Asana doesn’t have the ability to create a WBS for your projects. If you rely on using a WBS to plan and project the scope of a project, then this might not be the right platform for you.
Overall, as far as day to day basic user needs, Asana can do the same thing as any other work management platform.
It’s important to remember that work management solutions are not one size fits all systems. I work with many businesses that use different solutions to organize their company and effectively streamline communication if you’re looking for more advice on how to best streamline your projects and increase efficiency, connect with me today.
