Allow to automatically add subtasks to project

PLEASE DO THIS ONE!

5 Likes

This feature would make Asana way more efficient!

4 Likes

I agree with the thread…is this ever going to be implemented? Or, am I missing this functionality if it already is there?

2 Likes

I know this is being being addressed on Asana’s side of things, but I still wanted to echo this issue as well. I used the Tab-P method to have subtasks have projects added to them. Currently we have some Projects that have a separate section titled SUBTASKS where we can nest the subtasks after it is added to the Project using the Tab+P method. It works but it would be great if there was a more streamlined method. There are too many steps and my team does not like it.

It is kind of a pain to have to create the Subtask under a Task that is already assigned a Project, use Tab+P to add the Subtask to the Project, and finally nest the Subtask (which is somehow duplicated into the Project home) back into the SUBTASK section. This is the only way I have found to get our custom field of “Task Hrs” to show in the project portfolio.

Is there a way Asana can add a script for when Subtasks are created? The script could be triggered when a subtask is created under a project task, and the user could enter a default setting (for example; assign task parent project to subtask, add duplicated subtask to a hidden Section, some process that is automated?) Maybe this is a user setting that can toggled on and off for those who don’t want to use this?

2 Likes

I’ll let Asana answer, but in the mean time you can create such a script yourself, something that runs nightly and adds subtasks to the project under a specific section. Let me know if you need help.

I would be interested to learn how you do this! We use subtasks a lot in our work and it is very frustrating we can’t sort by subtask

I did not yet, but it would be nodeJS script ran by a scheduler. Contact me in DM if you need my help.

I agree with the topic. It’s unbelievable that I have to add any subtask to project and this create a duplicate on the board. I have switched from another PM tool and I already paid but if I had known I would haven’t bought it.

4 Likes

4+ years after the creation of this VOTE and there is still no improvement? Come on Asana! You can do better! Having subtasks linked to their parents’ project should be easy for you guys! PLEAAAAASEEEE! And thank you.

5 Likes

I’m afraid that Asana has existing design decisions that mean a seemingly simple change to “home” Subtasks into the parent Task’s Project would cause downstream consequences that will break more views and workflows.

Example: The project Calendar and Timeline both display all Task entities in the given project. Subtasks are not displayed unless specifically homed there, themselves. If Calendar and Timeline stay the same and subtasks automatically join the parent Project, we will all suddenly find our Calendars and Timelines exploding with subtasks. Some of us will be moderately satisfied, some neutral, and I’m worried the majority will find this to be negative. Yes, Asana can fix this with one or more new switches, toggles, view selections etc. (“Show Subtasks on this Project? Y/N” and/or “Show Subtasks on this Task?”) Were I their architect, I would not choose to layer on more bandaids solely to make up for failure of previous bandaids. Asana needs a fundamental change in their approach as to how data is displayed and how that display is controlled, propagated, and shared. Views never should have been so rigidly Project based. Users should have been provided more flexible tools to design views that can include multiple Projects and parts of Projects based on criteria other than solely belonging to a given Project (or Team).

TLDR: It’s broken but isn’t easy to fix.

1 Like

Agreed. I remember reading awhile back that they had devoted a team to working on the way their architecture handles subtasks—given that no headway has been made, I’m beginning to think it indeed a major architectural limitation resulting from the lack of foresight in the past.

Which is understandable, we can’t always think of everything…but idk, sometimes I wonder how obvious things get overlooked or released half baked (like markdown, task templates, nested portfolios, etc.).

4 Likes

Crazy to see that the request has been there since 2017, and so many people gave feedback and complained about it, and we are yet to see this feature in Asana…

9 Likes

2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Show project on subtask in ‘My tasks’ view

By far the most frustrating aspect of Asana is the Subtasks association to Projects. People have been complaining about this for years and they still haven’t done anything about it.

8 Likes

Hi @asana team it seems crazy to me that Subtasks don’t inherit their Project. Has it really been 4+ years and no solution?

12 Likes

Starting to use Asana in late 2021 and very surprised this isn’t default behaviour. This feature was requested in 2017. Is there an ETA?

5 Likes

@Marie We are working on a project with more than 50 subtasks being created each day for a main task. I will list the painful experience with asana s current design :

  1. New subtask won t get custom fields created in same project. (Until we add it to project)

  2. New subtask doesn’t have automation rule based capabilities. (Until we add it to project) (At least if rule capability was there, we could automatically assign subtask to a project)

  3. New subtask of subtask is still not visible in project task tree neither in list nor in board view. (Even if we add it to project)

  4. 99 % of the times, everyone would want subtask to be added to the same respective project or parent task and only 1% of the time OR ppl want it to be added to some other project. (Better to consider adding to project automatically so that project assignment can be changed whenever it s not needed). That makes life easier for 99% of ppl, 99% of time.
    To summarise, the current subtask feature is like a Burger made in Mc Donalds & it’ employees yet don’t know wether to pack it in a McD box OR Kfc box yet. Imagine every minute the employee has to be reminded that Burger was made in Mc D only.
    It s the same situation for us now. Every time we have to press that project button and add it to a project

5 Likes

@IvanStaykov Just to clarify, are you currently using Zapier so that when a new subtask is created, it automatically gets added to the parent task’s Project?

I’d accept this as a temporary solution for me although it’s not the best but at least it would get the job done. I was playing with Zapier but couldn’t see how to assign the Project to the subtask. Thanks!

I think it would be helpful for the Asana community to know what other features are being worked on as priority over this. Without that context, it seems insane that such a small feature request with so many passionate user complaints would have been ignored for over four years, especially when it seems like the only argument against it seems to be some “principal” about not “over-using subtasks” – like, that should be up to the users, shouldn’t it?

I’ve been a free user on and off for the past two years, and the fact that Asana can’t address this issue makes me resistant to upgrading to a paid plan.

5 Likes

PREACH

2 Likes