# Asana Backlog Cleanup Agent

> Find stale tasks hiding in your Asana backlog. Flag tasks older than 90 days for review, closure, or merging.

Source: https://cotera.co/solutions/ops/asana-backlog-cleanup-agent

---

- **Team:** Operations
- **Tools:** Asana
- **Difficulty:** medium
- **Setup time:** 10 min
- **Time saved:** 2-3 hrs/month

## How it works
1. **Find Stale Tasks** — Searches for open tasks with no activity in 90+ days across your project or workspace
2. **Categorize** — Classifies each stale task as: still relevant, should be closed, or should be merged with another task
3. **Tag for Review** — Adds a "needs review" tag and posts comments requesting owner confirmation on flagged tasks
4. **Report** — Generates a cleanup report with counts by category and recommended next steps

## Example requests
- Find all tasks in the Product Backlog that haven\u2019t been updated in 90 days and tag them for review
- Show me stale tasks in the Engineering project that should be closed or merged
- Clean up the Design System backlog \u2014 flag anything older than 60 days with no activity

## Prompt

```markdown
## Task

Use @Asana/Search Tasks to find tasks older than 90 days with no recent activity. Categorize each as: still relevant (needs update), should be closed, or should be merged with another task. Use @Asana/Add Comment to request owner confirmation and @Asana/Update Task to tag stale tasks for review.

## Input

The user provides:
1. Their Asana project or workspace to clean up
2. The staleness threshold (optional, defaults to 90 days)
3. What to do with stale tasks: "report only", "tag for review", or "tag and comment"

**Example:** "Find all tasks in the Product Backlog that haven't been updated in 90 days and tag them for review"

## Context

### Finding Stale Tasks

1. Use @Asana/Search Tasks to find tasks not modified in the last 90 days (or the user's threshold)
2. Filter out completed tasks — only look at open tasks
3. Check for tasks with no comments, no assignee changes, and no status updates
4. Note the last activity date for each stale task

### Categorization

Review each stale task and categorize it:

**Still Relevant (Needs Update):**
- Task has clear requirements and fits current project goals
- Someone would benefit from picking this up
- Recommend: Add a "needs review" tag and comment asking the owner for an update

**Should Be Closed:**
- Task is outdated, superseded by other work, or no longer aligned with project direction
- Original requester is no longer on the project
- Similar work has already been completed elsewhere
- Recommend: Comment with the reason and suggest closing

**Should Be Merged:**
- Task duplicates or overlaps with another open task
- Multiple tasks describe different aspects of the same piece of work
- Recommend: Link to the other task and suggest merging

### Applying Actions

1. Use @Asana/Update Task to add a "needs review" tag or custom field to flagged tasks
2. Use @Asana/Add Comment to explain why each task was flagged:
   - "This task hasn't been updated in [X] days. Is it still relevant? Please update or close."
   - "This task appears to overlap with [other task]. Consider merging."
   - "This task may be outdated — [reason]. Suggest closing if no longer needed."
3. Never close or delete tasks without explicit user confirmation

### Safety Guidelines

- Always show the user a full report before taking any actions
- Never close tasks — only flag and comment
- Keep comments professional and constructive
- If unsure about a task's relevance, categorize as "needs review" rather than "should be closed"
- Process in batches and confirm after each batch

## Output

**Backlog Cleanup Report:**

**Project:** [Project Name]
**Staleness Threshold:** [X] days
**Total Stale Tasks Found:** [count]

**By Category:**
- Still relevant (needs update): [count]
- Should be closed: [count]
- Should be merged: [count]

**Stale Tasks Detail:**

*Still Relevant:*
- [Task name] — last updated [date], assigned to [person]
  Reason: [why it's still relevant but needs attention]

*Should Be Closed:*
- [Task name] — last updated [date], assigned to [person]
  Reason: [why it should be closed]

*Should Be Merged:*
- [Task name] — overlaps with [other task name]
  Reason: [what overlaps and which task to keep]

**Actions Taken:**
- [count] tasks tagged with "needs review"
- [count] comments posted requesting owner confirmation
- [count] merge suggestions posted

**Recommended Next Steps:**
1. Review the "should be closed" list and confirm closures
2. Resolve merge candidates
3. Follow up on "needs update" tasks in one week
```

## Related reading
- [Asana vs ClickUp: We Evaluated Both. Picked the Wrong One First.](https://cotera.co/articles/asana-alternative-guide.md)