Asana’s workflow templates are pre-built project structures that include tasks, sections, custom fields, and automation rules. They let teams skip the blank-page problem and start with a working process that can be customized. For PMs managing cross-functional teams, templates standardize how work flows through the organization.

Asana Workflow Templates: Pre-Built Processes for Every Team

Asana offers hundreds of templates in its gallery, but the real value is building your own templates from proven workflows. Here are the most useful templates for project management teams, along with how to customize them for your context.

Built-In Templates Worth Using

Sprint Planning Template

Asana’s sprint planning template creates a board with sections for Backlog, Current Sprint, In Progress, Review, and Done. Custom fields include Priority, Story Points, and Assignee. It is a functional starting point for teams using Asana for Scrum-style sprints.

Customizations to make immediately:

Add a “Sprint Goal” field at the project level (use the project description or a custom field)
Set up a Rule: when a task moves to “Done,” mark it complete automatically
Add a “Blocked” section or tag for items waiting on dependencies
Create a saved search for “My tasks this sprint” that each team member can reference

Product Launch Template

Organizes a product launch into phases: Pre-Launch Planning, Development, Marketing Prep, Launch Week, and Post-Launch. Includes placeholder tasks for stakeholder communication, press outreach, documentation, and monitoring.

Useful for: PMs managing launches that involve engineering, marketing, and customer success. The template ensures nothing falls through the cracks across departments. Customize by adding your company’s specific approval gates and milestone dates.

Meeting Agenda Template

A recurring project where each meeting is a section with sub-tasks for agenda items, action items, and notes. The template creates a consistent structure for team meetings.

Tip: Duplicate the section each week rather than creating from scratch. This preserves action items that carry over and builds a searchable archive of meeting decisions.

Building Custom Templates

Step 1: Document Your Process

Before building a template, write down the workflow as a sequence of steps, decisions, and handoffs. Who does what, when, and in what order?

Example: Content publication workflow

Writer creates draft (2 days)
Editor reviews and provides feedback (1 day)
Writer revises based on feedback (1 day)
SEO review and keyword optimization (1 day)
Design team creates graphics (2 days)
Final approval from content lead (1 day)
Publish and distribute (same day)

Step 2: Create the Template Project

Create a project in Asana with sections matching the workflow stages. Add placeholder tasks for each step with:

Default assignee (by role, not by name, so the template works across team members)
Duration estimate
Dependencies (Task 2 depends on Task 1)
Custom fields: Status, Content Type, Target Publication Date

Step 3: Add Rules (Automation)

Asana’s Rules engine (Business plan, $30.49/user/month) automates transitions:

When task moves to “Editor Review” → assign to Editor role and set due date to today + 1 day
When task moves to “Published” → notify content lead and mark complete
When due date approaches (1 day before) → send reminder to assignee

Rules are the difference between a static task list and a workflow engine. They reduce manual handoff effort and ensure nothing sits unassigned between stages.

Step 4: Save as Template

Convert the project to a template (Project menu → Save as Template). When starting a new instance of the workflow, create from template. All sections, tasks, custom fields, and rules copy to the new project.

Templates for Common PM Scenarios

Project Kickoff Template

Sections: Pre-Kickoff Prep, Kickoff Meeting, Post-Kickoff Actions

Pre-Kickoff tasks:

Draft project charter and circulate for review
Set up project Slack channel and documentation folder
Schedule recurring meetings (standups, reviews, retros)
Confirm resource allocation with team managers

Kickoff meeting tasks:

Present project vision, scope, and success criteria
Review timeline and milestones
Introduce team roles and communication plan
Identify initial risks

Post-Kickoff tasks:

Distribute meeting notes and action items
Set up project tracking board
Create initial backlog from requirements
Schedule first sprint planning session

Vendor Evaluation Template

Sections: Define Requirements, Identify Candidates, Evaluate, Decide, Onboard

Includes a custom field for Vendor Score (decision matrix criteria) and a multi-select for evaluation status per vendor. See vendor management for the evaluation framework to embed in the template.

Quarterly Planning Template

Sections: Reflect on Last Quarter, Set Objectives, Plan Initiatives, Allocate Resources, Communicate Plan

Tasks include reviewing OKR achievement, conducting team retrospectives, and building the 90-day action plan. Recurring quarterly, this template ensures nothing is missed in the planning cycle.

Asana Template Tips

Use task templates for repeating tasks. Within a project, task templates pre-fill fields for recurring work. A “Bug Report” task template can include sections for Steps to Reproduce, Expected Behavior, Actual Behavior, and Severity — similar to a form but faster to create.

Combine templates with Forms. Asana Forms (Business plan) create tasks from external submissions. A project intake form creates a task in the “Triage” section of your project management project, pre-populated with the requester’s information.

Version your templates. As processes evolve, update the template. Note the version in the template description so teams know they are using the latest workflow.

Do not over-template. If a process runs three times per year, a template saves marginal time. If it runs weekly, the template investment pays off quickly. Focus templates on high-frequency workflows.

Asana vs Other Template Ecosystems

Monday.com offers a comparable template marketplace with more visual variety. ClickUp provides templates at multiple hierarchy levels (Space, Folder, List). Notion templates are community-driven and highly customizable but lack Asana’s built-in automation rules.

Asana’s template strength is the combination of structure (sections, tasks, dependencies) with automation (Rules). A template that both organizes work and automates transitions saves significantly more time than one that only organizes.

For teams that standardize their processes, templates transform Asana from a task list into a repeatable execution engine. Build once, use repeatedly, and improve continuously.