Are you lost in paperwork? You have many projects and all kinds of small things to do at the same time, but no idea how all this is supposed to fit on a Post-it? We all know this. This year our agency team has started to transfer a large part of our flood of Excel, Word and To-do documents into the digital world. We no longer have 19 different tables for project status and organisational matters. Now we use a board on Trello. What’s that? A well thought-out project management software.
A board for all cases
How does Trello work? After a short registration on the Trello website or the app, users can create their own workspaces, so-called boards. These can be used completely privately or together in a team. In our agency, almost everyone has a private board for personal tasks. We work on large projects together on a board to which everyone has access and on which every member can work. Changes are synchronised in real time and are immediately visible to everyone.
Boards can be further divided into lists and maps. The lists function as categories to which tasks e.g. can be assigned. With just a few clicks, a series of lists can be created. In our case, we use lists such as “press releases”, “editorial inquiries”, “social media” or “dates”, with the help of which we can record central tasks for each customer and each project.
The individual cards that can be added to the lists are particularly versatile. Cards can easily be re-sorted and moved to other lists on the board. By clicking on the respective map, the content can be further developed with the help of numerous functions.
An example: I create the card “Press text XY” in the “Press texts” list. Clicking on the map opens it and I get more options. For example, I can assign color labels and enter a detailed description of the task. In the right pane, I can add members to the task board to clarify responsibilities, create checklists, set deadlines or upload attachments such as Word documents, images or web links. The advantage: Every member now has access to the attachment, either as a preview or as a download on their own desktop. Under “Actions” you can also move or copy the respective card to other boards and you can also subscribe to the card to see future changes. But one point of criticism remains: Duplicating a card to another board does not automatically synchronise changes to that card. In the end you have to update the map information on every board.
Interaction is everything
Trello shows its strengths especially when many members work on one board. We use the work areas both in the agency team and together with our clients. This enables a quick exchange of information. Brainstorming in the group is also possible without any problems. If I want to address a certain member within a card, it is sufficient to mark the person with the @-sign in the comment function.
Whether it’s organising our projects, exchanging and dealing with customers or working through the many small tasks of a working day – Trello helps to simplify processes and eliminate the annoying paperwork.