Top 8 Cons or Disadvantages of Using Asana Software

An effective way for companies to reach their business goals and objectives is to use project management. Whether expanding sales into new markets, constructing a new building, or coordinating rescue and relief efforts after a disaster, project management enables teams and organizations to accomplish various tasks in an organized and coordinated way.

If you need an advanced reporting and exporting platform to boost Asana’s capabilities, consider Bridge24 for Asana.

Project management software allows people to manage and track their projects efficiently. With the help of these PM tools and platforms, companies can meet their original business goals and objectives more than 64 percent of the time. They can also manage risks better and minimize failures to 15 percent or less.

With the help of project management software, teams can collaborate more efficiently. They spend less time getting and giving the right information from and to their team members and other stakeholders. They do not have to settle with outdated and ill-fitting tools, where they spend more time than their actual work.

Online project management applications like Asana allow users to communicate quickly, share files, and have highly visual dashboards that show instant useful and updated information. Aside from Asana, alternative project management tools are available for those looking for a more specific capability or comprehensive end-to-end solutions.

Are you Stuck with Asana?

Users who can’t switch to software other than Asana but are still in need of additional reporting and exporting features can use Bridge24 for Asana. This tool can easily connect to Asana, which allows more power, such as being able to export your tasks and subtasks to Excel, generating interactive charts and graphs, and more.

What is Asana

Asana is a popular online project management software used by thousands of organizations worldwide. With it, millions of users can manage tasks, track projects, and focus on work using an intuitive and collaborative platform. It releases new features regularly, giving paying customers modern tools that are highly interactive and customizable. A free plan is also available for up to 15 members.

Disadvantages and Cons of Asana

Asana is a favorite software among teams. Groups of people in a wide selection of industries can testify that the PM tool has allowed them to be more productive and focused in their work. Still, it is not the only answer to every project management problem.

1. It offers many features, sometimes too many

For a simple project, Asana can get too complex or overwhelming. With too many choices and settings to configure, it is overkill for a basic project. This can push users to revert to simpler but inefficient tools, like spreadsheets and email.

2. It can be overwhelming for the new PM user

Veteran project professionals like to use Asana. But for new users, the interface with its graphics can be intimidating. Unless they get onboarding training, they will have to spend more time learning the application. Because of the steep learning curve, new users won’t be able to hit the ground running. Some even complain of decision fatigue because of too many options.

3. You can’t assign to more than one person

Applications are designed based on a core philosophy. In Asana, a task can only have one assignee to avoid any confusion regarding who is responsible. You can assign it to a team member or yourself, but you cannot assign it to more than one person. But if that person is suddenly unavailable, then you have an issue to resolve.

4. No easy switching of views

In Asana, a project can be looked at using different views. However, when you set up a new project, you must select either list view or board view. Once it is selected, you cannot switch from one view to the other. You might have to use integrations to be able to do so.

5. Not the ideal choice for the single user/small team

If you are a single user, a freelancer, or a sole consultant of your business, you must repeatedly and carefully assign every task to yourself. Otherwise, it will not show up in “My Tasks” and that task may fall into the cracks. For a small team, every project will be composed of the same team members, which they see on top and the sidebar. Some users wish there is an option to hide them from the sidebar to make navigation simpler and shorter.

6. Absent time tracking

With Asana, you can track every task on every project that each team member is assigned to. But you cannot track their time on each task unless you integrate it with a third-party time tracking software. For teams who need to bill different clients or categorize work as billable or non-billable, they have to look for solutions outside the PM tool.

7. Limited exporting/importing functionality

Asana has an export feature to bring your project data outside the app. However, the available formats are only JSON and CSV. JSON file formats are more for machines. CSV files can be opened into spreadsheets. No export to Excel file or PDF format is readily available, though. For Organization Domain exports, the available option is only JSON. There is also no direct way to import an MS Project file into Asana.

8. No plans to use 2FA

Asana does not offer 2-factor authentication, nor do they have any plans to offer it. More and more businesses, however, are implementing 2FA and other data security measures because of the increasing risk of data breaches and other cybersecurity threats.

Conclusion

As more companies adopt project management as a business strategy, project management software like Asana is getting more attention and sign-ups. Users report that since using the PM tool, they have become more efficient as a team. Asana also has allowed them to reduce emails and status meetings while enabling them to get more work done. But clearly, Asana is not for every team, company, or business.

If you find that Asana is for your team, but wish they have the missing features you need, try Bridge24 for Asana instead to have more of the functionality missing in Asana. With enhanced reporting, exporting, and data manipulation, you can add interactive charts, export in Excel or PDF, and switch from one view to another in just a few clicks.