Asana is a collaborative work management platform that helps teams organize, track, and manage their work—from daily tasks to strategic initiatives. Launched in 2008, it combines project planning, task assignments, timelines, and reporting in a single cloud-based workspace. Unlike simpler to-do lists, Asana enables multi-layered project hierarchies (tasks, subtasks, sections, projects, portfolios, goals) so teams can link day-to-day execution directly to company-wide objectives. Key mental model: everything is either a task, a project that contains tasks, or a portfolio that contains projects—understanding this three-tier structure is essential for leveraging Asana's full power.