1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:01,165 Hey everyone. 2 00:00:01,165 --> 00:00:03,873 Welcome to this video and in this video 3 00:00:03,873 --> 00:00:06,409 I'm joined by Mr. David Burk 4 00:00:06,409 --> 00:00:07,634 from the Electron Shop. 5 00:00:07,634 --> 00:00:09,021 Hey David. How are you doing? 6 00:00:09,021 --> 00:00:09,817 Hello. 7 00:00:10,270 --> 00:00:11,977 In this video I want to talk... 8 00:00:11,977 --> 00:00:13,980 David and I are gonna have a bit of a chat 9 00:00:13,980 --> 00:00:15,982 and I want to really learn from you David 10 00:00:15,982 --> 00:00:17,609 about your journey and 11 00:00:17,609 --> 00:00:20,112 your transition moving your team to Asana. 12 00:00:20,112 --> 00:00:22,460 Because I know that some companies 13 00:00:22,460 --> 00:00:24,060 can struggle with the transition 14 00:00:24,060 --> 00:00:26,610 changing how their teams communicate, 15 00:00:26,610 --> 00:00:28,309 how they manage their work. 16 00:00:28,309 --> 00:00:29,660 It's not always easy to make 17 00:00:29,660 --> 00:00:31,569 that transition so I'm really interested 18 00:00:31,569 --> 00:00:33,050 to hear your take on 19 00:00:33,050 --> 00:00:34,562 your experience with that. 20 00:00:34,562 --> 00:00:35,892 So maybe to kick things off 21 00:00:35,892 --> 00:00:37,229 you want to give us a bit of 22 00:00:37,229 --> 00:00:39,100 background context around like 23 00:00:39,100 --> 00:00:40,663 before you guys were using Asana 24 00:00:40,663 --> 00:00:42,609 what did your workflow look like? 25 00:00:42,609 --> 00:00:44,409 Were you using any other tools 26 00:00:44,409 --> 00:00:46,703 or what were the... 27 00:00:46,703 --> 00:00:49,008 how did you, tell us the story, 28 00:00:49,078 --> 00:00:50,988 how did you get into Asana? 29 00:00:50,988 --> 00:00:52,459 Great question. 30 00:00:52,459 --> 00:00:54,835 We tried a couple of products actually. 31 00:00:54,925 --> 00:01:00,510 We tried Teamwork, and we tried Trello, 32 00:01:00,510 --> 00:01:04,739 and then we decided that Slack was 33 00:01:04,739 --> 00:01:07,039 working really well for us so we started 34 00:01:07,039 --> 00:01:08,987 managing everything through Slack. 35 00:01:08,987 --> 00:01:10,891 But it got to be too much 36 00:01:10,891 --> 00:01:12,458 and people were randomly 37 00:01:12,458 --> 00:01:14,079 dashing off assignments 38 00:01:14,079 --> 00:01:15,762 and I was unsure 39 00:01:15,762 --> 00:01:17,388 if people could track whether 40 00:01:17,388 --> 00:01:19,952 they were still in the queue or done. 41 00:01:19,952 --> 00:01:22,673 So we took a look at Asana 42 00:01:22,673 --> 00:01:25,360 and in my first review of Asana 43 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,408 what I liked the most was the flexibility. 44 00:01:28,408 --> 00:01:30,780 It is really, really flexible. 45 00:01:30,780 --> 00:01:34,470 That's a plus and a minus, because 46 00:01:34,470 --> 00:01:36,495 it's a plus because it's really flexible 47 00:01:36,495 --> 00:01:37,813 it's a minus because 48 00:01:37,813 --> 00:01:39,290 people tend to go rogue 49 00:01:39,290 --> 00:01:40,650 and use it their own way. 50 00:01:40,650 --> 00:01:41,602 Yeah. 51 00:01:41,602 --> 00:01:44,459 So that's how we chose it. 52 00:01:44,919 --> 00:01:47,269 Yeah. Go ahead. Let's keep going. 53 00:01:47,269 --> 00:01:48,237 Yes the flexibility, 54 00:01:48,237 --> 00:01:49,928 so when you talk about flexibility, 55 00:01:49,928 --> 00:01:51,838 it's kind of what you mean is there's 56 00:01:51,838 --> 00:01:53,797 lots of different ways you can use it. 57 00:01:53,797 --> 00:01:56,130 And one of the things I found is like 58 00:01:56,130 --> 00:01:58,561 you don't just have to manage tasks in it 59 00:01:58,561 --> 00:01:59,694 like things you can do. 60 00:01:59,694 --> 00:02:01,724 You can actually use it to manage clients 61 00:02:01,724 --> 00:02:03,021 or support tickets from 62 00:02:03,021 --> 00:02:04,680 a customer service point of view. 63 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:05,440 Right. 64 00:02:05,551 --> 00:02:07,372 Yeah. I agree it is one of those 65 00:02:07,372 --> 00:02:08,679 very flexible platforms. 66 00:02:08,679 --> 00:02:11,125 Yeah. I would say that also 67 00:02:11,125 --> 00:02:14,627 our project management methodology 68 00:02:14,627 --> 00:02:17,558 having been in the agency business 69 00:02:17,558 --> 00:02:19,110 for many years, 70 00:02:19,110 --> 00:02:23,381 it's very much around just basics 71 00:02:23,381 --> 00:02:25,887 of getting things done by the end. 72 00:02:25,947 --> 00:02:26,808 Yep. 73 00:02:27,058 --> 00:02:31,218 And this idea of having a platform 74 00:02:31,218 --> 00:02:33,476 that allows you to reduce everything 75 00:02:33,476 --> 00:02:34,661 to a unit of work 76 00:02:34,661 --> 00:02:36,321 with a person responsible 77 00:02:36,321 --> 00:02:38,042 was really what we were after. 78 00:02:38,042 --> 00:02:38,770 Okay. 79 00:02:38,770 --> 00:02:41,274 And in your experience the other tools 80 00:02:41,274 --> 00:02:42,589 that you tried, Trello, 81 00:02:42,589 --> 00:02:44,151 you mentioned a few others, 82 00:02:44,151 --> 00:02:46,149 they just didn't quite tick that box 83 00:02:46,149 --> 00:02:48,195 in terms of making it very clear 84 00:02:48,195 --> 00:02:49,846 who was responsible for what? 85 00:02:50,627 --> 00:02:52,230 There were those issues and then 86 00:02:52,230 --> 00:02:54,282 there were presentation issues. 87 00:02:54,772 --> 00:02:57,298 The idea that in Asana 88 00:02:57,298 --> 00:03:00,811 you could look at a list, calendar, 89 00:03:00,811 --> 00:03:03,781 and use the advanced search, 90 00:03:03,781 --> 00:03:06,588 and then save the search was just 91 00:03:06,588 --> 00:03:08,819 unparalleled relative to other products. 92 00:03:08,819 --> 00:03:10,930 Okay. Actually that was gonna be one of 93 00:03:10,930 --> 00:03:12,479 my questions, was there any, 94 00:03:12,479 --> 00:03:13,929 you mentioned the flexibility, 95 00:03:13,929 --> 00:03:15,309 but was there any key feature 96 00:03:15,309 --> 00:03:16,878 that really sold you on it? 97 00:03:16,878 --> 00:03:19,269 Was the advanced search... 98 00:03:19,269 --> 00:03:20,879 sounds like one of those? 99 00:03:20,879 --> 00:03:23,249 Yeah. The advanced search absolutely. 100 00:03:23,249 --> 00:03:23,950 Okay. 101 00:03:23,950 --> 00:03:25,690 And regarding the transition, 102 00:03:25,690 --> 00:03:27,046 moving your team to Asana, 103 00:03:27,046 --> 00:03:28,990 you've got a little bit of an advantage 104 00:03:28,990 --> 00:03:30,470 in that you have a smaller team 105 00:03:30,470 --> 00:03:32,190 which obviously makes the transition 106 00:03:32,190 --> 00:03:33,310 a bit easier to manage. 107 00:03:33,310 --> 00:03:36,450 But what were the common 108 00:03:36,450 --> 00:03:38,780 challenges or issues that you faced 109 00:03:38,780 --> 00:03:40,074 during that transition 110 00:03:40,074 --> 00:03:41,258 and then part B 111 00:03:41,258 --> 00:03:43,022 if you want to answer that as well as 112 00:03:43,022 --> 00:03:44,403 then how did you manage those 113 00:03:44,403 --> 00:03:46,246 how did you iron out those flaws? 114 00:03:46,545 --> 00:03:48,760 I think a lot of it is very common 115 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,865 change management issues. 116 00:03:51,865 --> 00:03:52,920 Number one, 117 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,093 broadcasting early and often that 118 00:03:55,093 --> 00:03:57,646 in 30 days we're changing. 119 00:03:57,646 --> 00:03:58,409 Right. 120 00:03:58,409 --> 00:04:00,700 Every day for those 30 days. 121 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:02,445 What are we changing, too. 122 00:04:02,445 --> 00:04:03,625 We're changing to Asana. 123 00:04:03,625 --> 00:04:05,358 You might want to check it out. 124 00:04:05,358 --> 00:04:08,585 Letting people do it on their terms. 125 00:04:08,585 --> 00:04:12,501 And then, as you know, we hired up, 126 00:04:12,501 --> 00:04:14,757 and that was really good 127 00:04:14,757 --> 00:04:17,048 I am fond of saying 128 00:04:17,048 --> 00:04:19,897 when you're in uncharted territory, 129 00:04:19,897 --> 00:04:20,847 hire a guide. 130 00:04:20,847 --> 00:04:22,216 It's worth it. Right? 131 00:04:22,216 --> 00:04:24,471 Local knowledge is worth a lot. 132 00:04:25,076 --> 00:04:28,443 So for very effective investment 133 00:04:28,443 --> 00:04:30,939 basically Paul, you provided us 134 00:04:30,939 --> 00:04:34,246 with a framework and a methodology. 135 00:04:34,246 --> 00:04:36,669 I took your framework and methodology 136 00:04:36,669 --> 00:04:39,519 and then I drafted several documents. 137 00:04:39,519 --> 00:04:41,962 The two most important of those documents. 138 00:04:41,962 --> 00:04:44,055 First of all, you trained us, 139 00:04:44,055 --> 00:04:45,807 we taped that training, 140 00:04:45,807 --> 00:04:47,489 any new employee that comes in 141 00:04:47,489 --> 00:04:49,252 watches a one-hour training. 142 00:04:49,252 --> 00:04:49,975 Mm-huh. 143 00:04:49,975 --> 00:04:50,847 Number two, 144 00:04:50,847 --> 00:04:52,889 I did a document called 145 00:04:52,889 --> 00:04:55,126 Using Asana the Electron Shop Way 146 00:04:55,126 --> 00:04:57,577 and that covers all the idiosyncrasies 147 00:04:57,577 --> 00:04:58,990 of how we use it. 148 00:04:58,990 --> 00:05:01,126 And then the third document was 149 00:05:01,126 --> 00:05:04,233 the File Naming System at the Electron Shop 150 00:05:04,930 --> 00:05:08,549 Every file has prepended a client name 151 00:05:08,549 --> 00:05:11,572 and has date in a certain format 152 00:05:11,572 --> 00:05:13,066 at the end of the file name, 153 00:05:13,066 --> 00:05:15,062 and then a version number. 154 00:05:15,062 --> 00:05:16,410 Gets complicated, 155 00:05:16,410 --> 00:05:19,090 but the version number has client's themes 156 00:05:19,090 --> 00:05:21,457 and then internal rips. 157 00:05:21,457 --> 00:05:24,641 So 1.1 would be clients of 1.0 158 00:05:24,641 --> 00:05:26,470 we internally rip to 1.1. 159 00:05:26,470 --> 00:05:28,504 And this really helps us 160 00:05:28,512 --> 00:05:30,690 track the most recent file. 161 00:05:30,816 --> 00:05:32,052 That's really interesting. 162 00:05:32,052 --> 00:05:33,292 I want to back up a little 163 00:05:33,292 --> 00:05:35,005 something you said at the beginning. 164 00:05:35,005 --> 00:05:36,290 You said you had like this. 165 00:05:36,290 --> 00:05:37,930 This definitive start date, 166 00:05:37,930 --> 00:05:40,701 in 30 days, we're using Asana. 167 00:05:40,701 --> 00:05:42,473 What did you do during the transition 168 00:05:42,473 --> 00:05:43,989 we using it a little bit 169 00:05:43,989 --> 00:05:45,340 and it was kind of you were 170 00:05:45,340 --> 00:05:46,889 trying to pull people into it? 171 00:05:46,889 --> 00:05:49,570 Why did you choose, how did that look, 172 00:05:49,570 --> 00:05:51,610 and why did you choose to do it 173 00:05:51,610 --> 00:05:53,500 that way instead of just saying 174 00:05:53,500 --> 00:05:55,693 right, starting today we're doing it? 175 00:05:55,693 --> 00:05:57,575 Talk me through that a little bit more. 176 00:05:57,575 --> 00:05:59,017 I got the free version, 177 00:05:59,022 --> 00:06:01,802 which is wonderful for teams under 15, 178 00:06:01,802 --> 00:06:04,954 and I pulled people in one by one, 179 00:06:04,954 --> 00:06:07,950 and I also did demos once a week just 180 00:06:07,950 --> 00:06:10,144 we were on a production call or something 181 00:06:10,144 --> 00:06:12,200 and I would say, let me show you something 182 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:13,824 I found this interesting thing. 183 00:06:13,849 --> 00:06:15,860 Remember also that 184 00:06:15,860 --> 00:06:18,709 like you Paul I'm interested in 185 00:06:18,709 --> 00:06:20,505 productivity and efficiency. 186 00:06:20,505 --> 00:06:22,722 So I spent a lot of time in the system 187 00:06:22,722 --> 00:06:24,788 experimenting with my partner. Right? 188 00:06:24,788 --> 00:06:25,719 Just the two of us 189 00:06:25,719 --> 00:06:27,830 assigning tasks to each other 190 00:06:27,830 --> 00:06:29,811 starting to play 191 00:06:29,811 --> 00:06:31,857 with all the various systems. 192 00:06:31,857 --> 00:06:32,924 You know. 193 00:06:32,924 --> 00:06:35,315 We figured out sections on our own 194 00:06:35,315 --> 00:06:38,362 but that was not easy to find. 195 00:06:40,148 --> 00:06:41,643 Okay. That's really interesting 196 00:06:41,643 --> 00:06:43,418 because I think from the experiences 197 00:06:43,418 --> 00:06:45,401 I've had working with different companies 198 00:06:45,401 --> 00:06:46,851 as well as companies I've been 199 00:06:46,851 --> 00:06:48,356 part of where we've used Asana 200 00:06:48,356 --> 00:06:50,630 there's been that almost like 201 00:06:50,630 --> 00:06:54,860 that communication element that 202 00:06:54,860 --> 00:06:56,640 you've said to your team like 203 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:58,670 guys, we're using this in 30 days 204 00:06:58,670 --> 00:07:00,060 maybe hasn't been so clear 205 00:07:00,060 --> 00:07:03,720 and it's just like you soft roll it out 206 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:06,140 and you start today 207 00:07:06,140 --> 00:07:07,850 and try and get people using it 208 00:07:07,850 --> 00:07:10,330 and then when people don't fully adopt it 209 00:07:10,330 --> 00:07:12,170 because it's new and it's scary 210 00:07:12,170 --> 00:07:15,170 and it challenges the way they work, 211 00:07:15,170 --> 00:07:17,510 it fizzles out, and maybe 212 00:07:17,510 --> 00:07:19,770 the adoption isn't as successful because 213 00:07:19,770 --> 00:07:22,649 that clear expectation wasn't made. 214 00:07:22,649 --> 00:07:24,129 But it sounds like in your case 215 00:07:24,129 --> 00:07:25,241 you made it very clear. 216 00:07:25,241 --> 00:07:26,495 Guys, we're using this. 217 00:07:26,495 --> 00:07:27,430 Get on the train 218 00:07:27,430 --> 00:07:28,750 because it's leaving soon, 219 00:07:28,750 --> 00:07:30,843 which sounds like it worked very well. 220 00:07:30,843 --> 00:07:31,917 That's right, it did. 221 00:07:31,917 --> 00:07:33,570 And I'll tell you one other thing. 222 00:07:33,570 --> 00:07:35,096 I started basically 223 00:07:35,096 --> 00:07:36,795 putting people in the system 224 00:07:36,795 --> 00:07:40,667 letting them pool around, and I also said 225 00:07:40,677 --> 00:07:42,774 starting on this date 226 00:07:42,774 --> 00:07:45,203 if you send me something via email 227 00:07:45,203 --> 00:07:46,753 I'm not gonna answer. 228 00:07:46,938 --> 00:07:50,514 Okay. And how did that play out? 229 00:07:50,514 --> 00:07:53,402 Were people pretty good getting into Asana 230 00:07:53,402 --> 00:07:55,270 or did you still get a few emails? 231 00:07:55,270 --> 00:07:57,549 It took about a month. 232 00:07:57,549 --> 00:07:58,417 A month. 233 00:07:58,417 --> 00:08:01,251 You know we also use Slack. 234 00:08:01,251 --> 00:08:02,923 So Slack and email really confused 235 00:08:02,923 --> 00:08:04,173 how do we use these things 236 00:08:04,173 --> 00:08:05,815 that's one of the things that's in 237 00:08:05,815 --> 00:08:07,940 How Do We Use Asana the Electron Shop Way. 238 00:08:07,965 --> 00:08:08,717 Yeah. 239 00:08:08,717 --> 00:08:11,814 And so I started delineating 240 00:08:11,814 --> 00:08:13,785 Asana is the system of record. 241 00:08:13,785 --> 00:08:15,464 Slack is for checking in. 242 00:08:15,464 --> 00:08:17,853 Email is for things with clients. 243 00:08:17,853 --> 00:08:18,853 That's it. 244 00:08:19,743 --> 00:08:21,039 Okay. I want to recap 245 00:08:21,039 --> 00:08:22,535 because that's really important 246 00:08:22,535 --> 00:08:24,305 and actually you addressed something 247 00:08:24,305 --> 00:08:25,803 that I think a lot of people 248 00:08:25,803 --> 00:08:27,523 get hung up about is 249 00:08:27,523 --> 00:08:28,606 how does this fit in. 250 00:08:28,606 --> 00:08:30,083 There's so many tools now 251 00:08:30,083 --> 00:08:31,843 if someone emails me or Slack 252 00:08:31,843 --> 00:08:32,844 where do I check 253 00:08:32,844 --> 00:08:34,635 for these points of communication. 254 00:08:34,635 --> 00:08:36,192 And I think which sounds like 255 00:08:36,192 --> 00:08:37,800 what you've done really well is 256 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:40,370 have clear divisions of what goes where. 257 00:08:40,370 --> 00:08:43,039 You said email is for clients only, 258 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:44,984 pretty much external communication? 259 00:08:45,009 --> 00:08:46,095 Correct. 260 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:47,799 Slack it or Asana it, 261 00:08:47,799 --> 00:08:49,237 can you talk to me, 262 00:08:49,237 --> 00:08:51,469 do you do all you communication in Asana 263 00:08:51,469 --> 00:08:54,025 and just informal communication in Slack 264 00:08:54,025 --> 00:08:55,507 or how do the two work there? 265 00:08:55,507 --> 00:08:58,290 All communication in Asana 266 00:08:58,290 --> 00:09:00,449 relevant to tasks. 267 00:09:00,449 --> 00:09:01,449 Right. 268 00:09:01,449 --> 00:09:02,604 Slack, 269 00:09:02,604 --> 00:09:04,956 what we do is it's a sort of thing like 270 00:09:04,956 --> 00:09:06,136 I'm on the phone, 271 00:09:06,136 --> 00:09:08,544 can you tell me this number 272 00:09:08,544 --> 00:09:10,550 or sorry I forgot where this file was 273 00:09:10,550 --> 00:09:11,780 it's not in Asana 274 00:09:11,780 --> 00:09:13,933 can you point me at that file? 275 00:09:13,933 --> 00:09:14,872 That kind of thing. 276 00:09:14,872 --> 00:09:16,300 It's just for brief checking. 277 00:09:16,300 --> 00:09:18,415 It's got to be like a 30-second thing. 278 00:09:18,860 --> 00:09:21,140 My rule is... 279 00:09:21,140 --> 00:09:23,780 What we're trying to do is 280 00:09:23,780 --> 00:09:25,573 get things down to units of work 281 00:09:25,573 --> 00:09:27,647 that take two to five minutes. 282 00:09:27,647 --> 00:09:30,317 Right? Slack is a 30-second tool. 283 00:09:30,317 --> 00:09:32,540 Mm-hm. That's really good. 284 00:09:32,540 --> 00:09:33,589 And I think that's 285 00:09:33,589 --> 00:09:35,150 a really good way to divide it. 286 00:09:35,150 --> 00:09:36,931 Look, if there's any communication 287 00:09:36,931 --> 00:09:38,749 that needs to happen about work 288 00:09:38,749 --> 00:09:40,335 which internally in a team 289 00:09:40,335 --> 00:09:41,655 that's probably going to be 290 00:09:41,655 --> 00:09:43,335 the majority of your communication, 291 00:09:43,335 --> 00:09:44,919 like 80% of your communication? 292 00:09:44,919 --> 00:09:46,350 So it should live in Asana 293 00:09:46,350 --> 00:09:47,839 because it's tied to tasks. 294 00:09:47,839 --> 00:09:49,650 It's tied to things you need to do, 295 00:09:49,650 --> 00:09:50,627 where Slack is 296 00:09:50,627 --> 00:09:52,669 the informal quick communication tool 297 00:09:52,669 --> 00:09:54,013 that you can use to quickly 298 00:09:54,013 --> 00:09:56,061 get an answer or check in with someone. 299 00:09:56,061 --> 00:09:57,785 I think that's a really good way, 300 00:09:57,785 --> 00:10:00,000 really smart way to divide the two so that 301 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,979 you're not stuck in this transition 302 00:10:01,979 --> 00:10:04,270 or this blurry area where you're not sure 303 00:10:04,270 --> 00:10:06,270 did David send me that in Slack 304 00:10:06,270 --> 00:10:07,555 or did he send me in Asana 305 00:10:07,555 --> 00:10:09,556 you should just know. 306 00:10:09,581 --> 00:10:11,393 I think a couple of other things 307 00:10:11,393 --> 00:10:12,355 about that. 308 00:10:12,355 --> 00:10:13,898 One is, I said that 309 00:10:13,898 --> 00:10:16,134 email is for client communication, right? 310 00:10:16,134 --> 00:10:17,474 external communication. 311 00:10:17,474 --> 00:10:18,437 If there's a task, 312 00:10:18,437 --> 00:10:19,970 if the client writes to me, 313 00:10:19,970 --> 00:10:21,970 which is every day, and they say 314 00:10:21,970 --> 00:10:23,720 could you please 315 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,800 change this, do that, fix this typo? 316 00:10:27,069 --> 00:10:29,489 I take that and I put it in Slack either 317 00:10:29,489 --> 00:10:33,800 as separate tasks, or one task saying 318 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:36,589 please complete fixes and then 319 00:10:36,589 --> 00:10:40,459 paste the email into Asana sliced. 320 00:10:40,459 --> 00:10:42,634 Because the key thing about Asana 321 00:10:42,634 --> 00:10:43,910 that's wonderful is 322 00:10:43,910 --> 00:10:46,478 it's all about accountability. Right? 323 00:10:46,478 --> 00:10:48,362 You can't shirk it. 324 00:10:48,362 --> 00:10:50,296 They're assigned a task, 325 00:10:50,296 --> 00:10:52,037 and you need to either do it, 326 00:10:52,037 --> 00:10:55,519 or reassign it, or get it off your plate. 327 00:10:55,519 --> 00:10:58,338 Yeah. I totally agree with you. 328 00:10:58,338 --> 00:10:59,851 It's very transparent like 329 00:10:59,851 --> 00:11:02,054 who's keeping up and maybe because 330 00:11:02,059 --> 00:11:04,216 you can just click on someone's account 331 00:11:04,216 --> 00:11:05,073 and see exactly 332 00:11:05,073 --> 00:11:06,778 how much they've got going on. 333 00:11:06,778 --> 00:11:08,078 There's no hiding. 334 00:11:08,078 --> 00:11:09,798 I think some people may even find it 335 00:11:09,798 --> 00:11:10,909 a little bit scary like 336 00:11:10,909 --> 00:11:12,534 oh gosh, I need to pick up my game 337 00:11:12,534 --> 00:11:14,435 because everyone can see what I'm doing. 338 00:11:14,435 --> 00:11:15,827 Yeah. I think it's very good. 339 00:11:15,827 --> 00:11:17,726 We have a weekly production meeting 340 00:11:17,726 --> 00:11:19,401 and that production meeting 341 00:11:19,401 --> 00:11:21,014 consists of a budget review 342 00:11:21,014 --> 00:11:22,874 which is done in Harvest. 343 00:11:22,874 --> 00:11:23,579 Okay. 344 00:11:23,579 --> 00:11:25,463 There we are in terms of hours 345 00:11:25,463 --> 00:11:26,709 on various accounts. 346 00:11:26,709 --> 00:11:29,027 The rest of the meeting is basically 347 00:11:29,027 --> 00:11:32,019 all incomplete tasks in Asana. 348 00:11:32,019 --> 00:11:35,230 We go to one by one and also 349 00:11:35,230 --> 00:11:37,650 I have saved searches for every employee. 350 00:11:37,923 --> 00:11:41,192 Incomplete tasks for tasks for so-and-so. 351 00:11:41,192 --> 00:11:43,364 So when I talk to them one on one, 352 00:11:43,364 --> 00:11:47,725 I can say I see that this one stuck or 353 00:11:47,725 --> 00:11:50,096 maybe you have too much work to do. 354 00:11:50,096 --> 00:11:51,573 There's a lot of insight that 355 00:11:51,573 --> 00:11:53,030 comes from it as well. 356 00:11:53,030 --> 00:11:55,358 I said it was gonna be one of my questions 357 00:11:55,358 --> 00:11:57,666 which I think segues quite nicely is 358 00:11:57,666 --> 00:11:59,423 what are the business problems 359 00:11:59,423 --> 00:12:01,038 that you've solved with Asana? 360 00:12:01,038 --> 00:12:02,658 And it sounds like that could be 361 00:12:02,658 --> 00:12:03,858 one of them where 362 00:12:03,858 --> 00:12:06,112 as the manager, as a leader 363 00:12:06,112 --> 00:12:07,169 you can just... 364 00:12:07,169 --> 00:12:08,855 it's not about calling people out 365 00:12:08,855 --> 00:12:10,640 and saying you're not doing your job. 366 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:12,106 It's about as you've said like 367 00:12:12,106 --> 00:12:13,438 where are you getting stuck, 368 00:12:13,438 --> 00:12:15,308 how can I help you, how can I help you 369 00:12:15,308 --> 00:12:16,800 move these tasks forward? 370 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,380 And Asana is what provides you 371 00:12:19,380 --> 00:12:22,248 with that transparency. 372 00:12:22,248 --> 00:12:23,160 That's right. 373 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:26,190 There's a larger issue at play I think 374 00:12:26,190 --> 00:12:28,103 that's really important. 375 00:12:28,103 --> 00:12:30,069 And that is engagement, 376 00:12:30,069 --> 00:12:31,735 employee engagement. 377 00:12:31,735 --> 00:12:34,704 So, when everybody is updating their tasks 378 00:12:34,704 --> 00:12:36,450 and nothing is overdue, 379 00:12:36,450 --> 00:12:38,273 people know that everybody's engaged 380 00:12:38,273 --> 00:12:40,430 and everybody's doing the business and 381 00:12:40,430 --> 00:12:42,428 business is as strong as the weakest link. 382 00:12:42,428 --> 00:12:43,128 Yeah. 383 00:12:43,128 --> 00:12:44,758 Someone is consistently letting 384 00:12:44,758 --> 00:12:46,859 their tasks slight past the due date, 385 00:12:46,859 --> 00:12:47,684 so every week 386 00:12:47,684 --> 00:12:49,233 on during our production meeting 387 00:12:49,233 --> 00:12:50,595 I also look at it, 388 00:12:50,595 --> 00:12:52,898 and even before I start the meeting, I say 389 00:12:52,898 --> 00:12:54,806 Okay I'm assuming everybody has updated 390 00:12:54,806 --> 00:12:56,192 the due dates on the tasks. 391 00:12:56,192 --> 00:12:56,955 Yeah. 392 00:12:56,955 --> 00:13:00,002 It sends a big message about engagement 393 00:13:00,002 --> 00:13:03,083 so accountability again is very important 394 00:13:03,083 --> 00:13:05,998 and in my personal philosophy 395 00:13:05,998 --> 00:13:07,559 accountability is actually 396 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:10,416 a very positive thing for organizations 397 00:13:10,416 --> 00:13:12,143 because people don't like it 398 00:13:12,143 --> 00:13:14,740 when someone's sitting around being lazy. 399 00:13:14,745 --> 00:13:16,368 Yeah. You're totally right. 400 00:13:16,368 --> 00:13:18,099 As not just the managers 401 00:13:18,099 --> 00:13:19,299 but the employees as well 402 00:13:19,299 --> 00:13:20,630 they feel hard done by 403 00:13:20,630 --> 00:13:22,399 because hey this guy over here 404 00:13:22,399 --> 00:13:23,773 he's not doing his job 405 00:13:23,773 --> 00:13:25,550 and I'm working my ass off. 406 00:13:25,550 --> 00:13:27,958 Yes, that's really interesting. 407 00:13:27,958 --> 00:13:30,579 Were there any other significant 408 00:13:30,579 --> 00:13:32,569 business problems that you solved 409 00:13:32,575 --> 00:13:34,919 with Asana that you can think of? 410 00:13:34,919 --> 00:13:38,302 Version control on files 411 00:13:38,302 --> 00:13:41,407 so we insist that 412 00:13:41,407 --> 00:13:44,910 if you update a version of a file then you 413 00:13:44,910 --> 00:13:46,938 delete the one that's attached to the task 414 00:13:46,938 --> 00:13:49,269 and attach the most recent one. 415 00:13:49,269 --> 00:13:50,287 Right. 416 00:13:50,287 --> 00:13:51,497 So it's always there. 417 00:13:51,497 --> 00:13:53,182 That was a big one. 418 00:13:53,182 --> 00:13:57,290 And I think this idea of 419 00:13:57,290 --> 00:13:58,811 employee performance 420 00:13:58,811 --> 00:14:00,404 and resource allocation 421 00:14:00,404 --> 00:14:02,540 there are many indicators of that 422 00:14:02,540 --> 00:14:04,392 within the system. 423 00:14:04,392 --> 00:14:07,150 I would say those were the major problems. 424 00:14:07,464 --> 00:14:09,669 We are probably 425 00:14:09,669 --> 00:14:13,653 I'm gonna guess, 20% more efficient 426 00:14:13,653 --> 00:14:16,710 in productivity because of the system, 427 00:14:16,710 --> 00:14:18,018 because everybody knows 428 00:14:18,018 --> 00:14:19,258 what's hanging out there 429 00:14:19,258 --> 00:14:20,957 and they don't wait around for you 430 00:14:20,957 --> 00:14:22,351 to tell them to do something. 431 00:14:22,351 --> 00:14:24,155 There's a whole list. Right? 432 00:14:24,155 --> 00:14:25,405 Yeah. Go pick something. 433 00:14:25,405 --> 00:14:27,029 Yeah, that's some 20% 434 00:14:27,029 --> 00:14:28,869 and that's not a small number either. 435 00:14:28,869 --> 00:14:30,171 Yeah. Pretty good. 436 00:14:30,171 --> 00:14:31,487 And do you... 437 00:14:31,487 --> 00:14:33,391 you've touched on it a bit with 438 00:14:33,391 --> 00:14:34,886 your client working things but 439 00:14:34,886 --> 00:14:37,248 what kinds of work do you track in Asana? 440 00:14:37,248 --> 00:14:38,380 I mean you've obviously 441 00:14:38,380 --> 00:14:39,349 got the client side 442 00:14:39,349 --> 00:14:41,634 that's really important in terms of 443 00:14:41,634 --> 00:14:43,348 your business planning 444 00:14:43,348 --> 00:14:44,558 and business project 445 00:14:44,558 --> 00:14:46,103 so working on your business 446 00:14:46,103 --> 00:14:47,500 rather than in your business. 447 00:14:47,500 --> 00:14:48,487 Can you talk about 448 00:14:48,487 --> 00:14:49,961 the different kinds of work 449 00:14:49,961 --> 00:14:51,879 that you're currently tracking in Asana? 450 00:14:51,879 --> 00:14:53,379 For internal projects? 451 00:14:53,379 --> 00:14:54,739 Oh, just in general 452 00:14:54,739 --> 00:14:56,579 like if you have to think about 453 00:14:56,579 --> 00:14:58,170 or talk us through your projects, 454 00:14:58,170 --> 00:15:00,823 in both internal and with clients. 455 00:15:00,823 --> 00:15:02,481 What are the main things that 456 00:15:02,481 --> 00:15:04,301 you're using Asana for? 457 00:15:04,718 --> 00:15:07,185 It goes to the framework that we're using 458 00:15:07,185 --> 00:15:08,331 so let me just talk 459 00:15:08,331 --> 00:15:09,617 about that for a second. 460 00:15:09,724 --> 00:15:12,950 I think that the most confusing thing 461 00:15:12,950 --> 00:15:16,153 in Asana is the word, teams. 462 00:15:16,616 --> 00:15:21,425 Because there is an organization, 463 00:15:21,425 --> 00:15:23,455 which is the Electron Shop, 464 00:15:23,455 --> 00:15:24,944 my company. Right? 465 00:15:24,944 --> 00:15:26,309 Then we have teams 466 00:15:26,309 --> 00:15:27,959 and our teams are organized 467 00:15:27,959 --> 00:15:29,756 around clients. 468 00:15:29,756 --> 00:15:31,921 We use teams as a client name 469 00:15:31,921 --> 00:15:34,175 and then we have projects, 470 00:15:34,175 --> 00:15:35,228 and then we have 471 00:15:35,228 --> 00:15:36,858 tasks within the projects. 472 00:15:36,858 --> 00:15:38,890 The reason that Asana is good for us 473 00:15:38,890 --> 00:15:41,299 is because we're a digital agency, 474 00:15:41,299 --> 00:15:44,533 we have multidisciplinary tasks going on. 475 00:15:44,533 --> 00:15:46,406 So how do we organize 476 00:15:46,406 --> 00:15:50,066 an interdisciplinary team on a project? 477 00:15:50,066 --> 00:15:51,005 Right? 478 00:15:51,005 --> 00:15:53,484 The types of projects that we do 479 00:15:53,484 --> 00:15:55,216 and by the way Paul, when I tell you 480 00:15:55,216 --> 00:15:56,949 we're gonna try out that templates 481 00:15:56,949 --> 00:15:58,600 function that just came out. 482 00:15:58,600 --> 00:15:59,580 Oh, great. 483 00:15:59,710 --> 00:16:03,842 So that could be a website development, 484 00:16:03,842 --> 00:16:08,528 could be a weekly email, 485 00:16:08,528 --> 00:16:13,157 could be an integrated content calendar, 486 00:16:13,157 --> 00:16:18,118 could be blog posts, 487 00:16:18,118 --> 00:16:20,312 things to write, 488 00:16:20,312 --> 00:16:22,640 ads, paid ads. 489 00:16:23,969 --> 00:16:27,600 Really, we do a very wide range of things 490 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,259 and again I said Asana is very flexible. 491 00:16:30,259 --> 00:16:32,956 You can pretty much track anything in it. 492 00:16:32,956 --> 00:16:34,451 Let's save that in there 493 00:16:34,451 --> 00:16:36,776 advertising and the right. 494 00:16:37,703 --> 00:16:38,821 That's really good. 495 00:16:38,826 --> 00:16:40,275 David, look, thank you so much 496 00:16:40,275 --> 00:16:42,524 it's been really interesting to learn 497 00:16:42,524 --> 00:16:43,701 how you're using it 498 00:16:43,701 --> 00:16:45,032 and the challenges you face. 499 00:16:45,032 --> 00:16:47,325 Do you have any kind of final 500 00:16:47,325 --> 00:16:48,947 nuggets of advice 501 00:16:48,947 --> 00:16:50,915 that you would suggest to anyone watching 502 00:16:50,915 --> 00:16:52,246 like who's maybe using Asana 503 00:16:52,246 --> 00:16:53,880 they're just onboarding their team 504 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:54,604 at the moment? 505 00:16:54,604 --> 00:16:55,570 What would be 506 00:16:55,570 --> 00:16:57,170 your couple of key bits of advice 507 00:16:57,170 --> 00:16:59,000 to people getting started 508 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:00,220 in terms of how they can 509 00:17:00,220 --> 00:17:02,315 just be more effective with it 510 00:17:02,315 --> 00:17:05,829 or get their team using it better? 511 00:17:06,019 --> 00:17:07,915 There are two. 512 00:17:07,915 --> 00:17:10,420 One, you told me, which is 513 00:17:10,420 --> 00:17:12,317 turn off email notifications. 514 00:17:12,322 --> 00:17:13,024 Oh yeah. 515 00:17:13,024 --> 00:17:14,363 But if you're gonna turn off 516 00:17:14,363 --> 00:17:15,269 email notifications 517 00:17:15,269 --> 00:17:17,163 then you have to follow this rule 518 00:17:17,163 --> 00:17:19,545 Check your inbox every hour on the hour. 519 00:17:19,550 --> 00:17:20,371 Right? 520 00:17:20,392 --> 00:17:23,040 You cannot forget just let it go. 521 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:25,454 The inbox is the key starting point 522 00:17:25,454 --> 00:17:26,541 to everything. 523 00:17:26,546 --> 00:17:28,260 When I say that to clients 524 00:17:28,260 --> 00:17:30,080 when we're working with clients 525 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:31,679 and they're adopting the system. 526 00:17:31,679 --> 00:17:33,600 Check your inbox every hour on the hour. 527 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:35,946 They get much better adoption at that. 528 00:17:36,850 --> 00:17:37,920 Yeah. Great tip. 529 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:39,600 I think it addresses one of 530 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:41,580 the common problems I see people facing 531 00:17:41,580 --> 00:17:44,490 which is they're not sure 532 00:17:44,490 --> 00:17:46,470 what am I supposed to be doing, 533 00:17:46,470 --> 00:17:48,686 what am I working on right now, 534 00:17:48,686 --> 00:17:50,543 where is the latest updates, 535 00:17:50,543 --> 00:17:52,640 and it's that inbox and you can 536 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:54,540 really create a lot of noise and stress 537 00:17:54,540 --> 00:17:56,620 for yourself by getting the emails as well 538 00:17:56,620 --> 00:17:58,170 so definitely turning those off, 539 00:17:58,170 --> 00:18:00,070 and then archiving those notifications 540 00:18:00,070 --> 00:18:01,368 once you're done with them. 541 00:18:01,368 --> 00:18:03,961 So your inbox is... really 542 00:18:03,961 --> 00:18:05,958 it only contains or should only contain 543 00:18:05,963 --> 00:18:07,433 the active work in progress 544 00:18:07,433 --> 00:18:09,513 like comments that you're still working on 545 00:18:09,513 --> 00:18:11,767 or obviously new notifications as well. 546 00:18:11,767 --> 00:18:14,873 Great, thanks for the tip, David. 547 00:18:14,873 --> 00:18:16,279 Thanks for having me.