Legacy SaaS dossier · asana

Asana

CategoryProject / task managementAsana Business, 200 seatsSite ↗

A nested checklist with assignees and due dates, dressed up as portfolios, goals, workload, timelines, and Workflow Bundles™.

01 · Data

Data the SaaS sits on

SlackYours

Directory (SSO)Yours

Linear (eng tickets)API

Internal Build Score

0.84

Feasibility of a useful internal substitute for the actually-used 20% of this SaaS, built with Claude and your own data layer.

IBS = 0.25·U + 0.25·C + 0.20·D + 0.15·I + 0.15·Mthis record · 84%

U
User adoption gap
weight 0.250.85
How much licensed surface area sits idle.
C
Core simplicity
weight 0.250.92
How small the actually-used 20% is when re-implemented honestly.
D
Data portability
weight 0.200.75
How clean the exit is, exports, formats, audit lock.
I
Integration burden (inverse)
weight 0.150.78
How few external systems must keep working through the SaaS.
M
Moat erosion
weight 0.150.90
How much the original differentiator has been commoditised by LLMs + cheap infra.

Editorial heuristic. Not investment advice, not a procurement recommendation.

03 · Feature usage

Commonly used vs. rarely touched

Commonly used

Tasks with assignees + due dates
Projects grouping tasks
Comment threads per task
Per-person 'what's on my plate' view
Status updates roll-up to the project

Rarely touched

Goals + OKR tracking module nobody fills out twice
Portfolios of portfolios
Workload + capacity planning with made-up estimates
Workflow Bundles, a no-code engine sold separately
Forms, Approvals, Proofing, each shipped as its own pillar
AI Studio, a per-seat upsell on top of the seat upsell
Universal Reporting that re-implements a worse Looker

Build it yourself→

Internal build

Build it yourself

01 · Stack & flow

Linear

Postgres

Slack

Claude API

Internal build map

Data in

Tasks table

Slack channel

Directory

Agent layer

Digest writer

Comment classifier

Logic

compute 7d delta

tag blockers

render digest

due-today ping

Outputs

Board view

Friday digest

DM reminders

Build time: 3 weeks
Run cost: $1.5/seat·mo
vs. SaaS: $60K / yr

Build outline

Tasks + projects schema, four tables
Board / list view in Next.js
Slack bot for due-today + overdue
Claude writes the Friday status digest
Linear for engineering, don't re-implement issues

02 · Claude prompt

First, map what you actually use (optional)

Step 1 · usage audit prompt

// Asana usage audit, scope the rebuild Input: the project list with last-activity dates, custom-field definitions with fill rates, and the rules / Workflow Bundles configured. ## Do 1. Mark each project as active, archive, or dead by last activity. 2. Keep only custom fields populated on > 10% of tasks. 3. List rules that send notifications or touch external tools; drop the field-only rest. ## Output JSON: { keep_projects[], keep_fields[], keep_rules[], drop[] }.

Step 2 · rebuild the core

// Weekly status digest, per project You receive (a) a project name, (b) the task table delta from the last 7 days (added / closed / slipped / blocked), and (c) the project's stated goal for the quarter. ## What you must do 1. Open with one sentence: are we on track, drifting, or off? 2. List 3–6 bullets: "Shipped", "Slipped", "Blocked", each with the task title + assignee, and one phrase of context. 3. Close with one sentence: the single thing the team should do next week. ## What you do not do - Do not estimate completion percentages. - Do not invent task titles or names. - Do not invent blockers, only what the comments show. ## Style - Plain text. Markdown headings allowed. ≤ 220 words.

03 · Result

Friday digest for Project Lighthouse

tasks:lighthouse#wk32

Drifting. Shipped onboarding v2; slipped billing migration (Sarah); blocked on legal review.

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