The Students Commission of Canada
Asana and Agile Project Management Implementation
How a prestigious Canadian non-profit increased team alignment and productivity by implementing more effective and sustainable work management practices using Asana.
Team
The SCC’s Sharing the Stories team or StS team is charged with surveying the needs, goals and ambitions of young people across Canada. Survey data is compiled into detailed reports to inform both public and private initiatives aimed at meeting the needs of Canada’s youth-serving communities. The team consisted of 15 individuals with 3 distinct roles, many of whom had already been using the Asana work management tool for 5+ years.
Challenges
- Legacy project data was stacking-up, making it difficult to search current project data and priority work
- An increasing need to streamline processes due to high project volume and ever growing quantities of data
- Not all team members were using Asana, resulting in inconsistencies in project output
- Overall, the need to improve visibility around who was working on what, by when
- The need for the entire team to better understand how each participant’s work was impacting the organization as a whole
Goals
- Implement a single “source of truth” for projects and tasks, visible across the organization
- Streamline processes, improve productivity and enable collaborative work across teams
- Improve and expand the team’s use of Asana as the designated work management tool
- Make Asana an integrated and intuitive tool for day-to-day work management
Solution
- Ensure projects are aligned with the SCC’s goals and objectives
- Identify an Asana “Champion” in the organization to drive adoption
- Clearly define roles and responsibilities for project ownership & management
- Configure Asana around key project work, leveraging Portfolios for top-level visibility and reporting
- Install a predictable planning and work management cadence
“Our expectations were exceeded. The implementation ran at the perfect pace for our team, providing clarity around each goal and how we were going to get there together.” – Serena S. Associate Director
Results
- Greater visibility around projects and tasks with project Portfolio views
- Improved ability to determine which projects need extra support, sooner
- Enhanced visibility around which team members were on track
- Greater team and individual accountability
- Improved engagement and commitment to using Asana for managing projects
“Starting with our StS team, I’ve noticed clearer priorities and greater focus. All went as planned and we genuinely enjoyed the process of working with Completing.” – Serena S. Associate Director