What shall we use likes for?

Hi all,
I’m training my team to use Asana and wondering what we should use the “like” function for.
We used to use it for various purposes, like “thank you” or “got it” or “I approve” or “I saw it”. But one of my colleagues told me he finds it frustrating when people use likes as it clogs his inbox (understandably).
What do you use likes for? Any suggestions for the guidelines on likes?
Thanks,
Sofia

@Sofia Could you clarify if you are referring to the likes in a task or likes in the Community Forum?

Thank you!
Brenda

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Hi @Sofia, thanks for reaching out!

You are right, we use a Like in Asana to quickly confirm, approve, or praise your teammate’s work :slight_smile:

@Brenda, I think Sofia is referring to likes in Asana. When someone likes your comment or task, you’ll receive a notification in your inbox.

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@Sofia just to add my suggestion here, I recommend you establishing conventions. You can see more information and tips in the section “Updating tasks assigned to you” in this article.

I hope this helps!

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This is super helpful Emily thanks so much!

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Emily - Sofia raised the challenge that we also have. Liking the item sends it back into the InBox and wastes a ton of energy. The InBox shoes every task 3 times. When it is loaded, when it is commented up, when it is acknowledged. There should be some way of marking it as seen without it coming back into the inbox but being able to reference it at some time in the future as needed.

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Hey Julie, I’ve actually solved this by writing the following guidelines based on the replies to this question:
Liking is a “thumbs up” :+1: feature in Asana (top left corner in the task or next to each comment).

We can use it in two ways:

  1. To show that you accept a task assigned to you, that you have seen it and that you’re ok with the description and the due date.

  2. To approve something. For example, I can say " @Sofia are you ok with us to contact them?" Rather than replying I can “like” the task. Or I can ask "I’d like @Sofia 's approval on this while tagging me using the at sign. I can now like this comment as approval of that particular task.

When NOT to use likes:

  1. As a thank you - it clogs the inbox, especially during the busy times and

  2. Like we use it in teams to show our support for something - if you have something to say, you can comment in the task.

If you’d like to celebrate an achievement within a task or a conversation, you can use Celebrations (bottom left - an icon with a star) Appreciations: a new way to celebrate and encourage your teammates in Asana - see my example below.

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Sofia - That does not “SOLVE” the problem at all. It provides a framework which I understood above but it doesn’t solve the fact that using it to show that you accept a task puts that task back in the assigner’s inbox. If anything, it should go in there if (on selection of the option as it wouldn’t work for all orgs), it isn’t acknowledge in a specified amount of time, but I would be happy with it not going in at all and I am confident others would be as well.

Hi Julie, it’s a good point that you’ve raised. Perhaps the task acknowledgement shouldn’t be included either. So likes should only be used as approvals.

1 Like