Tasks vs. Subtasks in Asana

I often get asked about whether to use a task or subtask in Asana. In general, tasks are used to plan the steps within a project and subtasks are used to break down these steps into smaller tasks and involve other people in the work.
However, it's important to understand some of the limitations of using subtasks: 1) Subtsks do NOT show up on the timeline. 2) And subtasks do NOT contribute towards an assignees workload.
Tasks - Good to show a body of work that has a date range. e.g. Prepare report. Tasks help to keep the main project more minimal and less cluttered.
Subtasks - What are the smaller steps that need to happen to complete the main task? e.g. Draft report, get report approved. Subtasks are great for going into detail. These can also be assigned and dated.
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[@sarahmcnabb2162]

Brillant - answered all of my questions about subtasks!

[@minor-co]

Thanks Sarah, glad I could help

[@Anne-FromQc]

I like that I am the 111 like 🙂 Good tutorials, thx!

[@minor-co]

Thanks Anne!

[@user-rt7iq1fp6r]

Hiya! Just wanted to ask - do you know if Asana have made the updats that allow you to see subtasks in timeline/workload yet? Just starting with Asana and figuring out if I'm doing it incorrectly or if it's an Asana limitation - thank you! Your videos have been very helpful.

[@minor-co]

Yes, if you view a project in timeline view, you can now click and expand a parent task to see subtasks. However, this isn't supported in workload yet.

[@nevineel-sherbini1769]

The sub tasks also don’t appear in the calendar view unless you manually assign to a project which is another downside of sub tasks. I started manually assigning which is time consuming but also creates the sub-task as a duplicate ‘task’ as you mentioned in your video. Another really frustrating feature. I’ve been wanting to move towards Asana following recommendations but it doesn’t appear to be very user friendly. The app also doesn’t show sub tasks in the board or list view unless you click on it to check so you can’t see at a glance if a task has sub-tasks. Sub tasks are a great feature of any decent project management tool but I can’t understand how Asana can have so many drawbacks with using them.

[@minor-co]

Yes there are some limitations when using subtasks which is a shame. Understanding these limitations will help you decide where to use a task or subtask when planning your work.

[@accountsentourage9863]

@@minor-co Hey Paul, do you know if they have fixed the problem with duplicate subtasks after completing parent task, We have “Month-end Accounting” checklist of tasks with subtasks. All are set to repeat a month later on the same day?

[@ellimentzelopoulos]

Hi, i need to create a manual for my admin assistance at the office. Do you suggest we use list of dues as tasks, and the steps needed for every job to be done, as subtasks?

[@minor-co]

Yes, I think this would be a great way to do it.

[@kaylenestclair6063]

Elli, as an Executive Assistant and Administrative Services Manager I am using Asana for my own tasks, but also to manage the administration of our Board of Directors. It is a quite detailed and linear process, so I've found that being able to assign certain parts of the process to other Committee Sponsors and Executive Assistants in our organization helps to keep the group on track and on schedule. It also helps others to understand the process in the event they are asked to step in if someone is out as the details are clearly laid out and the structure already provided. Paul, I have been devouring your Asana videos nonstop to help me develop the structure of our Board processes and sincerely thank you for your help!

[@TiredEastCoastLakersFan]

I'm using tasks to capture prospect profiles and would like to create subtasks within each of the prospect profiles to assign various supervisors to review the content and provide input. For some reason, even though they are assigned subtasks, they cannot see the parent task. Is there a way to fix this or should I be using a different Asana tool for this kind of collaboration?

[@minor-co]

This is likely because they are not added at the project level. Add them to the project and they should then be able to see the parent task.

[@justbarcamps]

We want to use subtasks to represent workflows. You mentioned that you sometimes assign people to subtasks and sometimes you avoid this to keep "My tasks" clean. We are looking for something which combines these two worlds: We Wan to create lists of subtasks which are clearly assigned to a person. But only the first subtask which is not finished yet should appear in our task lists. Like: Step #1 assigned to person 1 (finished) Step #2 assigned to person 1 Step #3 assigned to person 2 Step #4 assigned to person 1 So in this example I'd like the subtask step #2 show up in person 1 my task list. After it is finshed I want setp 3 to show up in person 2 my task list. Is there any way I could do this. Especially when assigning people from task templates right at the start. Maybe there is a rule which we could apply here. Thanks your your ideas!

[@minor-co]

I'm afraid rules wouldn't be able to do this. The only thing I can think is to maybe use Zapier to automate the process but this would be pretty complex. Alternatively, could you just manually assign the next task when the current one is done?

[@OscarRios]

Wow

[@bobcargill4506]

When you use subtasks for yourself, how do you deal with the fact that your subtasks might have the same name and you can't see the project that they're associated with? For me, I end up with tasks on my calendar that are generic and not obviously associated with the primary task or project. There isn't even a mouse over help bubble that provides the hierarchy.

[@minor-co]

You can usually see the name of the parent in light grey text next to the subtask name (in list view) so this is usually enough for me. But for subtasks that I have for managing my calls with clients, I add the client name to the subtask so I know who it's with.

[@zeyada.elbaser7213]

Hi Paul, I have a big problem with Asana. How to show subtasks in calendar? If I add the project to the subtask manually it would show in both the mother task and the section which makes it confusing. That ofcourse in addition to the fact to me having to manually add the project? If there is no good solution to this and if asana havent solved this yet, which alternative system do you recommend?

[@minor-co]

I'm afraid that's the workaround I was going to suggest. I'm not sure of any other tools which would do this.

[@zeyada.elbaser7213]

@@minor-co Thanks Paul for the reply. Ill be honest with you. I moved to clickup ... It does have feature to view subtasks (even subtasks nested inside a subtask) in your calendar. It is working beautifully for me. Clickup seems to be underrated compared to asana and such.

[@aatiya19]

can we add subtasks to diffrent project ...the way you can add tasks..I've seen ur summary project video

[@minor-co]

Yes. Click the speech bubble to go into the subtask, then from the task menu, then you can add the subtask to another project.

[@aatiya19]

@@minor-co Thanks for reply.. once i click on it...there are several options but no option to include in another project...

[@jlotica]

@@aatiya19 did you found a solution to share subtasks between projects?

[@aatiya19]

@@jlotica no haven't

[@elisiahavens7508]

Can you use textexpander in Projects and make task?

[@minor-co]

Absolutely!

[@oblicsorders25]

Can you sort sub tasks by due date?

[@minor-co]

I'm afraid not. They are manually sorted.

[@michaelcottrello]

Still not updated lol. Why is such a basic feature missing

[@minor-co]

Subtasks are getting better. You can now see them on the timeline and apply rules to them 👍

[@mckenzieyoung7428]

@@minor-co Can you? I cannot figure out how? It makes so much sense to have subtasks under a campaign task, but I can't find ANY way to show that task and subtask on some sort of single-view to review that campaign.

[@Sowar]

I think you forgot to edit...

[@minor-co]

Are you talking about at the start? Yes I forgot to trim but hopefully it's updated now.

[@Sowar]

Yep fixed now. Thanks for your videos.

[@tacostwowheels4934]

Awesome video! I make simular content. Would be great to get your feedback

[@minor-co]

Thanks, glad the video was useful.