Hey everyone, my name is Jeremy and as a Certified Pro, I have begun to help several non-profits in my area move from the chaotic world of e-mail and text message, to organizing in Asana
This no only clear up the communication issues, but also provides a detailed legacy for whom ever takes the reins in the future of the organization
Here is a quick example of some Asana teams that can fit multiple organizations:
Keep in mind that Projects can exsist within multiple teams when taking a cross-functional approach to tackle a large project
Hope this proves helpful and have a great day!
Hi @Jeremy_Angus!
I think this tip is a great insight into the different ways that you’re able to leverage the idea of a “Team” that exists outside of the traditional perspective of what a team represent (like a single department). A team is simply a space in Asana where projects are stored.
When adopting Asana and customizing how you’re planning on using it for your organization, you should decide on a set of conventions across your org, which your peers & colleagues align with.
Conventions will adjust and evolve over time, but it’s helpful to establish some “rules of the game”, per se. Some examples can be create a project when you need a place to hold more than 5-10 Tasks for initiative. Ideally a team should be created when a need exists to hold 10 to 20 (or more) projects in a single space that serves as a repository for that group’s work.
Key cross-functional collaborative initiatives, like the ones @Jeremy_Angus pointed out in his screenshot, is the committee framework for how teams can be used. Your “Tech/Website Committee” is going to made up of folks from across many different parts of your organization internally: Web development, Design, Marketing and User Experience, among others. This is a perfect example of where an Asana team does not fit within a traditional “single” department framework, but rather a space where a consortium of stakeholders can to collaborate, either publicly or in private.
Great tip Jeremy; thanks for sharing!
wait. A project can live in more than one team?? All i have ever seen is the option to MOVE a project from one team to another or DUPLICATE it. What am i missing?
Great question @Emily_Gonzales,
A Project cannot, however the tasks within a project can be multi-homed into more than one project.
So while a project can only live in one team, the same tasks within it can live in many projects on many teams.
Hope that helps clarify things a bit more!
oh bummer =-( Thanks for the answer!
Hi there @Jeremy_Angus, quick question for you.
When I’m using Teams as the structure for our Asana account, can projects exist entirely outside of any team? For example, I’ve got my own project for tracking some various tasks. At this moment I want it to exist outside of teams. Do you know if this is this possible? Thanks thanks!
Hi @greer
Teams are a way of organizing information in your Asana. All organizations must have at least one team, and all projects must live in a team. Is there a reason why you want a project to live outside of a team framework? This might help us find a workaround for you.
Sure thing! My organization is just beginning to use Asana. I’ve been using a project track all of my tasks across my various roles. Currently, we only have one team set up in Asana. My tasks don’t fall into this category of teams. I suspect that at some point this project will not be needed, since my tasks will hopefully be reallocated into the appropriate projects, but for right now that is not the case.
To be honest, I will just set up a team for my individual work, knowing that it will be distributed out in time, unless you have other suggestions!
Hello @greer.
@Michael_A is correct about Teams being another layer of organization
What I usually do for my clients is have them set up Teams as the various departments in the organization (Purchasing, Production, Sales, Etc.)
You could create a separate Team for your personal tasks to be distributed later. Just keep in mind that dividing your Asana into various Teams also allows you to be more selective of who sees what. For examples, John could be in Accounting and Finance team, but not in the others and Sarah could could not be in Accounting and Finance so she would not see what is going on in those projects. This can be helpful both for keeping your information safe and also keeping your team from being overwhelmed by seeing everyone else work. Asana looks much cleaner when you are only part of 1 team with only the projects that you are involved in.
Another nice thing about Teams is that each one has its own Conversation Tab which can be a great brainstorming and R&D link storage area for those working in that specific field.
Hope this helps and have fun with Asana!
OH also here is a nice Graph showing how Asana is structured:
For an even more detailed discussion that touches quite a bit on Teams and different uses for them, have a look here:
Thanks,
Larry