Hi everyone!
I was recently turned on to Wavelength from Asana and it’s got our team thinking. Specifically on the posts for Productivity Mastering productivity - Wavelength by Asana Do you guys have a company wide “default view” or a standard that everyone is held to? We love the tips on writing the perfect task but we’re interested in a perfect view to see what everyone is working on at a glance?
Unless you totally hate the idea! Tell me why, I’d love to get some others perspectives!
Hi @Chels ! Really happy to know you’re finding value in Wavelength!
A few thoughts on your question. First, I think a balance is important when we think about a default view for everyone. I think the beauty of Asana is that I can organize my side bar and my My Tasks in a unique way that totally works for how I approach my work. I remember using project management systems in the past where I was required to look at things in a certain way and being put in that box made me far less productive. However, the converse can be true, where extreme differences in how people use Asana could lead to wires being crossed.
An effective solution may be to allow people to generally organize workflows and title projects according to a particular company-wide system, while allowing them to organize their side bars and My Tasks in their own unique way. Or you might keep everyone to the same side bar system and allow them to organize My Tasks in the way that will make them most productive.
Regarding the best kind of view, it really depends on what you’re looking for. Could you elaborate on what you’re trying to achieve with this default view and if you’re trying to view projects, tasks, etc.?
Here are some options for you that give you viewing flexibility:
Start by looking at these articles in the guide as a jumping off point:
Happy to answer follow up questions! And looking forward to learning others’ philosophies on default views. 
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My side bar:
Sure, I can elaborate. Some of the management team wants to be able to view another person’s task list and see exactly what it is they’re working on that day. They mentioned implementing a “rule” like 6 tasks due in one day is a full workload. I know there are some suggestions to have a time frame for how long it should take (i.e. tagged [2 hours]) but we’re not quite there yet. Our processes aren’t flushed out to an exact time allotment.
Just wanted to see what other people were doing for something like this
@Chels Oh super! First, I’m sure other people have some good thoughts on this. Do you mind if I update the title to: “Does your org have a default My Tasks setup in Asana?” – I’m hoping that will get people more engaged.
Second, some additional thoughts and options for you. Take em or leave em!
2)If you’re looking for a more consolidated way to view what people are working on, then you could create a project for it. One example: create a project called “Daily Scheduling.” Make each parent task in the project a person’s name. Then, when you click into the person’s name you see subtasks for each date. In further subtasks for each date, you could have a people add tasks for what they’re working on each day and add a custom field for expected time or even broad time commitment such as long / medium / short. This is where you’d, as you say, “tag a time.” Alternatively, in “Daily Scheduling” each parent task could be a date and subtasks could be names, where nested subtasks are the tasks for each date with custom fields, etc.
Lmk what you think about thread title. Looking forward to seeing what people say about this topic!
I like the idea of the title change, I’m all for getting more involvement! I also like the second suggestion, I’ll have to see what management would think of having this adopted.
Cool! Just changed the title @Chels. Also, I’m glad the second suggestion might be a fit! Hopefully others have some helpful things to add here, too.
For your option 2, would that mean people have to manually add what they’re working on into “Daily Scheduling”? How would the subtasks get set up that way? I’m trying to figure out a way to quickly consolidate what people are working on for handoff reasons in the event I need to share the team’s workload with someone else, and this seems like a possible solution, but not sure how much extra work it would require from the team?
Good question! In the second option above, yes, you’d have each person manually multi-home their tasks into the daily scheduling project and categorize them under their names. Or of course they could simply write out tasks.
Another option you might like is a saved advanced search for your team members tasks that are due today (or whatever time period you choose). This way you can simply view the saved search and see your team’s upcoming tasks. For more information about advanced search see Using Search & Advanced Search in Asana | Product guide • Asana Product Guide
