Trello is an agile project management system for teams with varying needs
Updated August 23, 2019

Trello is an agile project management system for teams with varying needs

Joel McAfee | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Trello

My entire organization utilizes Trello at a number of levels. First, we use it to manage business development by creating a board with business leads, bid information, and proposals. Then, when a project goes into production we create a separate board or list with information about how the project will be managed through completion. Each employee also uses Trello to manage their individual day-by-day schedule by creating boards with Monday-Friday lists that help prioritize, schedule, and execute individual tasks.
  • Trello is a useful tool for breaking down project tasks in a user interface that is visually easy to understand and drag and drop friendly, while also allowing a level of detail within individual cards that allow you to keep up with specific tasks and notes based on how things are organized.
  • Checklists are one of my favorite features on Trello cards. They allow for you to add details and to-do lists for yourself or your team, and it's easy to divide and conquer or convert to cards if you need to expand.
  • I love how you can drag and drop a particular card to another list. If you need to move tasks, cards, notes, (or whatever you are using a card for) to another list, it's incredibly simple.
  • I love how open and editable Trello is. You can totally adapt it based on the project or task size - it's useful for small or large teams.
  • In some ways, the thing that is great about Trello is also what is so difficult - it's an open slate. Unless you have a clear path about how to systemize your processes, it can be a bit difficult to get started.
  • Communication - The commenting is a bit limited and on larger projects or boards, it's easy to lose track of conversations. It would be nice if there were a way to unify chatting into one place or better organize it.
  • Templates - There aren't enough useful templates. Part of this I imagine is because everyone uses Trello differently, but I haven't yet found one that fits my need perfectly. I'd like to create my own templates for my team to use - and there are some ways to do that, but I'd prefer to have more options than currently exist.
  • The more time I put into developing our Trello systems, the more ROI we seem to get. We have to re-evaulate for each unique project, but it typically pays off.
  • We managed post-production for 3 seasons of TV on Trello - breaking each scene down into cards and a list being an episode. Once the organization was done, this saved massive amounts of time for my post-manager as he was able to direct new editors to the board and very easily explain how to jump in the mix and get started. We managed to accomplish a massive amount of work with a small team with a very simple project management system.
  • Trello has been difficult to implement in a broad-strokes sort-of way. For example - when onboarding a new project/client, we have to stop and think about how a given board needs to be set up, who needs to have permission to it, and where and how the information will be shared. We had to remove almost all conversation from Trello cards and move them to Slack channels in order to keep up with all the conversation as it became far too convoluted. It's not as pre-defined or process-oriented as a Basecamp, which doesn't always hurt, but it does often require more time to get started on a project.
If you set it up well, it would be a 10 in usability. If you don't set it up correctly, it's hard to blame Trello, except that they don't make a system that automatically meets your needs. It certainly isn't for everyone and every project, but I give it high marks because it can be made useful in the right hands for nearly any project.
I honestly haven't had to use it much, but they do tend to send regular newsletters on how to best use Trello and ideas for setting it up for your projects. It seems to be supported very well and its user base is incredibly helpful. I would have no problem reaching out to Trello to problem solve any issues I or my team encounter.
I would say Trello is very well suited for my team's needs as we are relatively small in size but frequently scale up based on the project's size and needs. We tend to use it at a basic level for organizing internal tasks and to-dos, but also develop large complicated boards when need be. It doesn't seem like other systems (like Basecamp) scale very well and really require a more consistent type of workload to make the best use of them.
Trello is well suited for small teams working on small to medium-sized projects. For larger teams, it may be difficult to collaborate without muddying the water too much. Too many cards, boards, and lists make it hard to keep up with individual comments and details. You end up having to create multiple boards for a given project which divides the team and that is often more harmful than it is helpful, however, it can be done. Project management requires time, thought, and reevaluation in order to keep things working well in an ever-changing environment. Trello does work well in those environments if you have an open mind and willingness to experiment.

Trello Feature Ratings

Task Management
9
Resource Management
7
Scheduling
7
Workflow Automation
4
Team Collaboration
8
Support for Agile Methodology
7
Support for Waterfall Methodology
7
Document Management
7
Email integration
6
Mobile Access
10
Timesheet Tracking
2
Change request and Case Management
4
Quotes/estimates
1
Invoicing
Not Rated
Project & financial reporting
Not Rated