We’re using a project as a Daily Dashboard - essentially, timeblocking tasks so that a quick glance can tell you where someone is, and what they’re working on.
E.g., B is teaching classes 9/23, 8-9am, again 11am-12:30pm, then working at a service point from 2-4pm. C is teaching class from 9:15am -10:45am, then working a service point 1-3.
We’ve had some success getting most tasks to appear there, and time-bounding/adjustment seems to work okay.
We have noticed though that not all tasks populate correctly; there are many tasks in the List version of the project that should be showing up in the Timeline (i.e., they have specific start and end dates/times; are attached to the correct projects), but are not. This is compounded by the fact that Start date/Due date sorting cause different versions of the Dash to display, with different tasks either reappearing or disappearing. There doesn’t seem to be an option to remove sorting by default, which I had hoped would cause all existing tasks to show up correctly.
Any ideas how we can get this to work? Or are we trying to force a function that Timeline isn’t really set up for?
Hi there @Brendan_Carrell! Welcome to the community
This is a great use case, and I can see why Timeline feels like a natural fit for a Daily Dashboard. If you’re trying to show who is teaching, staffing a service point, or working during specific time blocks, there are a few setup tips that may help.
That said, Timeline is generally best for seeing work across days, weeks, or longer project plans. For a detailed daily schedule with many short or overlapping time blocks, the Calendar or List view may be more reliable.
Here are a few things to try:
- Make sure every task has a full date range
For each task that should appear, confirm it has:
- Start date and time
- Due date and time
- The correct project attached
For example, a class from 8–9 AM should have both a start time of 8:00 AM and a due time of 9:00 AM.
- Use List view as your audit view
- Add a simple field for dashboard visibility
Consider adding a custom field like Include on Daily Dashboard with values such as: Yes and No
Then filter your dashboard views to only show tasks marked Yes. This keeps the schedule cleaner and makes troubleshooting easier.
- Try Calendar view for the daily schedule
For this type of time-blocked schedule, Calendar may be a better primary view than Timeline. Calendar is usually easier when you need to answer questions like:
- Where is someone at 9:00 AM?
- Who is teaching during this block?
- Are the two assignments overlapping?
- What is happening today?
I’d recommend keeping the Daily Dashboard project, but using:
- Calendar view for the live daily schedule
- List view to audit and troubleshoot tasks
- Timeline view for broader planning across multiple days
If cleanly configured tasks with start and due times still disappear from Timeline, it would be worth sharing a few examples with Asana Support to confirm whether the behavior is expected or warrants investigation.