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What is a workflow?

In This Article

A workflow is a repeatable sequence of steps that moves work from idea to completion. In Asana, workflows help teams turn inputs into clear outputs, reduce chaos, and make responsibilities visible.

There are two common patterns you’ll use:

  • Deadline‑bound workflows: A series of tasks that end at a specific outcome (e.g., an event date or product launch).
  • Ongoing process workflows: Repeatable stages that many pieces of work move through continuously (e.g., an intake/review process).

Not every list of information is a workflow. If there’s no actionable work—like a simple list of ideas or vendor contacts—it’s just reference information.

Outputs

Every workflow should have one or more outputs—the meaningful deliverables that get produced. Deadline‑bound workflows usually culminate in a single larger output (e.g., “Campaign launched”), while ongoing processes produce many smaller outputs (e.g., “Request completed”). Being explicit about outputs keeps teams aligned and informs how you structure projects in Asana.

Examples

  • Deadline‑bound: A marketing campaign with tasks that lead to launch.
  • Ongoing process: A creative request queue where individual requests move through standardized stages (submit → review → approve → complete).

How workflows map to Asana

  • Use projects to represent either the single outcome you’re driving toward (deadline‑bound) or the shared place where work moves through stages (ongoing process).
  • Use tasks for the actionable units of work. In ongoing processes, each task often is the output (e.g., the individual request).
  • Use sections for stages or time‑frames.
  • Use custom fields to track metadata (status, priority, requester, budget) and to power rules and reporting.
  • Choose the project view that best matches the pattern:
    • List/Timeline for work that’s time‑ordered toward a date.
    • Board/List for stage‑based flow where items move left‑to‑right.

Quick self‑check

Ask these questions before you build:

  1. What’s the output?
  2. Is it deadline‑bound or ongoing?
  3. What are the steps/stages and who owns them?
  4. What information do you need to track and report?
  5. What other tools are involved (email, spreadsheets, chat) that you want to consolidate or integrate?

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What is a workflow?