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Introduction

Backlog grooming, also known as backlog refinement, is a critical routine for keeping project management boards like Asana clean, organized, and focused. It involves reviewing, updating, and cleaning tasks that are outdated, irrelevant, or stalled to ensure teams prioritize what matters most. For many startups and fast-moving engineering teams, manual backlog grooming is time-consuming and often neglected, leading to cluttered task lists and decreased productivity. While Asana offers manual tools and paid integrations for automated backlog management, these can increase operational costs.

In this tutorial, we’ll build a fully automated weekly backlog grooming workflow using n8n, an open-source workflow automation tool. This setup will automatically clean up completed or inactive tasks in Asana projects, reducing manual overhead and saving on third-party backlog management fees—helping automation engineers and startup CTOs deliver efficient project tracking without added expenses.

Tools and Integrations

– Asana API: to retrieve and manage tasks
– n8n: to design and automate the workflow
– Cron (built into n8n): to trigger the workflow weekly

Use Case and Benefits

The automation targets product teams who routinely accumulate stale tasks in Asana projects. The workflow will:

– Identify completed or inactive tasks older than a defined threshold (e.g., 30 days)
– Archive or delete such tasks or move them to a designated ‘Archive’ section
– Notify team leads or stakeholders via email or Slack (optional)

This saves time, improves project visibility, and ensures backlog health, benefiting product owners, project managers, and engineering teams.

Step-by-Step Technical Tutorial

Prerequisites:

– Access to Asana developer token or personal access token
– An n8n instance running (locally, cloud, or self-hosted)
– Basic familiarity with Asana API and n8n UI

**Step 1: Set Up the Trigger Node**

– In n8n, create a new workflow.
– Add the ‘Cron’ node to trigger the workflow weekly (e.g., every Sunday at midnight).
– Configure it with the appropriate schedule.

**Step 2: Retrieve Tasks from Asana**

– Add an ‘HTTP Request’ node to call the Asana API endpoint for listing tasks.
– Method: GET
– URL: https://app.asana.com/api/1.0/projects/{project_gid}/tasks
– Replace {project_gid} with your actual project ID.
– Authentication: Use the personal access token in headers (Authorization: Bearer ).
– Query parameters: opt_fields=name,completed,completed_at,modified_at,assignee,status

– This returns a list of tasks in the specified project with details.

**Step 3: Filter Tasks for Cleanup**

– Add a ‘Function’ node to filter tasks based on criteria:
– Tasks that are completed
– Or tasks that haven’t been modified in the last 30 days (configurable)

– Example JavaScript snippet:
“`
const THIRTY_DAYS = 30 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
const now = new Date().getTime();

return items.filter(item => {
const fields = item.json;
const completed = fields.completed;
const modifiedAt = new Date(fields.modified_at).getTime();

if (completed) {
// Consider cleanup for completed tasks older than threshold
const completedAt = new Date(fields.completed_at).getTime();
return (now – completedAt) > THIRTY_DAYS;
} else {
// Optional: consider uncompleted tasks not updated over 30 days
return (now – modifiedAt) > THIRTY_DAYS;
}
});
“`

**Step 4: Archive or Delete Tasks**

– Depending on your workflow, you can archive tasks by moving them to an “Archive” section or deleting them.

– To archive (move section):
– Add another ‘HTTP Request’ node to update the task’s section.
– Method: POST
– URL: https://app.asana.com/api/1.0/tasks/{task_gid}/addProject
– In body, set JSON to move the task to archive section (project and section IDs required).

– To delete:
– Add ‘HTTP Request’ node
– Method: DELETE
– URL: https://app.asana.com/api/1.0/tasks/{task_gid}

– Loop over filtered tasks from previous step using ‘SplitInBatches’ or iterate accordingly.

**Step 5 (Optional): Notification**

– Use a Slack or Email node to notify team members about what tasks were cleaned.

Common Errors and Tips

– Rate limiting: Asana API limits calls; batch requests or add retry with exponential backoff.
– Permissions: Ensure the token has adequate scopes to read and delete/update tasks.
– Timezone: Be mindful of date comparisons; standardize on UTC.
– Testing: Run the workflow in test mode with a small dataset before full automation.

Scaling and Adaptation

– Multi-project Support: Add a loop node or multiple triggers to handle several project IDs.
– Custom Filters: Extend the filter criteria to include tags, assignees, or priority.
– Reporting: Generate weekly reports on backlog stats using Google Sheets or dashboards.

Summary

This guide demonstrated how to replace Asana’s backlog grooming feature with a custom, cost-effective, and flexible n8n automation workflow. Using Asana’s API, n8n nodes, and a scheduled cleanup job, teams can maintain a clean and actionable backlog without paying for extra SaaS automation tools. The setup is easily customizable, scalable, and integrates with notification services for full transparency.

Bonus Tip

Consider integrating with your team’s Slack workspace to automatically send a summary report after each cleanup run, keeping everyone aligned on the state of the backlog in real-time—achieved simply by adding a Slack node at the end of the workflow.