How would you improve Asana's onboarding for new individual users?

Clarifying Assumptions

• Individual user = someone signing up for Asana without a team invite. Self-serve.
• Goal: user completes their first project setup within 15 minutes of signing up.
• Current state: blank project canvas, minimal guidance.

Product Motivation

Asana's PLG model depends on individual users creating value quickly and then inviting teammates. Users who set up a project and invite at least 1 teammate in week 1 have 5x higher D90 retention. Onboarding is the highest-leverage moment.

User Segments

• Project managers and ops leads: Want to replicate their existing PM workflow in Asana.
• Individual contributors: Want a personal task manager with light collaboration.
• Small business owners: Need to manage a team without a full-time project manager.

Key Pain Points

• Blank project is overwhelming — "What should I create first?"
• Asana-specific concepts (sections, subtasks, dependencies) are not intuitive without explanation.
• Too many features visible on first session — users don't know what's relevant to them.
• No "quick win" moment — users spend time configuring without seeing the benefit.

Solutions

1. Use Case Templates Launcher (recommended MVP)

"What are you managing?" → Marketing campaign / Software sprint / Personal goals / Event planning. Select one → Asana pre-populates a template project with sample tasks, sections, and due dates. User is immediately oriented and can start editing real tasks.

2. Contextual Feature Tooltip Tour

As user edits tasks, single contextual tip appears: "Add a due date to see tasks in Timeline view." One tip per action, not a forced tour. Organic discovery.

3. Invite Teammate Prompt at First Project

After creating 3+ tasks, prompt: "Asana works best with your team. Who do you work with?" One-click invite. Drives viral expansion.

MVP

Launch Use Case Templates Launcher. 4-week sprint. Measure: first project setup completion rate and time-to-first-invite.

Success Metrics

• First project completion rate (target: >60% of new users)
• Time-to-first-teammate-invite (target: <7 days)
• D30 retention for template users vs. blank-canvas users (target: +30%)