THE BEST DEALS OF THE DAY
Asana is more of a productivity and collaboration suite than a project management software suite. It does not include built-in time tracking or advanced project calendars, both of which are necessary to keep long-term projects on track and properly paid for.
However, Asana excels at managing tasks, with an intuitive and versatile user interface, making it easy to collaborate in groups of all sizes. Task assignment, workload management, and multiple app connectors are some of the best features of the platform.
packages and prices
- Asana Asana (Asana) on Amazon for €7.99
With modest restrictions, Asana is free for teams of up to 15 people. There are no restrictions on the number of tasks you can create or the files you can attach to them. The timeline view and custom panels are two of the biggest limitations for free users. The free version is a great starting point for understanding what Asana can do for you and your business.
A monthly Premium plan costs €10.99 per user (billed annually). This package includes custom fields, forms, milestones, and an administrative dashboard for managers, in addition to the timeline viewer and custom dashboards.
You'll need a business plan for $24.99 per user each month (billed annually) if you want automated workflows. Adobe Creative Cloud integration, proofing tools, and task management are also included in this subscription.
Features
Asana has a lot to offer, especially in the area of task management. Collaboration and productivity take precedence on the platform, with project management tools taking a backseat.
Asana's flexibility sets it apart from competing project management apps. Asana can be used to keep track of ongoing tasks as well as long-term projects, and can even be used to coordinate teams and distribute tasks among staff. The many integrations only add to the flexibility with which you can tailor this platform to your business needs. These additions not only extend the simple functionality, but also allow for a truly customizable project management solution. This amount of functionality presents a wide range of challenges and can sometimes require a long learning curve.
Performance and usage
Ultimately, the Asana platform is designed simply to help managers assign projects and keep employees on track with the work at hand.
Depending on user preferences, tasks can be displayed as a list or on a kanban board. Subtasks, attachments, due dates, assigned team members, and other custom fields can be added to a task. Comment threads are useful because they allow everyone involved in a task to communicate through Asana.
When a task is marked complete, everything, including the feedback thread, is archived. As a result, each project has a searchable work history, which can be extremely useful for employee reviews and billing.
Asana lacks many of the complex project tracking tools that proper project management software would provide. However, the platform has some capabilities to handle long-term projects.
The timeline view is the first of these. It is simply a Gantt chart that is shared and updated in real time by all members of the project team. It effectively interacts with the platform's current task commands, making it easy to move objects, set due dates, and review subtasks.
Portfolio View is the second project management feature Asana offers. Managers can use this view to see the projects they are responsible for, track task progress and changes, and set priority levels to help balance workload.
Managers can see how tasks are distributed among team members using Asana's workload management feature. To immediately assess which employees have too much to do and which have too little, workload can be scored based on the number of tasks, hours worked, points, or any other custom value.
Even better, using a drag-and-drop interface, managers can redistribute work. An extended calendar helps you plan work ahead, allowing you to resolve workload issues before they become a deadline issue.
Asana lacks a number of very useful features, such as live chat, time tracking, and document editing. However, it offers a wide range of features, thanks to app integrations.
In particular, Harvest for time tracking, Slack and Microsoft Teams for team chats, and Zapier for advanced connections work great with Asana. Most cloud storage sites, Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, and over 1000 other platforms are supported by the software.
Asana's user interface is simple, intuitive, and engaging. It doesn't overwhelm you with dropdown menus and options like other project management solutions. Asana, on the other hand, keeps things basic and open.
However, the fact that Asana is a blank slate can be intimidating at first. Managers should spend some time determining which dashboard widgets and menu items are right for their team. You can use Asana's free plan to test the software with a small group to assess which framework works best.
Asana also offers a number of project templates that can help your team get started. Templates are available for a variety of business applications, including marketing, IT, and product design. These templates can help you get your team working with Asana from the start, and you can add them later.
Support
If you're having trouble, Asana has plenty of help online. Through Asana Academy, the platform offers video tutorials and webinars, as well as various use case examples and a developer guide. You can also ask questions of other Asana users in the community forum.
Asana makes direct contact with their customer support team difficult. Your best bet is to call a sales representative and ask to be connected to a customer service representative.
Competition
While Asana isn't a complete project management solution, it does have most of the tools and connectors you'll need to keep your projects on track. For the same price, Zoho Projects offers a more complete set of tools. Time tracking, Gantt charts, and workload management are included in Zoho Projects, which isn't as easy to use or as flexible as Asana.
Trello is worth a look if you just need a task management system and prefer kanban cards to a list view. Trello is comparable in cost to Asana, and because it's less open, it's potentially easier to use.
final verdict
Asana is a highly adaptable work and project management tool. Although it doesn't come with built-in features like time tracking, live chat, or document editing, the plethora of app connectors ensures you can add them later. At the same time, Asana provides a highly customizable platform for assigning and tracking tasks, as well as ensuring team members have a balanced workload.
We've also highlighted the best project management software.
THE BEST DEALS OF THE DAY
