Asana - Collaborative Work Management Solution

Product Overview

Asana is a collaborative work management solution that helps teams organize and manage all of their work from daily tasks to strategic initiatives. With tasks, custom fields, Progress View, and Portfolios that update in real time, it enables teams to make better decisions at every project stage, faster.

Asana can be used to manage any type of project or process from work requests to marketing campaigns to product launches. Project managers can ensure that everyone knows the plan, individual responsibilities, and deadlines so work doesn’t fall through the cracks.

Asana is available for web, iOS, and Android devices, and in English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, and Japanese.

Features

Below, we’ve listed the top five features of Asana:

1. Project management: Work can be organized into shared projects in lists or boards, and teams can create tasks with assignees and due dates within those projects for every step and piece of work that needs to be completed. Project work can also be viewed on a Timeline to see how it all connects, on a Calendar to see when work is happening, or sorted by criteria the project manager specifies.
2. Seamless communication: Important communication and documents are organized within tasks, projects, and teams so discussions happen in context and files stay connected to the work they’re for. Teammates can comment on tasks directly to ask questions or share important details about the work, they can ping teammates with an @mention, or start project discussions so the whole team can weigh in and stay updated on progress.
3. Templates: Standardize common projects and processes into templates the whole team can use so important steps aren’t missed, work don’t fall through the cracks, and they run smoothly every time. By starting new projects from a template, project managers can significantly shorten their planning time and get to work faster.
4. Portfolios: Managers can monitor the status of all key initiatives and projects in real time with Portfolios. They can organize projects into portfolios so users can see their status, then drill in for more details to proactively address at-risk work, and finally, report updates to stakeholders so everyone knows where important work stands.
5. Mobile apps: Whether users are between meetings or on-site at an event, Asana’s mobile app helps them to stay on top of their work from anywhere. They can use it to quickly capture tasks and ideas, get updates from coworkers, organize tasks and projects, or manage your to-do list for the day.

Plans and Pricing

Asana is free for teams of up to 15 users, with only minor limitations. There are no limits on the number of tasks you can create or on file attachments for tasks. The main restrictions for free users are that you don’t get access to the Timeline view or custom dashboards.

A paid Premium plan costs $10.99 per user per month (billed annually). This plan adds not only the Timeline viewer and custom dashboards, but also custom fields, forms, milestones, and an admin control panel for managers.

If you want automated workflows, you’ll need a Premium plan for $24.99 per user per month (billed annually). This plan also includes Adobe Creative Cloud integration, proofing tools, and workload management.

Support

Asana has plenty of online support in case you run into trouble. The platform offers video trainings and webinars through Asana Academy, as well as numerous use case examples and a developer’s guide. There’s also a community forum where you can get answers from other Asana users.

However, Asana doesn’t make it easy to get in touch with a customer support team directly. Your best shot is to contact a sales rep and hope to get transferred to a customer service specialist.

The Competition

Asana isn’t full-blown project management software, although it has most of the tools and integrations you need to keep projects on track. However, Zoho Projects offers a more robust suite of tools at a similar price point. It’s neither quite as easy to use as Asana nor as flexible, but time tracking, Gantt charts, and workload management are all built into Zoho Projects.

If you just need a task management solution and prefer kanban cards over a list view, Trello is worth a look. Its pricing is similar to Asana’s, and Trello is arguably easier to use since it’s less open-ended.

Final Verdict

Asana is an extremely versatile platform for work and project management. While it doesn’t include tools like time tracking, live chat, and document editing natively, the huge number of app integrations ensures that you can add these features. At the same time, Asana offers a very customizable platform for assigning and tracking tasks and ensuring that team members have a balanced workload.