Current State
Sorting logic in Asana applies uniformly across all items in a view in projects, portfolios, etc. This is true for both list and board views.
However, this doesn’t account for how different workflow stages often call for different sorting logic. For example, let’s say you have a simple Kanban board, you might want to sort items in each column like this:
| Triage | Backlog | Ready | Working | Completed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sort By | Oldest first | Priority | Start date | Dwell time | Recency |
| Reason | Address what’s been waiting longest | Work on highest impact items first | See what should be picked up next | Promotes finishing work and addressing bottlenecks | See what was just finished |
Requested Functionality
Allow each group or column to have its own sort order. When a view is grouped by status or another field, users should be able to define how items within each group are ordered independently.
Use Case
Different workflow stages serve different purposes. Triage is about addressing what’s been waiting longest for a decision. Backlog is about planning and prioritization. Ready is about sequencing upcoming work so people can pull work instead of it being pushed on them. In-progress/Working benefits from surfacing items that may be stuck. Completed is about seeing recent wins and staying oriented.
A single sort rule can’t optimize for all of these simultaneously.