Howdy guys,
Just wondering but is there a formal list of “Asana’s values” published somewhere? Also do you feel that these evolve over time or should a company’s values remain the same from inception?
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Hi @Sam_Leahey! Great question. Asana’s mission and values can be found at About Asana • Asana.
I’m unable to speak to the company’s philosophy on whether or not values should change, but I’d bet that Dustin and JR have spoken about this in their interviews. Some related articles:
https://www.fastcompany.com/3069240/how-asana-built-the-best-company-culture-in-tech
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Yes!!!
Ok so I’m doing “Ctrl+F” + “value” in these articles and I don’t actually see a formal list?? The first one just says “things like” and the second one has some mentions here and there but still nor formal list:
“The values included things like healthy work-life balance, inclusiveness, embracing mindfulness and equanimity, taking responsibility, and always communicating openly and honestly.”
That’s cool if there just 5 total values but was just wondering if this is the official full list or not. I guess I’m looking for something like Google has where if you google search “what are Google’s values?” you get an immediate 10 values listed out.
Hi Sam! How nice that you’re so interested in Asana’s values. I’m not sure how much we share externally about these, so I stick to what we report on our website. You might also be interested in Asana’s Engineering values, which you can see here 6 Engineering Values that the Asana Engineering Team Uses
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Wo wo wo, there’s DIFFERENT values for different departments??? I LOVE IT!!!
I like a lot of what is going on at the company-level of Asana and it seems to me you guys make decisions a certain way so I’m trying to figure what exactly are those values that are informing your business and product decisions from the Founders right down to the users. Based on the “vibes” I can guess some of them I bet but I really want to know what they are explicitly so I can use it to educate/optimize my own business decision making 
#LearningFromTheBigTimeSiliconValleyCompanies
#Optimization
#MakingMovesAllDayEveryday
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Love your enthusiasm! So nice to hear, Sam!
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Hi @Sam_Leahey 
I wanted to chime in to add to Alexis’ helpful points. To your question about a “list”, you can see our externally-facing list of values on the company page Alexis mentioned earlier.
They include:
- Focus on our mission
- Embrace mindfulness and equanimity
- Practice balance in all things, including balance
- Clarify who’s doing what by when, how, and why
- Take and give full responsibility
- Be real with yourself and others
- Create and play together
You can see details on each of these on the company page as well. Additionally, you can see how we embody some of these values in another blog post here- it’s a little outdated, but still very relevant for our team.
And finally, +1 to the love for your enthusiasm 
Thanks for connecting
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Not trying to be obtuse, but does this matter if you are external to the company? Or are you a potential employee? Just curious.
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Ooooooooooo it def matters @Anthony_McCloskey!! I’m not an employee at all and never will be. I am a thinker, analyst, and I have a strong affinity for the ideas and philosophies that underpin big-time and successful companies. That’s why I want to know what Google, Facebook, Asana, and some others values are because those values literally drive their decision making whether people acknowledge it/make it explicit or not!
As a startup founder myself when I sit down to analyze my own values it’s helpful to look at case studies of other companies to see if they’re values have changes over time and if I can deconstruct their mechanisms of success as I build my own business. It starts with values.
So yes, it absolutely matters. I forgot to mention this @Alexis but I actually did find a formal list a little while back from some old Powerpoint you guys did. Here’s it is:
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That is a thoughtful and meaningful perspective. Thank you for sharing. You’ve given me something to ponder.
Very Respectfully,
Anthony McCloskey
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That is a thoughtful and meaningful perspective. Thank you for sharing. You’ve given me something to ponder.
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