Item: Asana
Rating: 10
Author: Adam Lumley

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Asana is used in multiple departments. My departments manage all of our work through Asana and collaborate on projects with other departments with it as well. It allows us to manage deadlines and responsibilities to get the job done on time. We also keep track of new ideas so that we always have a record of them to go back on. Without tracking, projects are at risk of being forgotten as other priorities arise. Asana keeps them alive.

Pros and Cons

Project management. Asana makes it easy for anyone to organize their projects and break them down into sub-tasks.
Accountability. Being able to break down projects into tasks and assign due dates, who is responsible, etc is very helpful. Asana sends reminders for the project owner to help keep everyone on task and makes it easy to follow up.
Communication. We have our Slack and Outlook integrated so we are able to keep tabs on our project no matter what and read it all in one place (Slack).

The inbox feature can be a little overwhelming if you are work with Asana just from its project boards and only checking it periodically. It would be great if it auto-cleared once a project/task is marked complete.
Email notifications can get excessive. You have complete control over them but initially, they can be annoying until you set the frequency you want them. It would be better if this was set during the sign-up process.
Notes, discussions, and attachments in subtasks sometimes go unnoticed if working from the main project board.

Return on Investment

More work gets done by keeping everyone on task and giving management visibility on progress.
Asana makes it simple to get people organized and on task for projects.
Fewer meetings are required using Asana saving both time and money for the company.

Alternatives Considered

I use Asana in a similar way to how I used Trello at a previous company. Asana is much more feature-rich than Trello. Once I discovered that I can work from boards (the format used by Trello) in Asana, it would be a tough sell to get me to ever switch back.

Basecamp is the most basic of the project management software I have used. It was the first I worked with and it impressed me at the time. The UI isn't very nice. I wouldn't recommend Basecamp over Asana.

Support Rating

I haven't had to use their support so I can't rate it. The fact that I haven't needed them reflects the ease of use of the product. I would recommend that any new users schedule a complete demo of the product to ensure that they are using it to it's fullest (there's a lot of useful features).

Key Insights

Do you think Asana delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Asana's feature set?

Yes

Did Asana live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Asana go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Asana again?

Yes

Other Software Used

HubSpot, InsightSquared Sales Analytics, Salesforce.com

Likelihood to Recommend

If you are working with a cross-functional team with multiple projects on the go regularly, Asana is a lifesaver. Everything can be shared in one place. Delegation is a breeze. Communication happens in real-time.

If you and your employees all have unchanging duties daily, this probably isn't something you need in your organization. You could adapt it and use it as a "checklist software" but I wouldn't see much value in paying for it if you won't use it to manage projects.

Asana for Project and Team Management

Overall Satisfaction with Asana