What is Trello?

Trello is an online collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable teams to organize and prioritize projects in a fun, flexible, and rewarding way. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on, what stage of the process each task is in, and who's working on what. It's a bit like having sticky notes on a wall where everyone in the room can see what's going on. But because Trello is online, you can connect to team members all over the world and integrate to many other online systems. But why use Trello?

What do businesses use Trello for?

Whether it is for work, a side project or even personal plans, Trello is a great tool for staying organized and getting work done. Trello is useful for multiple aspects of a business. It can act as a project management tool, allowing you to monitor and track progress throughout the lifecycle of the project. Using a Trello board is a simple way to break up an intimidating big task or project into smaller pieces.

Trello can also be used to manage ongoing processes and tasks, such as monthly finance admin, human resource activities, training, sales and research. Anything that needs organization and/or collaboration can benefit from Trello’s visual planning features. Having the status of tasks online, represented visually by cards in lists, keeps the whole team up-to date and provides a central place to discuss progress.

In addition to team collaboration, Trello can also help you organise your personal life and boost productivity. We all know the feeling at the end of a work day or week when you’re scrambling to get your personal errands sorted and ‘adulting’ becomes a little too much to handle. Rather than tracking personal to-do’s in your head, or on paper, use Trello to keep a visual overview of what needs to get done.

Why should you use Trello in your business?

Trello’s greatest strengths are in its simplicity and flexibility.

Other online project management tools might have more bells and whistles, but as software becomes more complex, it becomes harder to use and less likely to be adopted by teams for their day-to-day tasks. It is here that Trello shines. Because Trello is so focussed on keeping everything within the framework of boards, lists and cards, it is super simple and intuitive for new users to get started. There is not much to learn and understand. It is so easy and fast to use, that you’ll probably enjoy using Trello, even after many years of daily use.

Even though the core features of Trello are simple and easy-to-use, Trello can still be a powerful software platform for your business. Software tools with more complex feature are often prescriptive about how you need to work. You might end up having to compromise on your process in order to use the software. But Trello is completely flexible - you can use whatever workflow and processes make sense for your team. The software can adjust around what you need to achieve. Think carefully about the boards, lists and cards you need, and how your team members should participate. For example, cards should be moved from left to right as they progress through different stages, with each list representing a different stage of work. And the sequence of cards in each list should indicate the priority of the task. The names of the lists and the types of tasks depend on what works best for your team. And each Trello card can be a mini project on its own - tracking check-list items, due dates and conversations between team members. Although its a good idea to plan your setup carefully up-front, you can also easily tweak your process over time - always evolving to adapt to new challenges and opportunities.

Power-Ups (think of a Power-Up as another fancy word for “plug-in”) bring additional functionality into Trello so that you can customise your Trello Board to suit your specific requirements. This makes Trello even more flexible, letting you create custom workflows and automations to take your team to the next level or productivity. Some Power-Ups provide helpful tools within Trello, while other Power-Ups integrate your favorite apps right into your Trello workspace. Check out our previous article -Top 15 Best Trello Power-Ups for Teams and Project Management, to decide on the best Power-Ups for you and your team.

How much does Trello cost?

Another factor that makes Trello extremely accessible is its flexible pricing model. Trello is free to use, with a tiered premium pricing model. This means that Trello is accessible not just to businesses, where costs can be offset against the increased productivity Trello brings, but for individuals too. Whether you’re a self-employed freelancer or someone looking to bring order to a busy personal life, Trello’s free version is a very comprehensive package. Key features are free to use and there are specific solutions available through Power-Ups. Trello paid plans start from $9.99 per user per month.

These low barriers to entry mean that getting started with Trello requires a minimal investment of time and money. But using Trello can greatly increase the impact you bring through your business or personal life.

How does Trello compare to other online collaboration tools?

In general, online collaboration tools have gained significant popularity in recent years. Especially with remote working becoming the new normal, it has been crucial for teams to find new ways to work with each other digitally and to ensure that collaboration remains smooth. Trello is one of many such tools. Others include Asana, Monday.com, Smartsheet and Planview; Microsoft has also launched a Trello rival, Planner. With a plethora of tools and project management apps available, it can be overwhelming to select the right tool for your business.

So what are the key considerations and how does each tool fare in comparison to the next? Some of the most important features to consider are:

1. Real-time collaboration

2. File management and document sharing

3. Time-tracking

4. Reporting

5. Workflows and boards

6. Third party integrations

The best project management tools are simple to use, and they have the gentlest learning curve possible, which helps encourage adoption and drive efficiency. Whilst Asana, Monday.com, Smartsheet and Planview are all project management tools and they might seem more powerful, they can also feel less flexible. Although many of these tools offer a ‘kanban’ view, similar to Trello, they are a lot more complicated for new users to try and understand. Smartsheet’s approach is to mimic the look and feel of a spreadsheet. For those who are comfortable working in Excel or Google Sheets, this might feel intuitive. But for those who are not, it could be a little daunting.

You’ll need to make your own decision on what works best for your team. But we’ve’ found that Trello’s consistent focus on simplicity and flexibility makes it a great option for almost any team. And Trello’s growing list of Power-Ups make it an even more attractive option. You can integrate third party apps like your email or calendar directly into your Trello board so that your workflow is streamlined on one single platform that is easy to navigate and share with others.

An email help desk in Trello

If you haven’t picked it up yet, we’re massive Trello fans. We love Trello so much that we built an email Power-Up so that we could use Trello to send and receive emails for our shared email addresses (help@, careers@, accounts@).

With Power-Ups like SendBoard, Trello can be used as an alternative to other expensive software tools like CRM or help desk software. You can do more of your work in the easy-to-use Trello apps, and save money in the process. Trello is much more than a project management system - it can become a hub for your whole team to organise and collaborate around daily tasks.

A common misconception is that help desk software is only suited for big companies. No matter how small your business is, email help desk software can help you manage email workflows, work collaboratively and efficiently as a team, and improve the overall customer experience. Read more about the benefits of email help desk software for small businesses in our article -5 Reasons your Small Business should use an Email Help Desk Software.

A simple & flexible solution

Whilst there are many project management tools available in the market, it would be a mistake to merely go with the one that has the most features or the cleverest marketing campaigns. Bells and whistles often go unused, and add clutter rather than provide real value. Instead, opt for a simple option that is highly customizable. Trello might seem overly simple, but if you take the time to customise the setup and add the right Power-Ups, it can become a powerful central hub for your whole business.