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–the one I actually use–that I feel is unique yet has wide applicability, and
Offers a survey of other “best of” My Tasks approaches. If the previous two examples aren’t your cup of tea, surely something here will be to your liking.
There’s more along the way, including a generous helping of tips and best practices.
In summary, the article will give you a quick, simple playbook, along with advanced and alternate approaches, to restore the lost functionality (automatic task promotion) you’ve been used to (or, for newer users, that you’ll want to add) and leverage the new customizations available.
Please also find all my other Asana-related articles (many with embedded YouTube videos/screencasts), at:
This was a good summary. I am currently feeling the loss of the tab-Y/L/U shortcuts, but the workarounds are not too difficult. My setup was already quite similar to your proposed one. I also have a section called “Internal” where I capture tasks I assign myself for department housekeeping purposes, etc. They have deadlines, but because the deadlines involve no one else and mainly represent desired targets, they are more flexible. This makes it easier for me to focus on the squeaky wheels when needed.
[Sorry, it appears I was mistaken. Future readers can ignore this comment!]
A word of warning: Apparently moving tasks within sections of your own My Tasks triggers notifications for other users. I decided to do some spring cleaning, and moved all completed tasks from the various sections to a new Completed section. Well, apparently this sent notifications to people who were following those tasks, even tasks that were years old and had been marked as complete a long time ago. Needless to say, this was confusing and annoying to people. I would not have expected notifications for other users, for what feels like personal organization within My Tasks.
@MPrewitt, Are you sure? I just tried to reproduce this and can’t get any notifications generated to collaborators for just moving My Tasks sections. Is there any chance you also performed another action? What do these notifications to collaborators specifically say? If you are sure this is happening, please create a separate bug report in #bugs:report-a-bug, but as I say, I can’t reproduce this.
You may be right. I think I may have jumped to conclusions. I saw that just after I changed the My Tasks section for a bunch of tasks, someone went in and marked one of those tasks incomplete. I saw a status update in the task that said, “Michael Prewitt moved this Task from “New” to “Completed” in My Tasks,” and I assumed that was a notification, and that is what prompted them to visit the task just minutes later and change its status to incomplete. It was a task done about 2 years ago. Well, it looks like it may have been a weird coincidence. Sorry for the false alarm!
Thanks, @MPrewitt, for getting to the bottom of it, and for updating your prior post to clarify. I can certainly see how what you saw raised your concern.
Does not work for me when you are “inside” a task. That’s the approach I still really miss and Tab+Y, Tab+U, Tab+L was so convenient to put the tasks in the right “box” out of my list after updating/editing and go ahead to the next one. It was only one command and now it needs multiple actions.
@Jonas1, Yes, that’s true, but how did you “go ahead to the next one?” Did you use this mouse? I think I use Esc and then I’m able to use the shortcut again and stay on the keyboard.
Good point, thanks. But I just realized now that Esc does not work to go back when you are inside the description field. I often go through my Inbox to get everything done what needs my attention today. I was used to check the task, do my work, update the tasks/subtasks accordingly, edit the due date e.g. for next steps or further questions and “send” the tasks via Tab+L in the background until I need them again. With this workflow my tasks “disappeared” out of my view (inbox) and yes, probably I used the mouse afterwards.
Hi! Thanks for the article! Currently I’m getting used to the new My Tasks, but still missing the tab-Y/L/U shortcuts. I know there are work arounds, for example what I do to avoid using drag&drop (not very confortable to me in the list view):
I quickly switch to Board view,
then it’s fast to drag and drop tasks to “Upcoming” or “Later”. ç
I come back to the List view.
What are other workarounds that you are using, now that we don’t have the tab-Y/L/U shortcuts?
Best regards!
Marc
I can see how Board view can give you an easier playing field in which to conduct your drags and drops.
I stick with List view exclusively and, depending on context, use a combination of the four different approaches outlined in the article’s “Moving Tasks Between Sections in My Tasks” section, two of which are the new versions of the Tab+U/Y shortcuts, though I generally use those less than the other two alternatives. So it’s usually multi-select and then Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Up/Down or multi-select and DnD.
