Collaborating with guests in a task: From the guest POV

[Arthur_BEGOU]

What does a guest see when invited to a task?

If you have ever wondered what Asana externals (named “guests”) experience when they are added to a task in your Asana space, you might be interested in the journey described below.

The scenario
As an example, this journey starts from a Contact form that you have shared outside your organization to get in touch with prospects or job candidates. After the form is submitted and a task is created, you should maintain open communication with the sender by inviting them to that task as a guest.

Let’s examine together what the experience of your guest looks like.

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(Optional step: If your use-case requires a form)

THE FORM

Ensure that the email address field is included and marked as mandatory.

In the “Form settings” section, ensure that the option “Anyone can access” is selected, allowing the form to be shared outside the company.

After completing and submitting the form, the guest will receive the following email:

ADDING THE GUEST TO A TASK

1. When adding a guest as a collaborator to the newly created task, please make sure not to flag the option to invite them to the project. Otherwise, they will have access to the entire project to which that task belongs.
   

   

2. The guest receives the following email. Please note: the blurred picture and name are from the account you would use to invite the guest.
   

   

ACCEPTING THE INVITATION

1. The first page that guests land on is:
   

   

2. after clicking on “Continue signing up”:
   

   

3. then:
   

   

4. When they click on “skip for now”, the guest lands on:
   

   

5. and receives the following emails:
   

   
   
   
   

ON ASANA

1. This is how the guest’s Inbox will look like:
   
   

ADDING A COMMENT ON THE SHARED TASK

1. The guest will receive this email:
   

   

2. and Inbox notification:
   

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Hope that was useful.
Feel free to share feedback and questions

[Bastien_Siebman]

Super useful, thanks.

[Arthur_BEGOU]

Bonus question: “What Custom Fields can guests see ?”

• Do they see all custom fields from the project?
• And if the task is “multihomed” in another project with more custom fields - do they see all custom fields (from both projects)?

See test details with screenshots

1. Guest invited to a task, WITH a custom field that is NOT filled
   

   

2. Same guest, same task, custom field FILLED. It’s a field added to the library (“Priority”).
   

   
   
   The guest can even be notified by the field change (if the option is checked in the Custom Field Edit options).

3. Same guest, same task, MULTI-HOMED in another project with an “Estimated time” custom field that is also added to the library and filled
   

   

4. Same guest, same task, MULTI-HOMED in another project with a custom field that is project-specific and filled → guests don’t see it

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Conclusion

Only fields that are added to the fields library and filled with data will be visible from your “task guests”

[lpb]

Great, thorough tip, @Arthur_BEGOU–bravo!

I’ll just post here that the onboarding screens and emails often change, so the exact set shown here should be considered a snapshot only; recognize that when you’re reading this after the passage of time, those parts will likely look quite different so don’t take it literally for eternity, but the fundamental parts of this post will generally remain.

Thanks,

Larry

[Richard_Sather]

Great post, @Arthur_BEGOU ! Always useful to consider what a Guest’s journey into Asana looks like, at least for their first time!

And your bonus question is very nicely documented!

[Adam_Milgrom1]

This is super helpful to see, thank you for creating! I wanted to share an observation - If I were the guest, having to create an account for a new tool just to follow along with something that might not lead anywhere, and then be dropped in and don’t even see the thing I’m following would be a very frustrating experience. If I were a job candidate and there was active communication, maybe it would be worth it, and if it actually led to a job, I’d probably love it, but most job applications don’t lead anywhere and there aren’t many steps after. In that context, it feels like 90% sales for Asana, 8% helpful for the company, and 2% helpful to the candidate. None of this is meant to be a comment on the post, which is super valuable, just an observation for people considering implementation, and perhaps Asana to consider how this works.