5 ways to supercharge your project planning with Trello

Without Trello, this project would be a nightmare to organize.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

I’ve been using Trello for years and it has made project planning considerably easier for me.

Now, before I continue, I want to relieve your concerns that Trello is only for business projects. It’s not. I’ve used Trello for all sorts of things, from writing, planning, and managing a theatrical production to pitching articles to clients and even planning out books. Trello can help supercharge just about any kind of project you have.

Let me show you how it achieves this.

1. It’s all about the Kanban

If you’re unfamiliar with Kanban boards, let me give you the skinny. Kanban boards are a visual representation of your project that is split into columns. 

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For example, you could have a project board called Chores with columns titled To Do, Doing, and Done. You could then add a card named Dishes to the To Do column. When you start working on that chore, drag and drop the Dishes card from To Do to Doing. When the chore is done, drag the Dishes card from Doing to Done. 

Kanban boards make it incredibly easy to see where each task (card) lies in the process. Of course, you can create as many columns as you need. For example, in my Production Workspace for my Me And My Muse series, I have columns for Venue, Cast, Episode Ideas, Pilot, EP2, EP3, etc. 

In this instance, I’m not actually dragging and dropping cards between tasks but rather adding cards to each column to keep track of what’s needed. In all my efforts to manage projects, Kanban boards are the best option. The important thing here is to make sure you create your board in such a way that helps you get an at-a-glance look at your project and the status of all of its tasks.

Without Trello, this project would be a nightmare to organize.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

2. Sharing is caring

Another thing that can really help you out is sharing your board with those who will be participating in the project. 

Once you’ve added users, you can assign cards to those who need in on that particular piece of the puzzle, which can be very helpful when you have several members added to the board, but not everyone needs access to every card. 

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Once members have accepted their invitation to the board, you can then add them individually on a per-card basis. Then, once a member has been added, they can also watch that card, which means Trello will automatically send them notifications should anything change.

Adding members to a card is very simple (and effective).

Jack WallenZDNET

3. Details matter

You might be tempted to add a card to a column with nothing more than a title. That’s fine if the task is simple. But if the task needs instructions or any other type of detail, you will want to add it. 

Each card has a description section, a cover image, attachments, dates, checklists, labels, and more. The more information you add to a card, the better prepared those assignees will be for success. 

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I’ve had instances where I tossed a card onto a column with nothing more than a title. Days (or weeks) later, when I go to take care of that task, I can’t remember what needed doing (or how to do it). To that end, I always add as much detail as I can to a card. Those details will matter.

I always suggest adding more details than needed.

Jack WallenZDNET

4. It’s all about ‘Power-Ups’

Trello includes the ability to expand the feature set of the basic board with the help of Power-Ups. These extensions range in functionality, so you’ll find one for just about any need you have, such as Slack integration, analytics, automation, file management, product & design, and so much more. 

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Even better is that Power-Ups are available for both free and paid accounts. Do know that some Power-Ups have an associated cost, but many are free. To access Power-Ups, click the Rocket icon in the Trello toolbar, search for the one you want, and click “Add.”

You’ll find an endless supply of Power-Ups available for Trello.

Jack WallenZDNET

5. Make use of templates

Trello also includes a rich array of templates you can use. You’ll find templates for meeting agendas, company overviews, teacher weekly planning, video production, ceremony bookings, travel inspiration, guided gratitude practice, planning a book, home purchasing, and more. 

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Templates make it easy to create quick boards without spending much time planning and designing them. Like Power-Ups, templates are free to use.

Templates are a great way to quickly create a new Workspace without much effort.

Jack WallenZDNET

It won’t take you long to get up to speed with Trello, and once you’re using it, you’ll find your projects run far more smoothly, with less chaos and confusion.

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