My latest stop in software to try and run my business has been Trello. Unlike Daylite (read my Daylite review), Trello is not a specifically tailored CRM and Project management application.
Trello takes a much more open approach to dealing with managing business tasks. You can't specifically enter clients and then link emails, documents to them. At least not in a way similar to Daylite. You can make a card for a client, throw in their contact information, and then move that through your sales process.
@todo shot of client card in sales process
I know that someone is going to dig up my post about no business models and ask me why I'd even try a business crucial application that has no current business model. Well it's because Fog Creek is behind the software. Fog Creek has [gone on record][fogrecord] that they do plan on charging something at some point, but what you are using now will always be free. Fog Creek is a very reputable software company with many other sources of revenue. I'm willing to let their reputation stand in for the business model on this one. No startup would ever get a pass from me though.
@todo check fog creek spelling
@todo short summary of trello
Trello does not have a native desktop application. It is a web application and is meant to be used there. Sure you can use [Fluid][fluid] to build a 'native' application, but really you're just dedicating a web browser to it.
The fact that Trello is a web application is great, since you're not tied to a specific computer to use it. As long as you can access your username/password, and thus your account, you can work with Trello. Web applications also have a draw back though, you loose any system wide keyboard shortcuts.
So you can't be working in another application and then send things to Trello by pressing ⌘-SPACE, like you can with OmniFocus or another desktop native application. As I've stated many times, I'm a highly keyboard focused computer user so any application that doesn't have lots of keyboard navigation is going to feel a bit like a pain to me.
Trello has a fantastic iPhone and iPad application. They take the standard desktop controls and make them easy to use in a touch device world. I still do 98% of the management of cards from my desktop, but popping in to update discussion on an item is very easy from an iOS device.
@todo iPad shop
Trello is built to be wide open. You can organize a 'board' in to any system you want. My sales channel board has columns set up for dealing with sales. Long term clients with ongoing work get their own board that lets me keep their work all organized.
@todo think about an 'all project board'
This ability to build whatever you want, is also a hinderance for Trello. I had seen and played with Trello a number of times, without ever really figuring out how it could work for me. When I really decided to give Trello a go I spent a morning watching workflow screencasts for any business I could find. I even had the wonderful [@markpoppen][poppen] give me tour of how he is using Trello.
Only after investing a day in trying to see the possibilities of Trello, did I feel I could even give it a fair shot. If I had not spent the time doing that I would have been stumbling around trying to figure out a workflow. That would not have been a fair trial of the actual software since my lack of workflow would have hindered any workflow.
If you're thinking about Trello, here are a few suggested workflows for you to try out. Hopefully these will help you not get lost when you give it a go.
**Future: ** Any item that sounds like a good idea, but we are not working on right now. It's the same thing as a 'Someday' list for you GTD people.
To Do: All the things that we are currently working on. I make each major item a single card.
Bugs/Issues: Here we can create a new card of we want, or we can move an existing card in to the bug area, if we find something.
Doing: When I'm working on a specific card, I put it in this list. Helps clients see what is happening when they look at the board.
Done: When I think I'm done a card I put it in this list so that everyone knows it's time to review the work.
Approved: Typically this is really where a client can step in. They've taken the card, checked out the features and they agree that it's done.
Once something is in the approved list it typically sits for a while. Once it's sat I end up archiving it, since having 100 cards there starts to get a bit much to deal with.
One thing Trello doesn't do is track assets for a client across projects. I have one designer that I work with on many projects. We open a board for each and track the work for the project inside the board.
I've found more than once I end up looking all over to try and find an item for this specific colleague. Since it's spread across a bunch of project boards I sometimes end up looking all over to try and find what I want.
I'll write later how I've started using [Evernote][ever] to deal with this weakness of Trello.
- trello is free, so free is good
- does it actually work for managing a business though?
@todo link back to the post about some trello speed tips
[poppen]: [ever]: http://evernote.com