How We Make Trello Work
At DriveU, project management has gone through a huge evolution to arrive at where it is right now. It started off as shared Google Docs, Asana, and a brief affair with Excel Sheets, before we settled on Trello.
Trello has worked great for the Product and Engineering teams to keep track of the things we’re working on, want to work on and have worked on. It is minimalist, and doesn’t get in the way of what we actually want to do: create impact. As a team, we’ve found Trello easy to start using and keep using. At its core, Trello is a Kanban board. Tasks (cards) are organised by status (lists).
Lists
Our Trello board flows from left to right. Ideas are added into the Icebox, move into the monthly goals list, into the development pipeline and end in the “Live” lists. Each month has a Goals list, and a Live list so that we know what went live when.
We also have an Adhoc requests list, because “the best laid plans of mice and men go awry”. Everything that takes effort has a card, so that we know where we spend our time.
The card
A card can be a standalone task or an entire project, and we use them for both. There’s one card for the entire project, and separate card for individual tasks that need more details.
All individual cards are then attached on the project’s card, along with requirement documents, designs, and anything else the team needs to be aware of. We also use colour coded labels to help teams identify dependencies easily. Green, means there is backend work involved. Orange, means design. And so on.
Disclaimer: Trello is a powerful tool, but it’s not going to solve all your project management worries just because you’re using it. When it comes down to it, Trello is still just a tool, to support your existing practices and processes. It works best if everyone on your team is actively using it.
