Using My projects (not My tasks)

[ka_nishiyama]

I find that managing tasks using My projects, rather than My tasks, suits me better.

In My projects, I don’t include all the tasks assigned to me; only the main tasks. These main tasks aren’t the tasks I directly execute, but rather “to-do tasks.” For these “to-do tasks,” I set a due date, priority, importance, description, and identification labels (affiliation, purpose category), and also include links to the tasks or projects I should directly execute, allowing me to jump to the desired task or project with a single click.

I’ve thought that I should utilize My tasks more, and I’ve actually tried it. However, it didn’t work well for the following reasons:

• It’s difficult to control the order of tasks myself, and rearranging them is time-consuming.
• Tasks are assigned to multiple projects, making it cumbersome to rearrange them by project.
• I have a very large number of assigned tasks, and the My tasks list quickly becomes overwhelming.
• I have to constantly switch filter settings to narrow down the range I want to see, which is time-consuming.

I believe these are not merely operational inconveniences, but fundamentally stem from the following structural reasons.

• Too many tasks
• With My tasks, I get overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks, making it difficult to prioritize.
• My work style is often project-based.
• I ensure that every task belongs to a project.
• Progress management is often done within the assigned project.
• Tasks are often more like “roles as a member of a group” than “individual tasks.”

In short, for me, the unit of a task is tied to a “project (=group)” rather than an “individual.” Therefore, I think that the structured management of My projects is more consistent with my actual work style than the cross-sectional list of My tasks. In fact, with My tasks, I had to spend time on “management operations” such as sorting and filtering, whereas with My projects, I can keep “tasks to do” organized in advance, minimizing the number of operations required each time. As a result, I feel that by using My projects as the core, I can grasp information and make decisions faster, and reduce unnecessary management effort.

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The current operational structure is as follows:

My projects

• Task A: Link to Task 1, Due Date: July 30
• Task B: Link to Project B, Due Date: August 15

Project A: Due Date: July 30

• Task 1: Assigned to: Me, Due Date: July 20
• Task 2: Assigned to: Mr. N, Due Date: July 20

Project B: Due Date: August 15

• Task 3: Assigned to: Me, Due Date: July 25
• Task 4: Assigned to: Mr. N, Due Date: July 25

Project C (Schedule)

• Task 1: Assigned by: Me; Due Date: July 20th
• Task 2: Assigned by: Mr. N; Due Date: July 20th
• Task 3: Assigned by: Me; Due Date: July 25th
• Task 4: Assigned by: Mr. N; Due Date: July 25th

My tasks

• Task 1: Assigned to: Me, Due Date: July 20, Project A
• Task 3: Assigned to: Me, Due Date: July 25, Project B

[Richard_Sather]

Hi @ka_nishiyama , for clarity, what is ‘My projects’?
Is it simply one project you use instead if My tasks or multiple projects?
How do you make sure that any tasks assigned to you by anyone in Asana gets to your project? Do you have a rule in place to add everything in your My tasks also to your project?

I personally have not seen the benefit of using a separate project rather than My tasks, as long as My tasks is setup to work for you on a personal level.

[ka_nishiyama]

Hi @Richard_Sather , quick answers:

• My projects is a single project — one dashboard, not multiple.
• No automated rule for syncing. I don’t copy everything from My tasks into it. I manually add only the “key tasks” I want to track closely (with due date, priority, and a link to the real task/project). Routine tasks stay in My tasks / their own project and never get added.

A couple of rules keep this dashboard functional:

• Priority is set using a 4-quadrant matrix (importance × urgency).
• A custom field called “Alert” flags a task as overdue if it hasn’t been updated in 10 days — “updated” meaning a due-date change or added notes. This nudges me to revisit stale tasks.

So it’s a curated, rule-based subset rather than a mirror of My tasks — that’s the main difference.

[ka_nishiyama]

Adding to this:

There is a lot of advice available from various sources regarding how to use My tasks.

Your Simple (or Advanced) Strategy for Asana’s My Tasks

Note: Most recent article update: April 2025 I’ve just published the article linked above to Medium (free access). I hope both existing Asana users grappling with My Tasks version 2 (currently being deployed), as well as new users to Asana, will check it out because it was written with all of you in mind. This comprehensive article on My Tasks: Outlines a simple but highly functional My Tasks setup with brief, step-by-step setup and use instructions, Explores an advanced My Tasks approach…

A simpler way to manage My Tasks

As an Asana Service Partner, the question I get asked most is “How do you organize your My Tasks?” If you asked me last year, I would have given you a long-winded answer full of sections and rules, but void of hope. Implementing that old process was not inviting to new users and was less efficient than my new process. This new process requires no new rules or sections. It uses intuitive views to focus on your task due dates, which is usually the most important field to edit. There are other use…

How and why I route every actionable email into Asana

I was recently helping a friend get setup for GTD and Asana, starting from scratch. We got to the Clarify step, and I insisted he take the time to clear his email inbox by routing actionable items into Asana. He pushed back immediately: “This feels like pushing paper.” I didn’t give him a choice. I told him if he wanted my help, he’d have to at least try it my way. “Give me one week,” I said. One week later, a message arrived. [warren-message] Why the inbox is the wrong place for commitments …

However, in my personal opinion:
My tasks are created in various ways — self-assigned, assigned by other users, or generated from emails. This means the number of My tasks can grow indefinitely, and it’s largely outside my control. You can narrow things down with rules (e.g., due today/tomorrow) or filters (e.g., this week only), but the underlying volume and inflow are still not something I control.
Because of this, I find it easier to create my own “To-Do tasks” — tasks I’ve deliberately decided to work on — rather than relying on My tasks, which is essentially open-ended and beyond my control. This makes categorization simpler and lets me pick out what needs immediate attention, which reduces stress. It also seems to align well with the GTD (Getting Things Done) approach of deciding what you’re actually committing to, rather than just tracking everything that lands on you.

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Here’s how I handle new tasks assigned to me: I check My inbox regularly, then:
If a task is urgent, I deal with it immediately.
If it’s not urgent, and it already belongs to a project and relates to one of my existing “To-Do tasks,” I handle it later, within that flow.
If it’s not yet related to any “To-Do task” but is important, I create a new “To-Do task” for it. That said, I don’t create new “To-Do tasks” often — usually only when it’s tied to a new project.

[Liohn_Sherer]

Interesting approach.

Do you ever conduct a review of “My Tasks” to catch items that are assigned to you but didn’t make it onto one of your explicit To-Do lists?

If so, how frequently? If not, how do you ensure you don’t drop commitments you may not have chosen but are still on your plate?

Also, how do you make the connections between tasks in your Inbox and existing “To-Do tasks” so they’re dealt with in that flow?

[ka_nishiyama]

Hi, @Liohn_Sherer

Good questions.

Frequency of reviewing My tasks: Honestly, I rarely look at it — maybe once a week at most. Since most tasks are created directly within their relevant project (or via each project’s dedicated email address, so they’re already attached to a project at creation time), My tasks itself isn’t where I catch things — the project structure does that work upfront.

Connecting Inbox tasks to existing “To-Do tasks”: Most tasks are created inside a project to begin with, so the link is already there. When a task needs to be multi-homed to another project, I decide manually based on the task’s content — there’s no tag or naming convention doing that automatically.

So the short answer to your first question is: I don’t really “review My tasks to catch drops” — the safety net is more that almost nothing enters the system without already being tied to a project, which is where I actually track it.

[ka_nishiyama]

Here’s a comparison to summarize the difference:

Item	My tasks	My projects
Task scope	All tasks assigned to me	Only key “To-Do tasks,” manually curated
Growth control	Grows via self, others, and email — largely outside my control	I decide what gets added, so it stays controlled
Sort order	Time-consuming to rearrange	Kept pre-organized at all times
Filtering	Requires switching filters repeatedly	Already narrowed down by design
Priority setting	Due date/importance alone isn’t enough — needs ongoing judgment	Set upfront via a 4-quadrant matrix (importance × urgency)
Stale task detection	None built in	“Alert” custom field flags tasks with no update in 10 days
Path to execution	Task itself is shown directly	One-click link to the actual task/project
Review frequency	Rarely checked (roughly once a week)	Central to daily management
Task-project relationship	Flat, cross-project list	Structured by project (= area of responsibility)
GTD framing	Closer to “everything that comes in”	Closer to “what I’ve decided to commit to”

Curious to hear what everyone else thinks?