Asana is an online project management software that enables teams to be more efficient in their work. With a selection of views, like list view, board view, and calendar view, users are able to see clearly who is working on which task. It promotes transparency, and consequently, accountability. As a result, and with the help of the software, each team member knows what to prioritize and who to communicate with.
At the beginning, Asana offered simple task management and work tracking features, but later on added more. Most of the new features are available to customers of its paid plans. At the start, the PM tool was missing an important feature common in project management: the Gantt chart. But later on, it released its own version of a Gantt chart called the Timeline. This, unfortunately, is also only available to paying customers.
The Top 5
Asana now has a lot of features to help users manage their tasks, project, and goals. Still, it recognizes that every company, business, or team is unique in its requirements. So, integrations to other apps are available. For users who need a Gantt chart, they can use integrations to add this feature to Asana. But because also of the new Timeline feature, there are very few third-party apps that offer Gantt chart add-ons specifically for Asana.
1. Bridge24
Bridge24 for Asana is an application that enhances the reporting and exporting capabilities of Asana, and a few other PM tools. It connects dynamically, and syncs two way. Bridge24 offers additional views, such as a Power Grid view, a Calendar, and a Board view. A Gantt chart view provides the same seamless and flexible interaction with users, just like the other views. They can search and filter the exact Asana project data they need and put them into a clear, print-quality report. They can easily export them in several file formats, too.
2. Instagantt
Instagantt is the most popular Gantt chart add-on for Asana. Its Gantt charts sync in two way with Asana, so you always get the updated information in the charts. And any changes made in the Gantt chart is also reflected in Asana. Some of the features included are task dependencies and workload management. Each task also supports attributes like progress, milestone, subtasks, and colors. To access its Gantt charts, you need to have an Asana account.
3. GanttProject
GanttProject is not a direct add-on to Asana. This takes a little more effort by exporting Asana data into CSV, and then importing the CSV file into GanttProject. Also, this is a desktop software locally installed that works in Windows, OSX, and Linux. It is a free scheduling and management app that is easy to use. You can create tasks and milestones with start date, duration, priority, cost, color and fill pattern, text notes, and user-defined custom fields. Other features include dependency constraints, baselines, and a read-only PERT chart automatically created from a Gantt chart.
4. Microsoft Project
As mentioned, there are very few available Gantt chart options for Asana. But if Gantt charts are needed, they can be found in Microsoft Project. There is no direct way to import from Asana, which is limited to a CSV export. MS Project can import CSV files from Asana, and from there, create the project Gantt chart. Since MS Project is a familiar and common software among companies, it can be utilized for its Gantt chart features if available.
5. Velocity
Velocity is an Asana reporting integration that lets you create custom dashboards and reports. Most of the preset reports are really focused on task counts, but it also has custom filters. Also, it has custom fields that can be used in any aspect of the report, such as the x-axis, y-axis, group bys, or filters. With enough imagination and effort, it can be configured to provide information that is found on Gantt charts. Furthermore, it can generate real-time CSV that can be shared or connected to scripts or apps that will generate a Gantt chart.
Conclusion
Gantt charts are tools to visualize a project plan and a timeline. It is very helpful in organizing complex projects, coordinating multiple stakeholders, and when estimating timelines and workloads. Of course, it is not the only view available to look at a project. Asana’s Timeline feature is a form of Gantt chart that lets you see how tasks and deadlines connect as well. But if you are on the free plan, you may consider our recommendations to see which one best fit your requirement and circumstance. So that you can have an overview of your timeline, you see how tasks are related to each other, and you are able to manage your resources better.
Featured Partners: Project Management Software
If you’re interested in learning more about top-rated project management software, the editors at Project-Management.com actively recommend the following:
1 Wrike
Wrike is the most powerful work management platform on the market, enabling teams to plan projects and collaborate in real time. Our award-winning software is trusted by 20,000+ companies across the globe, including Sony, Estée Lauder, and Siemens.
Wrike’s customizable features include Gantt charts, request forms, dashboards, cross-tagging, time tracking, and proofing. Integrate with 400+ apps from the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce. Automate repetitive tasks and achieve 50% faster planning. Work from anywhere with 100% access to your files via our mobile and desktop apps.
Whether you’re a small startup or an established brand, Wrike has the solution for you. Paid plans start at $9.80/user/month. Join our community of 2.3 million — start your free two-week trial today.
2 monday.com
monday.com Work OS is an award-winning no-code work management platform that helps teams manage projects and workflows more efficiently.
Used by 152,000+ customers worldwide, this fully customizable software lets you plan, manage, and track every project in one place. monday.com offers time-saving and easy-to-use features such as automations, time tracking, document sharing, and real-time collaboration. Multiple board views such as Gantt and Kanban help you structure and navigate tasks and projects the way you prefer, and dashboards give a high-level overview of your progress.
In addition, integrations with apps such as Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, and Excel, allow you to easily continue working with your favorite tools from within the platform. monday.com also offers dedicated solutions, such as monday dev and monday sales CRM, designed to answer the needs of specific industries.
3 Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a leading work execution platform that has real-time work management features, collaboration and automation tools. Users are presented with a familiar and easy-to-use spreadsheet-like interface. However, it has enterprise-grade capabilities that even Fortune 500 companies like Cisco, Bayer, HP, and PayPal are confident to adopt in their business. Strong project management features enable teams to utilize different views of real-time data, and switch easily from Gantt, card, grid and calendar views. Smartsheet has automatic update requests, and can be used for waterfall and agile projects, product launch, sprint planning, and more. The resource management feature provides users the visibility who is busy, and who is not, in real-time. They can also attach files, share sheets, get notified, view the activity log, export, email, and print.
