Asana

Comments: I've been using Asana for years- I think starting in 2010 or 11. I've used it so long that many of my accounts started as the free version and I've watched them slowly and effectively roll out added, useful, functionality without hassle or interruption. I've introduced over 10 nonprofit organizations to using Asana, and everyone has loved it.

Pros: Easy to learn, attractive and simple interfaces, easy to make it your daily home base. Great for both new and experienced computer users. I love that you can have task/project-related convos and attachments. This is excellent if you are like me and frequently need to show people where they made decisions in the past in an easy way. I love that events can be recurring on almost every pattern I've ever thought of. I use it for grants tracking, so I can assign out pieces to different team members and easily gather pieces back to me. I love that I can hyperlink to previous years notes, attachments, etc. for easy reference, which is really helpful with donors. I also use it to plan editorial pieces, social media, communications campaigns, nonprofit programs, board meetings, household tasks and chores, etc. Previosuly I used it for large books/projects to break large academic projects into smaller pieces. I've used it with large and small groups aged 18-67. I've set it up for over 10 orgs/groups and it is fast and easy. Everyone loves how easy it is to just start using it. Great email functionality and it has a ton of add-ins you can use to link to other software (like time tracking, invoicing, etc.) I LOVE ASANA.

Cons: I love their free version with a firey passion, but once downside is as they have grown, the free version has lost some searching/reporting capability. However, using their paid product gets you everything you could want. So if you are piloting the free version to get a sense, there is a lot more out there.

Comments: In a large team who are decentralized (different departments handling different tasks within the same project), the tool works well to coordinate each team and meet deadlines. It also minimizes the hassle of follow up for team leads.

Pros: Key pros that elevate my overall experience in regards to the software are:
1. User interface and design - The design aspects are very colorful and interactive, making it easy to navigate from one part of the application to another
2. The timeline feature and ability to monitor other team members' progress on common or interrelated tasks enables the overall team to be efficient and helps with easy follow up
3. The ability to create tasks, project templates, color coded calendars and visual project plans not only adds to the user experience (UX) but also to enhance efficiency as one progresses through the project timelines and goals
4. The software is efficient in updating what's in progress, complete, new requests, all of which assist the user to manage their goals for a project. Priority levels also increase efficiency because a user can also give more attention to high priority tasks.
5. On the technical side, it has an open API and integrates well with other software applications such as dropbox and GitHub
6. Asana recently added gantt chart functionality called timelines which helps with project dependencies

Cons: 1. It takes some time to learn how to use each feature of the product as there are so many features. It requires someone who already has some knowledge to be able to guide other team members. They are easy to use once you do work on them, but some users struggle with more specific features such as dashboards, communication tools.
2. It does not have an in-built instant messaging/chat feature to chat instantly with team mates although they have options to integrate with other softwares for the same functionality.
3. There are too many details that need to be added by users, taking away slightly from the overall experience