Asana

Technical challenges:

Back when I first considered working at Asana, I was skeptical if there would be interesting engineering challenges, given what I knew about the product. I was completely wrong; the work here has been the most fun work I've ever done. Asana is at a point where scaling further has required challenging previous foundational technical decisions, opening the way for engineers to get involved in architecting better solutions that will affect the company for years to come.

Impact:

I've never worked at a place where my impact felt so apparent. Teams set KRs that directly relate to top-level company objectives, and almost every piece of work you do is in service of some KR. Its success is measured against these criteria, and teams are really good at consistently recognizing and celebrating every accomplishment and the people behind it.

Culture:

Lots to love, but my favorite aspect is probably the feedback culture that exists. No one says, "not my problem, hopefully someone else will do it"; either they lead the way to fix it, or they seek out the most capable team or people to solve it and provide that feedback directly to them. This is critical in surfacing issues before they are serious problems and has been extremely helpful in allowing the company to scale without many things falling through the cracks.

Food:

The meals at Asana are well beyond "perk" level. They're delicious, healthy, and always so different from day to day. I love that everyone eats in the same place and that the standard is to grab a seat at one of the big tables and share a meal with whoever happens to be there.

Mission:

When you use Asana (the product) the way Asana (the company) uses it, it becomes immediately evident how powerful of a tool it is for fostering better communication and planning, and in general just enabling an individual to be more connected to what's going on in the company. It's exciting to be a part of making it even better, and to be helping our customers achieve the same.

You can gain a lot of responsibility really quickly at Asana if you aren't careful about saying "no". It's not hard to get yourself in a situation where you have multiple things that urgently need your attention.

The system used to evaluate employees is a little opaque, which can be uncomfortable when you're used to a system with clear levels and clear responsibilities attached to those levels.

I know there is active work to add more structure to employee responsibilities, expectations, and evaluation – continue it.

Otherwise, keep up the great work! Asana is an awesome place to work.