Trellois a flexible collaboration tool used by over 17 million people in a multitude of ways.
But how does the 100-person team behind Trello put the tool to use itself?
With the same incredible amount of variety as Trellos avid users.
The Trello team relies on over 150 Trello boards to grow the product and support Trello users worldwide.
And that doesnt even include employees personal and private Trello boards.
Its safe to say that Trello, the company, wouldnt run as efficiently without its own product.
Our users pain points are our pain points, and their delights are ours, too.
Join us in peering into the window of the Trello office and gain Trello tipsstraight from the source.
To streamline that process, she relies heavily on a Recruiting Hub board.
The checklists within the cards help us make decisions early on, Lewis says.
At that point, were already ready to go.
A template card on the far left of the board helps check that each card follows the samemarkdown format.
The recruiting team created their board only three months ago.
As Trellos hiring needs increased, they developed a more organized, transparent way to prepare new job roles.
That was a big change, and it forces you to think about content differently.
Those boards hold no action items, only reference items.
Actionable boards are especially helpful for tackling team projects.
Every Power-Up launch board is set up in the same way, Peterson says.
That way, important details are the first thing team members see.
Lewis and her husband use a Trello board to track household work.
Maybe I should even invite her friends to the board!
Each of our engineering teamsincluding the web, iOS, and Android teamshave their own boards, Earhart says.
That way, a support agent can drop a card in the incoming list about a possible bug.
We know the team will go through that list at least once a week.
Key details about the cardsuch as the cards descriptionappear for people to discuss right away.
When someone drops a card in our incoming list, the marketing team discusses the content, Moon says.
But the Trello team combats this by using Trello cards to help guide meeting agendas and stay efficient.
Time efficiency is especially important to Peterson, who spends most of his time in meetings.
But, most of our meetings end early.
Peterson runs at least five one-on-one weekly meetings with his direct reports.
He uses Trello boards for all of them.
As we think of things during the week, we put cards on the one-on-one board, Peterson says.
We also haverecurring cardsthat represent developmental, career, and quarterly goals.
It makes the meetings great because it keeps us on track with time.
And, most importantly, you have a record of what you discussed each week.
If we didnt, what happened?
Then they link to that board from the original card.
During the whole meeting, we only discuss these cards.
If its not labeled on the board, we dont discuss it.
I live in Trello, so I dont need email notifications as much, Moon says.
Even when Moon does get Trello email notifications, she makes an effort to minimize those distractions.
Im a little bit of a stickler about mobile notifications.
I am literally always in Slack; I dont turn it off, Earhart says.
The app is very handy in that it auto-unfurls cards within Slack.
Lewis relies on a To-Dos Trello board to keep her on track with recurring, daily tasks.
Her first morning task is constant: Survey all open roles and get necessary updates from recruiters.
Once thats done, she moves the card to a done list.
She then goes back and forth between checking email and completing a card on her Trello board.
Im pretty disciplined about making sure I get through a single Trello card.
That way, I wont get interrupted during important tasks.
It takes different amounts of time on any given day to do different things, Lewis says.
So my personal Trello board is very fluid.
I am a big believer in rhythms.
Otherwise, I would be dividing my attention way too much.
An important thing for me is off-Slack time, Peterson says.
Otherwise, I definitely find myself getting trapped in too much noise.
Then she assigns tasks to each, accordingly.
Then I tell myself: Do your emails, and then work on these two articles.
Then what are you doing in the afternoon?
Well, Ill answer my emails, monitor Twitter, then work on this project.
I keep track of this loose schedule onpen and paper.
That way, its not too intimidating.
Trello is one of the top tools that people incorporate into their Zapier integrations (aka Zaps).
Then, they can fulfill the swag request more quickly.
Then, the team can concentrate on sharing thoughts about the editorial idea.
A Zap sends the form data to a Trello board that only we see, Moon says.
Ill label the new card with a yes, no, or maybe label.
I like being able to look at the card in Trello right away when theres new submissions.
That way, the content marketing team can claim incoming emails and collaborate on replies before sending them.
The fact that emails are already translated into English is just a huge timesaver, Earhart says.
Pro Tip:The Trello team also uses Zaps to automate important personal tasks.
For Earhart, a chance to see the musical Hamilton is ofutmostimportance.
Thats why you have that white board in your office.
