How to Collaborate with Teams using Trello

Edited 1 week ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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In today's digital age, collaboration tools have become paramount for effective teamwork, whether a team is working remotely or in the same office. Trello is one such tool that facilitates seamless collaboration through its intuitive interface and flexible features. Trello helps organize tasks, projects, and workflows using boards, lists, and cards. This guide will provide you with detailed information on how to collaborate with teams using Trello, including everything from setting up your first board to maximizing its features for effective project management.

Getting started with Trello

Before collaborating, it’s important to understand Trello’s basic structure: boards, lists, and cards.

• Boards: These are the main projects or larger categories you are working on.
• Lists: Within a board, lists help categorize tasks, often representing stages of a workflow, such as “to do,” “in progress,” and “done.”
• Cards: Cards are tasks or items that you and your team are working on. They live in lists and can be moved around within lists as needed.

To start collaborating, you'll first need a Trello account, which involves signing up on Trello's website. Once you've signed in, you can create a new board and start adding lists that suit your team's workflow.

Creating your first board

A board in Trello represents a project. By clicking "Create New Board" from the Trello homepage, you can set up a board with a specific title, such as "Website Launch" if your team is working on bringing a new website to life. Customize the board with a specific background color or image to make it visually appealing. Once your board is created, share it with your team members by clicking "Invite" and entering their email addresses. This step ensures that everyone who needs to access the board and contribute can collaborate.

Creating lists

Lists in Trello act as categories that organize related cards. A typical setup might include:

• To-Do: A collection of tasks that need to be completed.
• In progress: Works currently underway.
• Complete: The task is completed.

However, the structure of the lists can be customized based on the needs of the team. For example, a software development team might use lists such as "backlog," "in development," "in review," and "completed."

Organizing tasks with cards

Cards are the main component of the board. They are used to represent individual items or tasks. When you open a card, you can add supporting details such as descriptions, file attachments, checklists, due dates, and labels. For example, a card might be “Write a blog post.” Within this card, you could add a checklist with items such as “Research topic,” “Draft outline,” “Write content,” and “Edit final draft.” This way, tasks are tracked efficiently, and team members can see at a glance what needs to be done and what has been completed.

Advanced collaboration features

Once you have your boards, lists, and cards set up, Trello offers a number of advanced features to enhance collaboration within the team.

Power ups

Trello Power-Ups are add-ons that extend the functionality of Trello boards. They integrate with other apps and provide additional features such as:

• Calendar view: For teams managing time-sensitive projects, syncing Trello with a calendar view provides an overview of power-up due dates and deadlines.
• Card Aging: This power-up helps see which cards have been inactive for a while by shading them differently, thus highlighting tasks that need attention.
• Time tracking: By integrating with time-tracking tools, you can monitor the time spent on tasks, leading to greater efficiency in workload distribution.

Power-ups can be added from the Board menu, allowing your team to customize Trello boards to suit specific needs and workflows.

Labels and tags

Trello lets you use labels, which help categorize tasks based on criteria such as priority level, task type, or department. For example, to use labels:

• Create labels like “Urgent,” “Low Priority,” or “Bug.”
• Put relevant labels on the cards so each team member can quickly identify important tasks.

By visually differentiating cards with colors and tags, teams can effectively sort tasks and identify which ones require immediate attention.

Team communication

Communication is key in collaboration, and Trello supports this with comment sections on each card. Team members can leave comments, mention other members with @ usernames, or integrate with other communication platforms like Slack for real-time notifications.

For example, within a card for a task like “Design Mockup”:

• The introductory note may provide a brief overview of the design and outline relevant expectations.
• Team members can reply with updates, questions, or feedback directly below that comment.

By linking conversations within cards to their corresponding tasks, context is maintained, allowing for streamlined communication.

Checklist

Each card on Trello can have a checklist for sub-tasks. This feature is useful for breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable parts. For example, in a card labeled "Launch Campaign," the checklist could include:

• Finalize your ads
• Set a budget
• Access the schedule
• Alignment meeting with stakeholders

Checking off tasks as they’re completed allows team members to see progress, which increases accountability and efficiency.

Best practices for team collaboration on Trello

To maximize Trello's effectiveness as a collaboration tool, adopting certain best practices can significantly improve team efficiency and project results.

Define clear processes and roles

All teams should have a clear understanding of processes and roles when using Trello. This includes setting clear expectations, such as who is responsible for moving cards between lists, who manages board updates, and what is considered a “done” task. When everyone understands their responsibilities, workflow runs smoothly, and accountability is straightforward.

Regular board review

Regularly reviewing the board helps teams stay focused and adapt to new priorities. Schedule weekly or bi-weekly meetings dedicated to reviewing the board where:

• Accomplished tasks are summarized and celebrated.
• New tasks are presented and assigned.
• Any obstacles to current tasks are discussed and resolved.

Regular reviews keep everyone informed of any changes or updates.

Limit work in progress

It is beneficial to limit the number of tasks being actively performed at any given time. This practice, inspired by the Kanban methodology, helps to avoid bottlenecks, maintain high-quality output, and ensure effective progress tracking within the Trello board. To increase productivity, encourage team members to focus on completing tasks before starting new ones.

Encourage continuous feedback

Trello can be most effective when team members are allowed to provide ongoing feedback. Implementing features like voting on important decisions within cards or a feedback list for team improvement ideas can create an environment of open communication and teamwork.

Trello integration for better collaboration

Trello supports many third-party integrations that can extend its capabilities and promote efficient teamwork. Here are some popular integrations:

Slack integration

With the Slack integration, Trello boards and cards can be connected directly to Slack channels, where activities can generate automatic updates. This integration is ideal for:

• Keeping teams updated in real-time as tasks move through the workflow.
• Providing instant notification for assigned tasks without the need to constantly check Trello.

Google Drive integration

The Google Drive integration allows teams to easily attach files or folders directly to Trello cards. With this, all documents related to a particular task are easily accessible within the card, reducing the time spent looking for the necessary information.

Asana integration

Asana is another project management tool, and its integration with Trello can enable more seamless project tracking. By syncing projects between Trello and Asana, tasks can be managed through separate workflows or departments, but overall visibility can be maintained across both platforms.

Conclusion

Trello provides a reliable platform for teams to collaborate effectively, manage tasks agilely, and maintain clear communication. Whether you're working with a startup team, a remote group, or large organizations, Trello's flexible and user-friendly design can be tailored to a variety of projects and objectives. By taking advantage of its features, adopting recommended practices, and integrating with other tools, you can maximize collaborative efforts and productivity. As teams continue to adopt digital tools for collaboration, Trello shines as a valuable asset that's able to adapt to the unique needs of different teams, ensuring successful project outcomes.

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