# Never complete a task without doing it! **URL:** \ **Category:** Forum Leader tips\ **Tags:** forum-leader-tip\ **Created:** [25 May 2022 07:42 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140 "2022-05-25T07:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [25 May 2022 07:42 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/1 "2022-05-25T07:42:35Z")
As weird as it might seem, there are people in **#asana** who completes tasks without doing them. Why?! šŸ˜… When you are assigned a task, you might not agree. But the work assigned probably still needs to get done. Feel free to comment back, delegate, or assign back, but please donā€™t complete without doing the work! ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_Grobler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/paul_grobler/32/100608_2.png) [@Paul\_Grobler](https://forum.asana.com/u/Paul_Grobler)\ **Post date:** [25 May 2022 13:38 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/2 "2022-05-25T13:38:16Z")
One of my clients have the workflow of using a custom field ā€œTask acceptedā€ with Yes/No and then the assignee should accept the task after being assigned. This way there is a strong signal to the task created that the task was assigned and accepted. It also helps with a report to find all tasks assign and not accepted in order to follow up or to reassigned. ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [25 May 2022 14:03 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/3 "2022-05-25T14:03:39Z")
Oh interesting! But ideally you wouldnā€™t have to go through this and people would naturally reject something they donā€™t want to/canā€™t do isnā€™t it? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_Rueb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/tim_rueb/32/105123_2.png) [@Tim\_Rueb](https://forum.asana.com/u/Tim_Rueb)\ **Post date:** [25 May 2022 14:29 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/4 "2022-05-25T14:29:39Z")
@Bastien_Siebman I have two instances in which we mark task completed because the only other option seems to be to delete the task. (marking a task as cancelled would be preferable, but I think we would still use a task stop code to help clarify why) 1. The task had a shelf life that now makes it non-valuable to complete. We want to record the task was created but since we can only delete or complete we use a custom field to the show the Task Stop Code and then mark the task complete. 2. A list of tasks were created from a brainstorming session and these task are deemed not needed or no longer valuable enough to work on. We donā€™t want to delete the tasks, so again we use a task stop code and mark it completed. ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [25 May 2022 14:45 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/5 "2022-05-25T14:45:45Z")
Understood! Right now when I need to cancel a task I turn it into an Approval and reject it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Berger\_lpb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/larry_berger_lpb/32/276017_2.png) [@Larry\_Berger\_lpb](https://forum.asana.com/u/Larry_Berger_lpb)\ **Post date:** [25 May 2022 15:03 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/6 "2022-05-25T15:03:25Z")
I was about to mention that too, @Bastien_Siebman, as an option for @Tim_Rueb and because it generally relates to this topic and mentions other approaches too. Hereā€™s my related tip: > [@Completed Tasks that Aren't Exactly Completed](https://forum.asana.com/t/completed-tasks-that-arent-exactly-completed/154151): > > When you ā€œMark Completeā€ heavy_check_mark a task it usually signifies that you carried it out. What if you didnā€™t actually carry it out, but you still want to get it out of your hairā€“no longer have it appear as Incomplete (active)? A simple approach that works even with Asanaā€™s free version is to go ahead and mark it complete but also add a tag, perhaps one of #NotDone, #NotNeeded, #Canceled. Since you might want to later locate these, Tag View (click the tag) would allow you to see a list ofā€¦ Thanks, Larry ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_Rueb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/tim_rueb/32/105123_2.png) [@Tim\_Rueb](https://forum.asana.com/u/Tim_Rueb)\ **Post date:** [25 May 2022 15:17 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/7 "2022-05-25T15:17:03Z")
OK, I didnā€™t think the approval process was a good one for us because when I created this work around I couldnā€™t see a way to filter on approvals. But now I see if I dig enough I get to approvals. I guess that would be a viable option also. Being able to search for these cancelled (completed) task and generating a list based on the (custom field) **task stop codes** was key when we were trying to solve this problem. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/asana/original/3X/9/b/9b3d21a2e727f6c31b14302d1ea8117fa0bd14c4.png) ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [27 May 2022 06:49 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/8 "2022-05-27T06:49:37Z")
I think @paulminors has another trick when not doing a task, a tag I believe? šŸ¤” ---
**Author:** ![paulminors](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/paulminors/32/291507_2.png) [@paulminors](https://forum.asana.com/u/paulminors)\ **Post date:** [29 May 2022 21:01 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/9 "2022-05-29T21:01:15Z")
Yes, this is just personal use (not within a team) but if I donā€™t do a task for whatever reason, I mark it as complete and tag it with ā€˜DNCā€™ which stands for ā€˜Did not completeā€™. ---
**Author:** ![Andre\_Lung](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/andre_lung/32/60792_2.png) [@Andre\_Lung](https://forum.asana.com/u/Andre_Lung)\ **Post date:** [28 July 2022 18:22 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/10 "2022-07-28T18:22:49Z")
@Bastien_Siebman you once had an illustration just about this fact. I canā€™t find it, but Iā€™d love to mention it to a colleague. Can you hint me where it is? ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [30 July 2022 15:11 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/11 "2022-07-30T15:11:21Z")
I removed them from my website, here they are. ![clean-1](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/asana/original/3X/0/e/0ed8c6cb0eb0e1d8276946f76b049e276c2c6c62.png) ![clean-2](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/asana/original/3X/5/d/5d79ec3af2c87f555c8f273940ae92a80572dbf1.png) ![clean-3](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/asana/original/3X/3/4/34e92bb40700cc2ff441daa7a10e52a836f187a0.png) ---
**Author:** ![Jan\_Go](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/jan_go/32/76982_2.png) [@Jan\_Go](https://forum.asana.com/u/Jan_Go)\ **Post date:** [4 August 2022 15:37 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/12 "2022-08-04T15:37:41Z")
I was actually looking for ways to manage tasks that need to be closed or archived, but were actually discontinued. I find using the complete feature inappropriate. As much as possible, I dont want to delete so I can keep track of them. But as it turns out, marking a task as approval only can be done in Asana Business. ---
**Author:** ![Bastien\_Siebman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/bastien_siebman/32/172354_2.png) [@Bastien\_Siebman](https://forum.asana.com/u/Bastien_Siebman)\ **Post date:** [5 August 2022 06:25 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/13 "2022-08-05T06:25:27Z")
I have a post in the making listing ways to cancel a task, hereā€™s the draft: 1. delete 2. mark cancel in the name and complete 3. add a tag 4. move to a project ā€œcancelled tasksā€ 5. use a custom field 6. cancel a task by marking as approval and then rejecting ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Berger\_lpb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/larry_berger_lpb/32/276017_2.png) [@Larry\_Berger\_lpb](https://forum.asana.com/u/Larry_Berger_lpb)\ **Post date:** [5 August 2022 17:53 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/14 "2022-08-05T17:53:00Z")
@Jan_Go and @Bastien_Siebman, I already mentioned my #Forum Leaders tips post on this topic that may be of interest: > [@Completed Tasks that Aren't Exactly Completed](https://forum.asana.com/t/completed-tasks-that-arent-exactly-completed/154151): > > When you ā€œMark Completeā€ heavy_check_mark a task it usually signifies that you carried it out. What if you didnā€™t actually carry it out, but you still want to get it out of your hairā€“no longer have it appear as Incomplete (active)? A simple approach that works even with Asanaā€™s free version is to go ahead and mark it complete but also add a tag, perhaps one of #NotDone, #NotNeeded, #Canceled. Since you might want to later locate these, Tag View (click the tag) would allow you to see a list ofā€¦ Larry ---
**Author:** ![Andre\_Lung](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/andre_lung/32/60792_2.png) [@Andre\_Lung](https://forum.asana.com/u/Andre_Lung)\ **Post date:** [9 August 2022 14:22 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/never-complete-a-task-without-doing-it/166140/15 "2022-08-09T14:22:34Z")
> [@Jan\_Go](#): > > I was actually looking for ways to manage tasks that need to be closed or archived, but were actually discontinued. I find using the complete feature inappropriate. As much as possible, I dont want to delete so I can keep track of them. Thank you very much! I missed your answer, but this is great!