Trello – Everything In Its Place

Trello is a collaboration tool that people can use to keep their work and personal projects organized. What makes Trello stand out from the crowd of other collaboration and project management applications is its devotion to simplicity. This app has everything a collaboration service could need, without the bells and whistles can throw some web-apps off track.

Rather than creating robust user accounts with dozens of different tabs and pages to click through, Trello has taken a pared down approach to collaboration and organization. Create an account, and you’ll head directly to your main Trello page. This single page is where all the action for your account will occur. Each project you create will have its own board, and each board is comprised of a series of lists. Each list contains multiple cards, which are the individual tasks that need to be completed in order for the project to move forward. In addition to a basic description of the task, you can use cards as a place to save attachments, embed videos, or post checklists. Specific users can be assigned to specific cards, and you can set due dates for when the tasks described on each card need to be complete.

As the creator of a board, you have total control over all the permissions and settings. Boards can be made public—which is great when working with a client or an outside entity—or private. The people you’ve allowed to view your private board can elect to receive immediate notifications whenever someone leaves comments or edits a task they’ve been assigned to complete. Trello is a flexible application, so it can be used in dozens of different ways depending on each person’s individual needs.

Practical Uses:

• Organize your wedding or family reunion
• Work with colleagues on an upcoming marketing campaign
• Assign tasks to the writers and editors at your newspaper or magazine
• Create a personal to-do list with errands, cleaning schedules, and grocery lists

Insider Tips:

• Users can upload attachments, add images, and embed videos on cards
• Anyone who’s mentioned with an @ symbol before their name will receive an instant notification from the site
• All data that’s stored on Trello is saved and backed up hourly
• Trello works on all types of mobile devices

What we liked:

• People can get started with Trello without learning any special skills or keyboard shortcuts
• Trello works just as well for businesses as individuals and families
• Specific boards can be made public or private
• Trello lets people know when they’ve been mentioned on any boards they follow

What we didn’t like:

• Trello doesn’t have all the functionality of more robust collaboration applications

Alternatives:

• Basecamp – http://basecamphq.com
• flow.io – http://flow.io
• Pivotal Tracker – http://www.pivotaltracker.com

Company Info:

• Launched: September 2011
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: New York, New York
• Founded by: Joel Spolsky
• Web site: https://trello.com

Costs:

• Free

Rating:

• 5 out of 5 (wow)