Trello

What is Trello

Trello is a visual collaboration tool that helps teams and individuals organize and prioritize projects in a fun, flexible, and rewarding way. Based on the Kanban board methodology, its core functionality revolves around boards, lists, and cards. Users can create a board for any project, populate it with lists that represent stages in a workflow, and add cards for specific tasks. Trello was originally created by Fog Creek Software in 2011 and was later acquired by Atlassian in 2017. The platform is known for its simplicity and intuitive interface, making it accessible for a wide range of uses, from personal to-do lists to complex enterprise-level project management.

Trello Features

• Boards, Lists, and Cards: The fundamental structure of Trello. Boards represent projects, Lists represent stages or categories, and Cards represent individual tasks. You can move cards between lists to show progress.
• Detailed Cards: Each card can contain a wealth of information, including descriptions, checklists, due dates, attachments, labels, and comments for team collaboration.
• Butler Automation: A built-in, no-code automation tool. Butler can automate repetitive tasks by creating rules, calendar commands, and due date commands. For example, it can automatically move a card to the 'Done' list when all checklist items are completed.
• Power-Ups: These are integrations and features that add extra functionality to your boards. You can connect apps like Slack, Google Drive, and Jira, or add features like calendars, voting, and custom fields.
• Templates: A gallery of pre-built boards for various use cases like project management, editorial calendars, event planning, and sales pipelines, helping you get started quickly.
• Multiple Views: Premium and Enterprise plans offer different ways to visualize your work, including Timeline, Calendar, Dashboard, Table, and Map views, providing better insights into project progress and team workload.
• Atlassian Intelligence (AI): AI-powered features that can summarize comments, generate task descriptions, and help organize your thoughts, improving productivity within the platform.

Trello Pricing Plans

Trello offers several pricing tiers to suit different needs.

• Free: Designed for individuals and small teams just starting out. It includes core features but has limitations on the number of boards per workspace and automation runs.
• Standard: Aimed at small teams that need more collaboration and organization tools. This plan typically offers unlimited boards, advanced checklists, and custom fields.
• Premium: Best for teams that need to track multiple projects and visualize work in different ways. It includes all Standard features plus multiple views (Timeline, Calendar, Dashboard), advanced admin controls, and priority support.
• Enterprise: Built for large organizations that require enhanced security, control, and support. This plan includes unlimited workspaces, organization-wide permissions, and dedicated customer support.

Trello Free Plan

Trello offers a comprehensive Free plan that is very generous. The free version includes unlimited cards, unlimited members, and up to 10 boards per Workspace. It also provides access to unlimited Power-Ups, allowing you to integrate with many other tools. However, there are some limitations, such as a 10MB file attachment limit and a cap on the number of Butler automation runs per month.

How to use Trello

Getting started with Trello is straightforward.

1. Sign Up: Create a free account using your email.
2. Create a Workspace: A Workspace is the home for all your boards and team members. You can create different Workspaces for different teams or company departments.
3. Create a Board: Inside your Workspace, create a new board for a specific project. You can start from scratch or use a template.
4. Add Lists: Create lists to define your workflow. A common setup is To Do, In Progress, and Done.
5. Create Cards: Add cards to your 'To Do' list for each task. Give each card a clear title.
6. Add Details: Click on a card to add more information, such as a description, a checklist of sub-tasks, a due date, and attachments. You can also assign team members to cards.
7. Move Cards: As you work on tasks, drag and drop cards from one list to the next to visually track progress.
8. Collaborate: Use the comments section on cards to communicate with your team about specific tasks.

Pros and Cons of Trello

Pros:

• Extremely Intuitive: The visual, drag-and-drop interface is very easy to learn and use.
• Highly Flexible: Can be adapted for almost any type of project, from software development to content marketing and personal planning.
• Excellent Free Plan: The free tier is powerful enough for many individuals and small teams.
• Strong Collaboration Features: Real-time updates, comments, and notifications keep everyone on the same page.
• Good Mobile Apps: The mobile applications for iOS and Android are well-designed and fully functional.

Cons:

• Can Get Crowded: For very large and complex projects, a single board can become cluttered and difficult to manage.
• Limited Reporting: The built-in reporting features are basic. Advanced analytics often require a Power-Up or a higher-tier plan.
• Not Ideal for Every Methodology: While perfect for Kanban, it's less suited for methodologies that require Gantt charts or complex dependency management without Power-Ups.

Trello integrations

Trello integrates with hundreds of applications through its Power-Ups feature. This allows you to connect your boards to the tools your team already uses. Some of the most popular integrations include:

• Slack: Send Trello notifications to Slack channels or create Trello cards directly from Slack messages.
• Google Drive: Attach files and folders from Google Drive to Trello cards and see previews.
• Jira: Link Trello cards to Jira issues for seamless collaboration between business and development teams.
• Microsoft Teams: Add Trello boards as tabs in your Teams channels to manage projects without leaving the app.
• Salesforce: Create cards from new Salesforce leads or opportunities to track sales pipelines.
• Evernote: Attach notes from Evernote to your Trello cards.
• GitHub: Link pull requests, issues, and commits to Trello cards to keep track of development work.

Trello Alternatives

• Asana: A powerful project management tool that is more list-based than Trello. It offers more robust features for task dependencies, timelines, and reporting, making it better for complex projects.
• Monday.com: A highly visual and customizable Work OS. It provides multiple views like Kanban, Gantt, and calendar, and is suitable for a wide range of workflows beyond simple task management.
• ClickUp: An all-in-one productivity platform that aims to replace multiple apps. It includes tasks, docs, goals, and chat, offering more built-in functionality than Trello.
• Notion: A flexible workspace that combines notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. It is less structured than Trello but offers greater customization for building custom workflows.
• Microsoft Planner: A direct competitor included with many Microsoft 365 subscriptions. It offers a similar Kanban board experience and is tightly integrated with the Microsoft ecosystem.

Trello API

Trello provides a comprehensive and well-documented RESTful API that allows developers to interact with Trello's data programmatically. You can build custom applications, integrations, or automate complex workflows.

To use the API, you need an API Key and a Token. You can get your personal API Key by logging into your Trello account and visiting trello.com/app-key. From that same page, you can generate a Token which grants access to your account.

Here is a simple example using curl to get information about a board:

curl 'https://api.trello.com/1/boards/{boardId}?key={yourApiKey}&token={yourToken}'

Replace {boardId}, {yourApiKey}, and {yourToken} with your actual board ID, API key, and token.

Trello Affiliate program

Trello, as part of Atlassian, does not offer a traditional public affiliate program where individuals can sign up for a link and earn commissions. Instead, Atlassian runs a Solution Partner Program. This program is designed for companies that sell, service, and support Atlassian products, including Trello. It is more suitable for consultants, resellers, and training providers. If you are interested in becoming a partner, you can find more information on the Atlassian website. For individual influencers or content creators, it is best to contact their marketing or partnership department directly to inquire about potential collaboration opportunities.