Using Asana to run game development QA workflow

English Forum Asana In Practice
, , ,
1

Hello!

I am a relatively new user to Asana and I was having trouble finding other examples in the forums, so I figured why not make my own post.

I’m a QA manager at a very small company (20-30 people) and we’ve made the switch to Asana recently (within the last few months). We are coming from a more “Jira”-like platform (Youtrack), in which I had many specific ways of doing things and a workflow that made sense to me. Asana works in a completely different manner than Jira/similar, and part of this is that I am just getting used to how it works, but I was curious how others have fared when making the switch.

Some things to note:

  • I am the sole QA at my company, with a tester we maintain on a contract basis (this contract is set to end this year)
  • My time is spent primarily testing, and so setting up a workflow that Simply Works and Works Forever is paramount for me to execute my tasks on time (I don’t have time to write super detailed test case suites, automate tests, or hunt for information)
  • We are working with a limited budget - ideally my entire workflow exists in Asana

Our previous workflow was as follows:

  1. Design creates documentation for a feature and stored in the knowledgebase
  2. A set of feature tickets is created, covering the major points to implement
    1. This links to the documentation
  3. Feature tickets are completed, with implementation specifics at the high level included on the ticket
  4. Ticket is sent to QA for testing
  5. Testing occurs
    1. If a bug is found, a new ticket is created and assigned to the developer in the current sprint
    2. If no bugs are found, the feature ticket is closed as tested
  6. Bugs are resolved then sent back to QA
  7. Testing occurs
    1. Additional bugs are found - they get new tickets
    2. Original issue is not resolved - ticket is sent back for additional fixing
    3. Issue is resolved - ticket is closed

Additionally, we have a bug reporting feature in our product:

  1. User hits a hotkey and opens a text field that they fill out
  2. They hit send
  3. User text is received along with logs and a screenshot of the session, and posts to two locations:
    1. Slack channel where we can discuss each report as needed
    2. Youtrack - a ticket is automatically created and links to the session logs, a screenshot, and the user report text contents

Important to note - at my company, all testing is manual (there is no test automation as we work in games and the bulk of our testing is exploratory). Most workflows I could read about on the forums are involving some third party app to manage automated tests, highly specific test cases, etc. I do maintain a test case spreadsheet of things that must be tested for every release, including nasty edgecases for things that broke frequently, but recommending to me Qase or TestWolf or similar is not going to be helpful in this situation (I need a way to manage my things all within Asana).

Any examples of how other folks use Asana for Quality Assurance would be super helpful! I’m interested in the specifics of your workflows, ie

  • Where do you have developers/designers store information about the feature you’re testing? Are they in the ticket body, comments, subtasks?
  • How do you pass tasks/bugs from development to QA? Do you reassign, do you have a special status, etc?
  • Do you use basic tasks for bugs/features, or do you use custom tasks (Ie “Bug” or “Feature” type tasks with their own custom fields and behaviours)
  • If you are using a workflow where all your important information is stored in the body of the ticket (ie Discovered In Version X, Platform, Severity, Frequency etc) or are you using custom fields? If you’re just using the body of the ticket, how do you find things in search when you need to go back and compile a list of all the issues with X Severity in Y area of product?
  • How do you manage your backlog/bug triage with your PM? Do you have a separate product where your backlog is maintained or is it more general?

Thanks everyone!

2 Likes
2

Hello @Alexa_Schiess and welcome to the Community! We hope you are having an awesome time, and we are all excited to have you here. Allow me to answer most of your questions, and this will hopefully start meaningful conversations with other Asana users. I will be focusing on Asana best practices that you can apply to your company’s game development QA workflow, which are the following:

Feature Documentation & Linking:

  • Store your design documentation links directly in task descriptions or use text custom fields to reference your knowledge base

  • Use task dependencies to link feature tickets to their documentation tasks, ensuring QA can easily access implementation details

  • Create subtasks under feature tickets for major implementation points, keeping everything connected

Streamlined Dev-to-QA Handoffs:

  • Set up rules to automatically move tasks to a “Ready for QA” section and assign them to you when developers mark features complete

  • Use custom field notifications, so you’re instantly alerted when features are ready for testing

  • Implement a simple dropdown custom field for status: “In Development,” “Ready for QA,” “Testing,” “Bug Found,” “Retesting,” and “Closed”

Efficient Bug Management for Solo QA:

  • Create new tasks for bugs (not subtasks) so they can be independently tracked and assigned back to developers

  • Use forms for quick bug creation with essential fields: Platform, Severity, Steps to Reproduce, Expected vs Actual

  • Set up rules to automatically assign bugs to the original developer and move them to current sprint

Minimal Setup, Maximum Efficiency:

  • Use board view to visualize your testing pipeline: Backlog → Ready for QA → Testing → Bugs Found → Retesting → Complete

  • Create custom fields for essential tracking only: Priority (High/Medium/Low), Platform (PC/Console/Mobile), Bug Severity

  • Use workload view to balance your testing capacity, especially important as the sole QA

Managing Your Test Case Spreadsheet:

  • Import your critical test cases as recurring tasks for each release cycle

  • Use task templates for common testing scenarios to save setup time

  • Create project templates for release testing that include your standard test cases

Here are also other related features that you can consider in your workflow:

  • Use portfolios to track multiple game projects without additional tools

  • Leverage custom filters to quickly find all High severity bugs or Platform-specific issues

  • Set up project dashboards to give stakeholders visibility without requiring external reporting tools

If you share a quick screenshot of your current setup, I’m happy to suggest tiny tweaks to fit your flow. And if you want to log any gaps or nice-to-haves for the product team, you can add them here: https://forum.asana.com/c/forum-en/product-feedback/20

Have a great day, Alexa! Enjoy your Asana experience! :asanacurated: :blush: