Which tasks are eating the retainer.
Asana knows the scope. Harvest knows the hours. Patricia joins them so you see budget burn against the actual work and flag the project going over before it does, not after you invoice.
@Pati Fernbrook's retainer feels like it's running hot. Where are the hours actually going?
It is running hot, and the join between the Asana tasks and the Harvest hours shows exactly where. 38 of 40 monthly hours logged with a week to go, 95% burned:
- The homepage revisions task alone has eaten 14 hours, more than a third of the whole retainer, and it is still In Progress
- Two rounds of ad-creative edits logged 9 hours against a task that was scoped for 3
- Four tasks are still open in Asana with no time logged yet, so the real burn is already past budget once they start
- The rest of the month is running clean, this is scope creep on two tasks, not the whole engagement
That's a scope conversation. Flag the two runaway tasks to the account lead, and draft the invoice for the hours logged so far.
Flagged the homepage revisions and the ad-creative edits to the account lead in Asana as a heads-up task, with the hours attached so the scope talk has the numbers behind it. Fernbrook's invoice is drafted from the 38 billable hours in Harvest, itemized by project, ready the moment you want it out. I will not send it to the client until you give the yes.
1 + 1 > 2
What Asana and Harvest do together.
Each is useful alone. Joined, they answer the question neither can on its own.
See which Asana tasks are eating the budget by joining them with Harvest hours
She lines up the hours logged in Harvest against the task they were logged against in Asana, so you see the one task quietly burning a third of the retainer instead of a flat hours-used number.
Flag a project going over budget before it happens
She watches burn in Harvest against the open tasks still sitting in Asana, so a retainer with four untouched tasks and 95% of the hours gone reaches you while there is still time to act, not at invoice time.
Catch scope creep by comparing tracked time to the task that was scoped
When a task logs far more Harvest hours than it was meant to, she surfaces it against the Asana scope, so two rounds of edits eating triple the budget becomes a scope conversation instead of a write-off.
Turn a hot budget into an owned heads-up task where the work happens
A retainer running hot in Harvest becomes a flagged task in Asana with an owner and the hours attached, so the account lead gets the numbers in the place the work already lives.
Draft the invoice off Harvest hours mapped to Asana delivery
She builds the invoice from the billable hours tracked, itemized against the projects and tasks that delivered them, ready for your review. It goes to the client only after you approve.
How it works
Asana and Harvest, connected in minutes.
Add Patricia to Slack
She joins your workspace like any teammate. Two minutes, no engineering.
Connect Asana and Harvest
One OAuth click each, per client. She gets only the access you approve, and you can disconnect anytime.
Ask
Mention @Pati with the question. Reading burn and utilization runs on its own; sending an invoice off those hours waits for your yes.
Say it like you'd say it
Things to ask her.
Where are Fernbrook's retainer hours actually going by task?
Which client projects are about to go over budget?
Which tasks logged more hours than they were scoped for?
Flag the runaway tasks to the account lead with the hours attached
Draft Fernbrook's invoice from the hours tracked against the delivered tasks
More combinations
Other pairs that work like this.
The stack rarely stops at two. These combinations pull the same trick.
FAQ
Asana + Harvest, answered.
What does connecting Asana and Harvest together let Patricia do?
She joins the tasks and scope in Asana with the hours and budget tracked in Harvest. So you see which specific tasks are eating the retainer, catch a project going over before it does, and spot scope creep against what was actually scoped. Neither tool answers that alone.
Does she send the invoice on her own?
No. Reading burn, watching budgets, and flagging tasks run on their own. Drafting an invoice off the tracked hours is fine, but sending it to the client moves money and waits for your explicit yes in Slack.
Do I need both connected?
For the joined view, yes: Asana for the tasks and scope, Harvest for the hours and budget. Each also works on its own, this page is about what they do together.
How does she know which hours belong to which task?
She reads the project and task the time was logged against in Harvest and lines it up with the same work in Asana. The cleaner your team logs time to tasks, the sharper the by-task burn she can show.
Does this stay separate per client?
Yes. Connect each client's Asana workspace and Harvest projects, and every client's tasks, hours, and budgets stay walled off from the rest.
What does it cost?
Nothing extra. Every integration is included, on every plan.
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