Hi @Sterling_Archer,
When we got started, recognizing that we were going to evolve with time, we devoted a lot of time up front discussing what we liked and didn’t like about how we were using Asana and tried to stay flexible. Also keep in mind that Asana might have better ways to do some of the things we do, but we’re on the free version.
Our use of Asana had solidified a lot by the time we wrote the norms that I posted here. The timing of this is funny as we have a meeting this Thursday to review our norms and update them. We’re supposed to have our suggestions ready by the time we meet, so now I’ve done the work to review this section of our norms.
One suggestion I’m going to make in that meeting, is that people be more deliberate when they’re creating tasks by filling out the task in a particular order. It’s pretty nitpicky, but I’d like people to wait to add collaborators or assign the task to a project (where many people are collaborators) until the task is done being written up. The reason for this is I rely on my Inbox to keep me informed. Most of us check our inbox throughout the day when we have breaks in our work. If the description for the task isn’t fully written up when added to the project, I can see it before it’s done and after a bit will realize that what I initially thought was a poorly worded task is a team member still composing their task while I watch. I have to then remember to check it later. It’s a minor issue, but easy to avoid.
As I read through the sections of my post, I do have a couple comments on things that have evolved.
In the Daily Planning section, the use of My Tasks for personal planning never really took off. I think I’m the only team member that finds much value in it. While it’d be nice to be able to go to a team member and see their plans, if they don’t find personal purpose in it, there’s little I can do. Although, I feel like I have reasonable evidence that people manage their work better if they spend time each day reviewing it. We plan our teamwork, so it seems weird to me that we wouldn’t then plan our personal work. When I fail to do this I often feel less prepared and run into more surprise last minute tasks, but my failings are my own and others’ mileage may vary.
In Task Norms, I talk about the Due Date. We almost never use it except on “reminder tasks” where we set up a task simply to remind us of another task. This is to work around not being able to control when Asana sends a reminder. For me personally, when I’m following my daily planning process, I find I rarely need things like this.
I also mention in the Task Norms section about adding a “Definition of Done” (which we abbreviate DD) to task descriptions. I wanted to call this out as it’s ended up being one of the best practices for us. It’s eliminated those lingering tasks that people sometimes create that never seem closable. It forces us to think about how we’ll know when we’re done up front. It’s also as much to help the task owner as anyone else. It’s not uncommon to see a comment along the lines of “I’m changing the DD to X” as the task owner learns more about a task they’re on, gets new information, or finds a better way. They’re not set in stone, but I’ve found if people don’t do them, some tasks will linger for extended periods and no one can decide when they’re done.
Finally, I plan on asking my team Thursday if they like a new norm I’ve been thinking about. I’d like us to be more deliberate about keeping the last comment on a thread some kind of “current state” comment. Sometimes we’ll post a bunch of research or information to a task and then you have to start scrolling around, clicking “X more comments” and “see more” and what not, to find out what the plans were (Vote if this bugs you too). I find that posting “Next Steps” is often very helpful, especially at the end of the day. It reminds me what my next steps are when I’m setting a task aside for other work and lets my team know what’s up as well in case they need to cover for me or answer questions.
Hope this helps and thanks for giving me the excuse to get some norm review done.