How do I order task priority, for all assigned tasks, for a person (not me)?

[mmynsted_stogo]

I see questions a bit like mine and I think the answer might be that Asana can not do this without integrating with something like ducalis?

Description : I have people assigned to tasks for multiple projects. I want to communicate the relative priority for those assigned tasks for each person.

This way the person assigned the tasks will know which task to work on next if their current task becomes blocked, even if that task is in another project.

Example:
Say I have a user named Alex and three project, “Foo”, “Bar”, and “Baz”.

• I have task “Find the stuff” from project Foo assigned to Alex.
• I have task “Gather the things” from project Bar assigned to Alex.
• I have task “Build the whatnot report” from project Baz assigned to Alex.

None of these particular tasks can have due dates yet.

I want to communicate that the relative priority for Alex is:

1. Build the whatnot report (project Baz)
2. Find the stuff (project Foo)
3. Gather the things (project Bar)

How do I do this in Asana?

[Rebecca_McGrath]

Hi @mmynsted_stogo, welcome to the Asana Community Forum

In this case, I’d suggest creating a Priority custom field so that you can mark certain tasks as P0, P1, P2 and so on. This way, apart from due date, users can see which tasks are to be worked on a priority.

I hope this helps!

[mmynsted_stogo]

This seems close but maybe I am not using it correctly?

I created a new custom field called priority. I added it to the organization library.

But can not add it to My tasks.

(The forum will only let me add one screenshot… I am showing the one where I am unable to select the custom field, priority, for My tasks.)

[mmynsted_stogo]

This shows that the custom field is in the organization library.

[mmynsted_stogo]

This image shows that I am able to add the custom field to a project.

[mmynsted_stogo]

I need for each user to be able to add this to their My tasks to be able compare task priorities.
Is this a limitation of Asana? Do I still need something like ducalis to compare task priorities?

[mmynsted_stogo]

Any ideas on how to solve this?

[mmynsted_stogo]

Why will this topic automatically close in 6 days?

[Stephanie_Oberg]

Currently, My Tasks does not allow use of custom fields. I have worked around this as follows:

1. Create a project called “Stephanie’s Tasks” and added my custom priority field
2. Created & saved a search (thus making it a permanent report) of everything that is assigned to me and Incomplete and NOT in “Stephanie’s Tasks”
3. Check daily (or so) the report in #2 and make sure any results are added to Stephanie’s Tasks
4. Use Stephanie’s Tasks to work in on a daily/hourly basis, and disregard My Tasks

Since “Stephanie’s Tasks” is just a project like any other, it has the full features for customization of fields and also sorting.

[mmynsted_stogo]

This works. Thank you.

It would be perfect if I could add the “priority” custom field without having the search select a value for the field. I selected that it must have a value. That is fine but if a task does not have a priority defined, it does not show on the list.

[Stephanie_Oberg]

Agreed! “Advanced” Search is really underpowered and even buggy.

[Adam_Bennett]

@ mmynsted_stogo one of the ways my team prioritises work has largely replaced the use of My Tasks. We have setup a 2021 Sprints project, and whenever a task is assigned to a specific person, it is co-homed into that project in the appropriate 1-week sprint.

Each person uses the Sprint project as their daily reference, and the list or board view allows simple drag and drop to re-order according to the latest priorities.

Our tasks also go through a centralised triage process, where a project manager reviews, assigns and prioritises according to a set of agreed criteria.

[mmynsted_stogo]

I like how everybody has a single, common place to look for what task to work on.

I tried something like that before, but it felt like extra work sharing tasks. That was before I learned about the custom “priority” field. Thank you for the suggestion. I am going to give your solution a try.

[anon73000049]

I also create a new project for my tasks and customize it. (I wish we could add custom fields to My Tasks.)

Depending on your plan, you can also create a rule to automatically add tasks to that project, removing that extra step of having to search them out and add them manually.