How Does Trello Work? A Popular Online Tool For (Agile) Projects And Teams
Trello is a popular and inexpensive online tool for organizing projects or making teamwork easier. An online Kanban board can also be created using Trello, which is often used by agile teams. In this article, you can read exactly how Trello works, how you can work with the tool quickly and for whom and when it is worthwhile.
What Is Trello
Trello is a web-based project management solution with which you can manage, prioritize and control tasks alone or in a team. The tool was first published by Atlassian in 2011 and is used by millions of users today. The basis for all activities is the board, on which you can work with lists and cards. Use is free of charge in the basic version. If you need additional functions, such as a different calendar function, Trello is chargeable and is available from around 740 per month per user.
How Is The Board Set Up In Trello?
The principle of Trello is similar to that of a Kanban board but is implemented purely online. As with Kanban, visualization also plays a decisive role at Trello. The cards on a board each visualize a task and ensure that the entire workflow of a project is visible to all team members at all times.
Therefore, all team members can use the same board in Trello and achieve project progress quickly and efficiently regardless of location. This is how Trello works.
However, before you start using Trello, you should first familiarize yourself with the individual components of the platform. The system is divided into:
- The Board: Create a commission for each project and give it a proper name. On the Trello board, you can collect ideas, manage your tasks, mark what has been done and assign a to-do to the person responsible.
- Lists: You can create lists within the board. An infinite number; However, it is advisable to limit yourself to a maximum of four to six to keep an overview. The lists are representative of the individual project sections, for example:
- Ideas
- To-Dos (tasks to be done)
- Doing (work in progress)
- Done (completed tasks)
- Cards: One level below are the cards on the board. Each list contains several cards. Each card has a job or an idea. You can set deadlines on the cards and link attachments required for the functions. You can also split the to-do notes on the card into any number of individual steps and tick off completed sub-steps. This also gives you a practical checklist for your tasks.
Organize Projects With Trello In Five Steps
How do you organize your projects with Trello? If your team is using this online service for the first time, there are five steps you should take.
- Create Board: Create a Trello board for the current project.
- Add Lists: Divide your project into meaningful project steps and create a list for each of them. For example, if you are using Trello for content marketing, the lists could be “Ideas”, “In Progress”, “In Proofing”, and “Published”. You can use the lists to show the current production status of the content to be created.
- Adding Cards: What has to be done within a list? Break down into individual to-dos and make cards for these. For example, the following cards could be found on the “In progress” list: “Research”, “Create text structure”, “Write text”, “Fine-tune”, and “Add pictures”.
- Create A Team: Finally, add your team members. Everyone should then assign their tasks to themselves. You can then see the responsibilities on the respective cards. Everyone then knows up-to-date who is currently working on what.
- Moving Cards: Your real work with Trello begins by moving cards from one list to another. When you have completed a to-do, move it to the “Done” list. By moving the cards, you can see every day what you have worked through and how far your project has progressed.
Advantages And Disadvantages Of A Trello Board
If you are unsure whether the use of a Trello board is worthwhile for you, consider the following advantages and disadvantages in detail:
Benefits Of Trello:
- Intuitive Usability: Trello does not have any high entry barriers but is quite intuitive to use. You don’t need extensive training or a study of complex operating instructions; you can start immediately – “learning by doing”.
- Visual Tool: The tool with its lists, cards and boards is visually beautiful and well structured. Trello will be a pleasure for visual people to work with. Trello also makes the individual intermediate steps extremely transparent.
- Flexible Use: You can organize many different projects with Trello. There is no prescribed plan; you, as the person responsible for the project, decide how you want to set up your project with Trello.
- Inexpensive Entry: Trello starts in the basic version with unrestricted use and is also a very affordable project management tool with a few additional options. This advantage makes it especially attractive for the self-employed and small businesses.
- Up-To-Date: As a cloud-based tool, the data is always up-to-date thanks to permanent synchronization, even if several people are working with the board simultaneously. The data comparison takes place at short intervals and thus avoids misunderstandings regarding the open and completed to-do status.
Cons Of Trello:
- Lack Of Communication: The visualization of to-dos works well with Trello, but the tool does not offer a solution for possible queries. Here you are on additional e-mail correspondence or a chat option, e.g. B. via Slack.
- Not Suitable For Larger Projects: Trello is more ideal for small to medium-sized projects. If you have a large project with many intermediate steps, Trello can be used, but in this case, the work quickly becomes confusing.
Trello: Does This Work For You Too?
Overall, Trello is a healthy thought-out collaboration tool with which you can visualize many project processes. Like the Kanban board, you can show your colleagues at a glance, live on the board in Trello, which tasks you have just completed and what is coming up next. This gives you excellent transparency and efficiency in teamwork because the information that is otherwise only in your e-mail inbox or on your PC is made visible to everyone in the team with the help of Trello.
Whether it works for you depends above all on your specific plans. The more complex the project, the more likely Trello will reach its limits. However, for small to medium-sized projects, it can be a solid free to inexpensive entry into agile project management.
