Trello Review: The Ups, Downs and Workarounds of Trello

Trello touts three major features of its software: it’s simple, flexible, and powerful. In the realm of task management, these factors tend to get the job done.

 As an online-based platform, all files created in the app live online. This makes sharing, finding, and creating workflows easier for both small or large teams.

 Though it may have superior task management, the system in place could make keeping track of who changes what difficult to follow, in turn complicating tasks.

 Let’s take a closer look at Trello and find if it’s really all it’s made out to be.

Trello’s Features

Score: 4 / 5

In the simplest of terms, Trello is like a digital chore chart composed of boards, lists, and cards. For example, imagine a board is titled “Project Alpha” and you create three lists labeled ‘To Do’ ‘Doing’ and ‘Done’ with cards stipulating tasks in their respective columns. 

This flow chart format gives a visual representation of your team’s workflow helping prevent any one person from having too much on their plate at one time, which we all know can lead to missing deadlines and even worse—burnout. 

These features work well with project creation, such as video editing or article writing. It’s easy on the eyes yet keeps everything organized.   

The boards can be upgraded with a Power-Up which is a link feature enabling Trello to communicate with other apps, such as Slack or Google Hangouts. 

But not all work is suited for this setup. If you are working on a giant project but miss a deadline and have to shift all future plans, Trello cannot update all parts to accommodate these changes.

Ease of Use

Score: 4.9 / 5

With the board format, also referred to as the kanban format, Trello’s interface poses little to no trouble. 

Possible hiccups could occur in the learning stages of the program, but it’s simple enough for pretty much anyone to use. 

If you or a team member never used Trello or something similar before, the boards could be a little overwhelming when creating or adding to them at first. It can take some trial and error, but rarely is this trial period seen as a hindrance by users. 

If you happen to use other apps to communicate with team members, the Power Up feature may assist in consolidating apps open at one time, which could save time. 

Trello’s Cost

Score: 4.5 / 5

Teams of varying sizes can find that Trello’s free version provides a healthy number of tools for tasks without a monthly fee. 

The free tier includes 10 team boards, one power upper board, and unlimited cards and team members to get your projects quickly organized and underway.  

The paid tiers, Business, and Enterprise are on par with competitors like ClickUp. Starting at $12.50/person monthly, these versions include new features such as a dashboard and calendar, added storage space, more power-ups, and team member allowance.

Final Score – 4.4 / 5

Trello is a visual-focused app to aid in project organization and collaboration efforts. The free version offers premium-level tool access while still having much to offer in the paid iterations. 

New users may find the number of boards or cards confusing at first but would have little trouble learning the interface in a short period of time. 

Trello Alternatives

•       ClickUp – Similar free tier access, more effective for high volume projects
•       Asana – intuitive user interface, used primarily for task management