We continually ground in why we’re building Asana: to help all teams work together effortlessly. We attempt to establish a direct line between that purpose and our day-to-day work. We answer strategic conflicts by asking the question: which choice maximizes the success of our mission?

We start with awareness. We let go of stories we’re telling ourselves about heroes, victims, and villains, and we accept wherever we are. We reflect on our past experiences and we act intentionally.

Though it is tempting to pick an extreme point of view or compromise between two poles, the best outcomes often require incorporating elements of each extreme or, better yet, transcending them altogether through synthesis.

A fundamental problem with modern work is that too much time is spent trying to figure out what’s going on. We try to make it as easy as possible for teams to have the information they need to excel at their work.

Asana is an experiment in the idea that the responsibility should be distributed among a great team of peers that respect and trust each other, so we proactively build relationships and seek to understand each other. We let go when we’re not the Directly Responsible Individual, and we take action when we are. We empower each other.

We take our commitments to each other seriously. We admit when we’re wrong. We treat ourselves as whole people at work. We feel our feelings all the way through and we’re not afraid to give constructive feedback or disagree. We embrace reality.

We are co-creating Asana together, and we’re playful while we do it. We maintain an attitude of curiosity, fearlessness, and creativity around tough problems. We embrace failure as learning and celebrate iteration. We don’t hide from our quirks. We appreciate each other and don’t take success for granted.