I’m sad. Asana isn’t fun on my own. Any advice?

[nearlythere]

I’ve been an Asana fan for ages. I got my last company switched over to it. And all our client projects. It was hugely helpful to externalise all my tasks. Never had trouble w meeting deadlines. Always easy to plan and follow up. (I have ADHD and I do credit asana with helping overcome procrastination!)

Since going to a new company I feel lost without it. Six weeks in and it’s like cycling downhill without handlebars.

So I set up Asana and have tried to introduce it but the company is all software oriented w Jira etc. So it’s not a good fit. (Jira is only used for software not tasks. And Trello is really not a replacement for Asana, that I can see.)

I know I need to break down my tasks and assign myself due dates. But… I feel like I also need the accountability of using it with colleagues. I also would like to be able to tag people for follow up and hand things off. Instead everything is just assigned to me… and it’s all stuff I have to follow up on. So it kinda just isn’t the same.

I’m really struggling to organise myself without it.

Maybe I’m just looking for a pity party. No one will play Asana with me.

But does anyone have advice or ideas that might help?

[Leonarce]

I understand your frustation convincing team to switch.

I once had client still using google sheet for everything and noticed how chaotic it became.

Most people in your company perhaps are already comfortable with what they have and are using, so it’s a bit of hesitant to move over or switch.

Perhaps it might be the same scenario if you’re forced to moved to Jira and Trello.

I guess what’s best is to provide comparison and pros and cons. I once convinced the client to use Asana because it has clear and sharp clarity of task being assigned, being able to track progress and increase productivity.

And most importantly, save time and avoid finger pointing when things goes south.

If you can present the idea and convince them, I’d say it’s worth the time.

[Emily_Roman]

Hi @nearlythere! We are hosting great workshops to help you roll out Asana to your team. In these workshops, you can also connect live with other customers and the Asana Community Team. You can check the upcoming dates here: Roll out Asana to your team - #13

I’m also adding more Forum Leaders here in case any of them have more tips to share with you

cc @Jason_Woods, @Jerod_Hillard, @Bernie_Orelup, @Rashad_Issa, @Phil_Seeman, @Julien_RENAUD, @lpb, @Kenichi, @Bastien_Siebman, @Paul_Grobler, @Charlie_Pilch, @Matt_Dickinson, @ShunS @Masanori_Misawa @Christine_Bolton

[Rashad_Issa]

Hello @nearlythere

First of all, welcome to the community!
I totally get what you are going through. Asana is my work saviour too!!

So here are few things to keep in mind:

1. approach your work environment with the mind set that one tool will not do everything for everyone
2. be patient:

• for the work you already organise for yourself in asana, pick one that is co-existent to one extent in JIRA.

• identify a colleague or one senior management person who usually champions technology and work in a simler format and structure to you

• You will always identify a moment in a project catch up where there is a level of frustration because something is missed, or because the team gets to hear the same update or the same reason for delays on certain work

• Use that moment to you advantage and then present how Asana can do what JIRA is not able to do for that particular case. Be specific and concise.

Hopefully this way you can bring evidence as to how asana can facilitate progress on top of JIRA and not to replace JIRA.

Does this help?

[Matt_Dickinson]

Hi @nearlythere!

I agree whole-heartedly with the suggestions @Leonarce, @Emily_Roman, and @Rashad_Issa have made. I know that attending the Asana Workshop is a great way to get started and is what I did to help our team adopt it as well. Asana also has a handy Guide to provide some good tips as well. One easy way to get folks to see the value quickly is to take a process that is currently not well run and creates headaches for folks because of it and create a workflow for that process in Asana. Usually once people can tangibly see the benefits of using it that piques their interest. Another good general approach is to make people “hate the current state of things” so they are open to change. If you can dig up some data or examples of how the company’s current processes are hurting them and present that to some decision makers, that will usually open their hearts to wanting to change it and then you can demonstrate how Asana can help.

Hopefully this helps and good luck!
-Matt

[Jillian_Amyot]

Hey @nearlythere, I totally understand the struggle of not wanting to work in a tool you’re not comfortable with. That is actually the idea behind the company I work for, Unito. We create integrations between project management tools (like Jira and Trello), so you can stay in Asana, but still have the ‘accountability’ and visibility of the others in their tools! Here is a page that provides a bit of more information, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

[lpb]

@nearlythere,

Welcome and condolences!

Some great tips have been offered here so far.

@nearlythere

I’m really struggling to organise myself without it.

My take is: Unless someone is stopping you, fully utilize Asana for your own purposes. I’d be lost without this very use of Asana, irrespective of its use for collaboration.

And on that score, if it’s not happening right now to convince others, don’t force that immediately. Be a good, model collaborator, and maybe someone will ask you how you are so on top of things. Then tell them the secret. Or consider raising the topic only if there’s a really problematic workflow or situation that Asana would be particularly good for.

Hope that might help,

Larry

[Lauren_Bareiss]

Just going to throw it out there. If you feel you need someone else on your team to help hold you accountable as you mentioned, I’m happy to be a ghost member and comment on things past due days and poke until it gets done

[Jason_Woods]

Hi @nearlythere
I use Asana, predomiately to manage myself in an organisation that uses a variety of other tools to manage their work. Jira, MsProject and email.

Yes it can be frustrating and hard to try and keep yourself accountable but it is achievable. Happy to help provide my thoughts/ideas on how to do that…

Couple of questions first;

• What is your role at the company? and what function do you perform?

• Are you a premium user or Free?

Regards

Jason.