Auto-Scheduling Tasks in Asana (in a "real"calendar)

English Forum Product Feedback
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Introduce an auto-scheduling feature in Asana that intelligently schedules tasks based on priorities, deadlines, and user availability, similar to Motion (usemotion.com).

Key Features

  1. Priority-Based Scheduling: Automatically prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency.
  2. Time Blocking: Allocate specific time blocks for tasks, including breaks.
  3. Deadline Management: Prioritize tasks with upcoming deadlines.
  4. User Availability: Sync with users’ calendars to avoid conflicts.
  5. Dynamic Rescheduling: Adapt schedules based on changes in task completion or priorities.
  6. Task Dependencies: Schedule tasks in the appropriate order.
  7. Customizable Preferences: Set preferences for work hours and scheduling flexibility.
  8. Calendar Integration: Sync with external calendars like Google Calendar, Outlook and iCloud.
  9. Notifications: Send reminders and updates about scheduled tasks.

Benefits

  • Increased Productivity: Optimize task schedules for efficient completion.
  • Stress Reduction: Reduce the cognitive load of manual scheduling.
  • Improved Time Management: Ensure tasks are completed on time.
  • Enhanced Collaboration: Better coordinate team schedules.
11 Likes
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A handful of my users (myself included) are trialing Motion for that very reason. It’s the only thing I like better than Asana.

I’ve tried syncing my Asana task to my calendar and it just becomes a mess and without there being specific start/end times (or breaking tasks into bite-sized chunks) it doesn’t really work as intended, which is to make sure I schedule time to work on the tasks I need to complete.

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I currently use Asana for project management and Reclaim ai to schedule and track hours on my tasks. Reclaim ai is similar to Motion, in that it auto schedules tasks for you based on priority and due date, but it’s a fraction of the cost.
There’s a Reclaim plugin for Asana that syncs your tasks, it works quite well but does require the extra step of sending the task to it and the time you clock in Reclaim doesn’t sync back to Asana.
So it would be better to have the auto scheduling within the Asana interface, and be only paying for one subscription.

5 Likes
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Yes or Reclaim ai would just pull all tasks automatically and schedule it… Then you rearrange directly in Reclaim ai dashboard… Syncing back in the calendars…

It would kill the whole usp of motion in one second and it is SO easy to code… I thought about doing it myself :smile: Asana really should think about aquiring them and push this.

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Maybe assumed, but I think another feature should be the ability to stretch and move time blocks in the calendar. The same as you can do in Google Calendar, very intuitive.

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This seems like the most natural evolution of this previous request and feature: Organising my day - Daily (hourly) schedule planning on calendar

The user’s need here would be solved by something like Motion or Akiflow, but that’s really the only advantage they have to what Asana does for true project management. This would be a huge competitive advantage and would make Asana THE tool we run our business with.

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Having a more robust integration with Google Workspace and Google Calendar in particular would be great! The fact that you have to create a calendar event then link to that in Asana. You should be able to just create the calendar event from within Asana!

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This is something I have really been wanting Asana to do for years.

I wrote a bookmarklet that helps me open a “create event” page in Google Calendar with information pulled from the task that I’m viewing in Asana, but I have to keep updating the code since Asana’s code keeps changing.

Plus, this doesn’t sync back to the task in any way. Any changes to the task title, deadline or other details don’t go into the calendar event.

A lot of people point out that there are start and end dates on a task, and these can be synced to Google Calendar. That’s great and super useful to visualise when a task must be started on and completed by, but it’s a completely different concept to WHEN a task will be worked on.

Currently there is no way to manage when tasks will be worked on in Asana, it’s all based on when it’s due.

One task can require multiple scheduled blocks of time to complete. I know you could say I can break it down into subtasks, but that’s just too much detail for a lot of tasks. If I want to work on task that’s going to take 4 hours, and I will do that across 4 days in 1 hour blocks, I don’t want 4 sub tasks cluttering things up, since those subtasks represent specific things that need to be done, and should not represent blocks of time.

My bookmarklet solution also just isn’t a simple drag and drop experience and doesn’t really work when I want to schedule lots of tasks, and know what I’ve already scheduled.

Look at Trello’s “Planner” feature ( Trello Planner | Trello | Atlassian Support ) which implemented an awesome UI to drag tasks into my calendar, without leaving the page I’m looking at.

  • I can schedule a single task across multiple time slots
  • The calendar entry is added to my calendar as “Focus time” - exactly what I need as it’s not a regular “meeting”.
  • I get to see all my account calendars on the planner view, optionally turning some on or off - amazing as I don’t have all my commitments in a single calendar.

It’s not totally perfect, but it’s definitely the right direction.

Asana please… let’s get this implemented. Killer feature.

Just to also note - I don’t particularly want certain other users in Asana to know when tasks are scheduled to be worked on. That’s for certain users only, clients don’t need to know that, just when it’s expected to be done (existing start date and due date fields are great for that).

planner

3 Likes