Trello: 5 Things You Need to Know
By Erin Sless - eGuide Operations Coordinator
Congrats- you’ve made the switch to leading project management and collaboration tool!
So… now what?
Whether you are just getting started or are already knee-deep in tasks- here are 5 things you should know about Trello!
Making the changeover to a project management software can be tedious, but it can also be crucial for multi-phase, ongoing, and overlapping projects (especially among hybrid and remote teams!) With many companies, there is a lot going on all at once. Even with the best teams, project execution is only as good as the organizational structure (or Trello board) behind them! We here at eGuide have found much success by utilizing this platform, so we hope these 5 tips will help you help your team, too.
1. Basic Trello Lingo
I’m sorry, the what now? Let’s start with key Trello verbiage!
Workspaces are where your entire organization’s projects live. As an admin, you can navigate through Settings to customize which parts of a workspace you want seen by which users.
Boards are found in workspaces and are where we begin to dive a little deeper! These are often divided by a high-level organizational category or department. Think: Accounting, Marketing, Intern Onboarding, A Specific Event, etc.
Lists are housed inside boards. This is where you can divide by project or separate into event sections.
Cards are created within lists. This is where the actions of task delegation and completion really take place!
While we may just want to jump right into creating tasks in cards, it is best to first have a uniform structure with all these above elements set in place. Take some time to brainstorm what your organization may need and how they could best collaborate using these tools.
2. Your Boards, Your Way
Boards don’t have to be boring! There are creative ways to utilize lists and card labels to keep things both interesting AND organized. The old adage holds true: bright colors simply make anything more fun.
Check out this screenshot of an internal eGuide team development board; here, we have used card labels (which can be changed from inside the card) and lists to divide how the board as a whole is viewed for a more user-friendly experience. Note how a list itself (“Enrichment Plans”) is used as a larger label for the development projects inside the board.
There can be some boards that are more relevant to us than others, and utilizing the Starred Boards options helps us easily navigate to our main priorities. By adding a board to our Starred section, it will shoot up to the top of the list of our Workspace and will place itself in other strategic locations. Click the star at the top of any board from the inside view and viola!
Did you know that you can add outside members of your organization to a board?
That’s right- invite clients, vendors, or contractors in to participate and collaborate with you. This can be especially helpful to cut down email threads where details can get lost. Do this through the “Share” option at the top of any board you have joined- just make sure you have your organizational structure down pat first!
3. Cards: Members, Checklists, and Tasks- oh my!
Cards are where we are able to add project descriptions, notify team members of what needs to get done and when to do it, as well as collaborate through comments. Here, we can add relative attachments (cutting time searching through Google Drive calls for celebration) and ask questions by tagging other team members directly. There are many ways to customize cards to be exactly what you need them to be (hello automations!), so this is a great resource to tap into and explore.
First, adding members to each card helps them keep track of updates. Note that this is different from assigning someone to a task! This addition helps team members keep track of projects they need to stay on top of as updates roll in. I’ll outline how this can be even more helpful in a tip later on in this article! To add a team member, use the first button option on the top right of a card. Don’t forget to add yourself where you need to be, too!
There are many ways to organize tasks on a card. All tasks begin by creating a checklist! To create a checklist, navigate to the inside of any card and click the “Checklist” option on the right-hand side under the “Add to card” heading. You can create as many checklists as you need which can help further organize a large task load. Dividing by Project Deliverables (our final, most refined task items) versus our smaller, more itemized day-to-day tasks is a great place to start. This can also help collaborators understand the Big Picture Items and what it will take to get to them.
Now that you have your checklists, you can start creating tasks!
Pro tip: never leave a naked task! What does that mean exactly? Well, if you create a task and leave it unassigned to a team member and without a due date, then the probability of this task getting forgotten about is high. Immediately assign team members and due dates wherever possible, and seek out more information to better sculpt that task if need be. If you have 2 team members that need to fulfill the same task, then make separate tasks for each team member. Now, your tasks will stay on the proper radars!
Nope!
Yes!
4. Use your Home tab
Ah, my favorite place to start each work day! This section shows up upon navigation to trello.com. You can also redirect back here by clicking the “Home” tab at the far left of the main page. If you are in a board workspace and do not see the “Home” option, then simply click the Trello logo at the top of the page. Think of their logo as a North Star to help guide you back home when you’re lost!
Once in the “Home” view, you can instantly see all items you have been assigned to. These are sorted by Due Date with the most urgent at the top of the list. Here, you can easily prioritize what needs to be done ASAP and what is on the to-do horizon. Also, you can find relevant activity, highlights from workspaces and boards, and starred boards!
If you’re seeing lots of overdue reds in your view (or on any board’s list) then take some time to collaborate with team members involved to plan the best approach to either getting it done or extending the deadline to a more realistic timeframe. Because no one likes to start their day in the red!
5. Find your own cards and cut down the noise.
Project management software is meant to help, but it can sometimes feel a little loud. Conversations abuzz all around you, deadlines approaching, then you suddenly find yourself browsing through a board that you’re not even involved in…oops.
Similar to your personalized homepage, you can also find your own cumulative board. Yes, the Board of Boards! Every card you have been added to as a member (see, I told you earlier that would come in handy) falls into place here and is sorted by the main board it is located in. Arrange it to your liking and become the ruler of your own assignment-based castle.
To Navigate there: click your profile picture in the top right corner, and select Cards from the dropdown list. On the next page, under the Cards tab, you will be able to view all the cards from every board in your particular workspace that have your name attached to them.
We hope these 5 tips and tricks have helped improve your confidence to get you on track to be Trello-ing (Trelling?) like a pro!
If you have any further questions, insight, or want even more Trello tips- please reach out to us anytime.
Help Someone. Have Fun, Be You. Learn & Teach. Finish What You Start.
