My tips for an ADHD friendly Trello workflow

Published in

21st Century Mindset

4 min readJun 7, 2024

I have used just about every productivity tool there is. As an ADHDer one of my favourite tools is Trello. I find it helpful to start by seeing everything and filter to hide things. That generally works better than when everything is hidden and I have to go looking for it or trust that it will surface under the right conditions.

I had a session with a coachee today who is restarting with Trello and so we had a conversation as they were working though it. They already had a lot of things in place but I thought it might be useful to list my top tips for an ADHD friendly Trello Workflow.

If you have not used Trello before and you would like a quick run through take a look at the video on this page and come back.

Use the first list on the board for information. On my organisation board I would include my objectives and areas of focus (AOF) in my role.

A list with a Title “Information” and four cards including Q2 Objectives and three Areas of focus, Strategy, Finance & operations.

Have a simple method of prioritising tasks. My coachee used a version of the Eisenhower Matrix to sort their outstanding tasks into Important, Urgent, both Important and Urgent and neither Important or Urgent. Initially they removed all of the tasks in the fourth category. I recommended keeping things they decide to deprioritise in a list or on another board as it is as much an exercise in seeing all that is on their plate as being organised. That list can be archived to remove it from the board and bring it back if needed or just left in place.

A two by two box with important up the left side and urgent along the bottom. Top right is A Important and urgent Do it yourself as quickly as possible, Top right is B Important, not urgent Schedule and do it yourself, Bottom right is C Urgent, not important Delegate or automate. If not possible do it yourself after A and bottom left is D Not important, not Urgent Archive or delete

Use a method to see when tasks are likely to have aged out or need updating. I use Pirate Aging to see which cards I have not updated for a long time and so which tasks or projects are likely to either need action or have been superseded. Once they are updated or moved they will ‘un-age’.

Four tasks on a list which have been untouched for some time and so look aged like a pirate map. To un-age them we can update them or move them.

Give yourself plenty of information at the top of lists to reduce cognitive load. You could add a card at the top of a list if you need more space for information.

A list titled “To be processed” with a card at the top of the list titled “Items here are not yet fully processed — More” Also an image of the back of this card with a description with the email link to add items to the board.

Set up a list for things which need some processing. If you keep things in one place until they have the detail you need to move them forward it reduces overwhelm.

Use email to board to get things into the board and into the processing list.

A menu showing the Email-to-board item and the dialog showing the email address the list the items should go to “To be processed” and the position “Top”

Keep like things together on one card in a checklist until you need an item to have more detail. An example of this is a list of linked tasks. Only move them out into their own card when you have to as this will reduce overwhelm.

A card with a title “Prep for 1:1s with team” and a checklist of names. Another image of the checklist of names with the elipses for one of the items haing been pressed and showing a menu “Convert to card”

Use a spreadsheet to get lots of things into Trello card titles easily. Make a list in a spreadsheet with one item per row and then highlight them all, copy and paste into a card. A message will appear asking you to confirm if you want everything in one card or a card per line.

A list of six items pasted into a new card from a spreadsheet. A dialog saying “Create If you want, we can create a card for every new line (6). You can also create one card with a long title”

Use labels to filter on a variety of categories. Pick a colour to identify the type of category or remove the colour to have the label only appear on the card back and be available to filter on.

A dialog “Create Label” There is a field for “Title” Select a color (sp) with 30 choices of colour. Also a remove color (sp) button with a tool tip “Labels without a color (sp) selected will only appear on the card back.”

Reduce the number of items in certain lists, such as doing, to reduce Work in Progress with the List Limits power up. This will encourage you to finish things before starting something new.

A list showing nine items with a dialog “Set list limit”. A limit of five has been set which means that the list shows a yellow background and an indicator that the WIP limit is breached. “9/5"

Of course even with all of this in place I will become overwhelmed, have to assert task manager bankruptcy and start again. It takes longer to get to that point though.

Having said all of that, I am currently using Tana which is a really interesting product. It is a notes app, an outliner, it has commands and tagging and I love using it. I have implemented these tips in different ways in that tool.

What is your favorite way to keep track of things and what tips have you got?

If you want more detail about any of this please let me know.

My tips for an ADHD friendly Trello workflow

Written by Sharon Dale