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I've looked at Trello several times, and it's always seemed like a great app to work with... but I never got around to actually using it. So, open question tim

by edanm 14y ago

I've looked at Trello several times, and it's always seemed like a great app to work with... but I never got around to actually using it. So, open question time: How do all you HN'ers use Trello? What kind of things do you manage with it? Bonus for telling us what you used before, and how Trello makes it easier. Super-duper bonus for anything to do with running software projects, and running businesses. Thanks!

basicallydan 14y ago
I used Mingle before in a very large project. It was good enough, but soon I moved to a smaller project (4-7 people at any one time) and switching to Trello has proved to be a real asset. We create cards (story cards, basically) for each user experience and move them to different columns (Backlog, In Progress, Done) and then archive columns at the end of each Iteration. We also have Known Issues columns and we maintain a large amount of our discussions about implementation on cards. Also as the developer on the project, I find it useful to put the individual tasks of each user experience on the corresponding cards, which I can split into lists (such as 'API Tasks' and 'UI Tasks'). It's very flexible, and I've found it to work very well with the way I intuitively do things. I also use it on a small side project that I do with a colleague of mine. We love it. Everyone with whom I work on Trello loves it and we avidly follow its development.
mleonhard 14y ago
Before Trello, I used a simple text wiki named ZuluPad. Now I use five Trello lists: 1. Customers 2. Follow Up (contacted potential customers) 3. To Do (uncontacted potential customers, features, bug fixes, business tasks) 4. Done 2013-01-06~ (tasks completed this week, nice to look over at the beginning of each week) 5. Wishlist (everything that isn't a priority) I use checklists to keep track of development tasks and testing. I write comments when I interact with a customer. Trello is awesome. I just wish it could make Google Calendar entries for cards that have due dates.
adrianhoward 14y ago
So, open question time: How do all you HN'ers use Trello? What kind of things do you manage with it? Bonus for telling us what you used before, and how Trello makes it easier. Super-duper bonus for anything to do with running software projects, and running businesses. Things I've been using it for: * Tracking people through recruitment process * Tracking people through usability testing screening / testing / followup process * User stories / hypothesis through dev process * Pretty much everything the company is doing (we have multiple backlogs like Learning, Marketing, Product Ideas, Potential clients, etc. that feed into a separate single kanban-style board that covers the next four or five weeks worth of work) * Used it for open and closed card sorts for UX/IA work. * Organising conferences The thing I like about Trello is that it's pretty much process agnostic. There's very little there that's not related to organising the cards. Which works well for me since what I use by default is cards - or post-it notes - stuck to the wall. I've previously played with pivitol, mingle, basecamp, etc. They were mostly trying to do too much for me and felt like I was trying to mangle my process to fit the tool. Trello lets me fit the tool to my process. The places where I use Trello are where I've not got enough wall space for physical cards (e.g. there are about 200 odd cards on the company backlog board), when I'm working with people in multiple locations, and when I'm doing stuff when I'm on the road. I still have a physical board. When we're in the office for extended periods we pretty much ignore Trello for the "real" board. If we're in/out we keep the physical/trello boards synced. If we're on the road we just use trello and sync on return.
hispanic 14y ago
We lay our project's stories into sprints using Trello. Previously, we had used physical cards. However, while all of our developers are located out of one office, we have stakeholders beyond the US that never felt fully-involved with physical cards. Trello enhances their feeling of control and visibility into the project. And, for those times where somebody works from home, the impact is zero. We also track story progress (analysis, development, testing, business approval, etc.) on a second board. Previously, we had used a spreadsheet. Trello's support for quickly copying/moving cards and notifying board members of changes are powerful. For our stories, each card description is structured as "[story number] [story points] [story summary]". Would it be nice if Trello "natively" supported these attributes? Sure, but it doesn't hinder our use. In my mind, a great sign of Trello's awesomeness is that our use of it has grown organically. While waiting for others in the company to take Rally/Mingle/etc. through the discussion, evaluation, install, etc. process, I just started a board on Trello one day and watched it work for us. :)

by edanm 14y ago

basicallydan 14y ago

I used Mingle before in a very large project. It was good enough, but soon I moved to a smaller project (4-7 people at any one time) and switching to Trello has proved to be a real asset. We create cards (story cards, basically) for each user experience and move them to different columns (Backlog, In Progress, Done) and then archive columns at the end of each Iteration. We also have Known Issues columns and we maintain a large amount of our discussions about implementation on cards. Also as the developer on the project, I find it useful to put the individual tasks of each user experience on the corresponding cards, which I can split into lists (such as 'API Tasks' and 'UI Tasks'). It's very flexible, and I've found it to work very well with the way I intuitively do things. I also use it on a small side project that I do with a colleague of mine. We love it. Everyone with whom I work on Trello loves it and we avidly follow its development.

mleonhard 14y ago

Before Trello, I used a simple text wiki named ZuluPad. Now I use five Trello lists: 1. Customers 2. Follow Up (contacted potential customers) 3. To Do (uncontacted potential customers, features, bug fixes, business tasks) 4. Done 2013-01-06~ (tasks completed this week, nice to look over at the beginning of each week) 5. Wishlist (everything that isn't a priority) I use checklists to keep track of development tasks and testing. I write comments when I interact with a customer. Trello is awesome. I just wish it could make Google Calendar entries for cards that have due dates.

adrianhoward 14y ago

So, open question time: How do all you HN'ers use Trello? What kind of things do you manage with it? Bonus for telling us what you used before, and how Trello makes it easier. Super-duper bonus for anything to do with running software projects, and running businesses. Things I've been using it for: * Tracking people through recruitment process * Tracking people through usability testing screening / testing / followup process * User stories / hypothesis through dev process * Pretty much everything the company is doing (we have multiple backlogs like Learning, Marketing, Product Ideas, Potential clients, etc. that feed into a separate single kanban-style board that covers the next four or five weeks worth of work) * Used it for open and closed card sorts for UX/IA work. * Organising conferences The thing I like about Trello is that it's pretty much process agnostic. There's very little there that's not related to organising the cards. Which works well for me since what I use by default is cards - or post-it notes - stuck to the wall. I've previously played with pivitol, mingle, basecamp, etc. They were mostly trying to do too much for me and felt like I was trying to mangle my process to fit the tool. Trello lets me fit the tool to my process. The places where I use Trello are where I've not got enough wall space for physical cards (e.g. there are about 200 odd cards on the company backlog board), when I'm working with people in multiple locations, and when I'm doing stuff when I'm on the road. I still have a physical board. When we're in the office for extended periods we pretty much ignore Trello for the "real" board. If we're in/out we keep the physical/trello boards synced. If we're on the road we just use trello and sync on return.

hispanic 14y ago

We lay our project's stories into sprints using Trello. Previously, we had used physical cards. However, while all of our developers are located out of one office, we have stakeholders beyond the US that never felt fully-involved with physical cards. Trello enhances their feeling of control and visibility into the project. And, for those times where somebody works from home, the impact is zero. We also track story progress (analysis, development, testing, business approval, etc.) on a second board. Previously, we had used a spreadsheet. Trello's support for quickly copying/moving cards and notifying board members of changes are powerful. For our stories, each card description is structured as "[story number] [story points] [story summary]". Would it be nice if Trello "natively" supported these attributes? Sure, but it doesn't hinder our use. In my mind, a great sign of Trello's awesomeness is that our use of it has grown organically. While waiting for others in the company to take Rally/Mingle/etc. through the discussion, evaluation, install, etc. process, I just started a board on Trello one day and watched it work for us. :)