What is Trello?
Hi, I’m Kota, a director of web development, designing, and marketing.
In this article, I will introduce the task management tool Trello. Trello is a pioneer service that made web-based Kanban style task management method popular. Kanban style is also called “board format task management”.
Like many other services, it is a foreign-made service, but it is also available in Japanese and offers a free plan.
Please check the official page with each languages.
Basic Information of Trello
Trello is a project management and task management tool provided by Atlassian, an Australian software company.
Launched in 2011, it was initially developed and operated by the different company called “Fog Creek”. In the same year of the launch, it was featured in Wired magazine as one of ‘The 7 Coolest Startups You Haven’t Heard of Yet.’
While it now offers features as a project management tool, during its early days, Trello was primarily seen as a tool for task management. As a result, it was known for its simplicity, making it easy for even those unfamiliar with web to adopt smoothly.
This is my personal point of view, I think it gained widespread popularity around 2015.
Trello was acquired by Atlassian in January 2017. Atlassian provides strong services in the web industry, including Git repository management service Bitbucket and project management service Jira.
Therefore, I personally expect that Trello will continue to evolve as it absorbs trends in the web industry.
What is the Kanban Method?
The Kanban method is one of the task management techniques, and the term “kanban” is currently used in some industries even overseas.
This Kanban method seems to be a part of the “Just-In-Time production system,” a management system used in manufacturing, which is also adopted by companies like Toyota.
On Toyota’s official website, it is explained as follows.
The expression may be different from each countries website.
Kanban (English: Signboard): A system that conveys information between processes and automatically orders parts as they are used up. Every item or box of items that flows through the production process carries its own kanban. Kanbans come off items that have been used or transported and go back to the preceding processes as orders for additional items
Though literally translated as ‘signboard’, the Toyota-developed method has become known as a clear, sign-based scheduling system triggering the logistical chain of production and maintaining it at an optimal level.
Kanban displays can broadcast lots of different types of information, from stock levels to production volumes. In its simplest form a kanban board will show goods in, goods in production, and goods out.
Over time, Toyota has evolved this considerably.
Kanban is the quick-response system through which Just-In-Time production is achieved, harmonising inventory levels with actual consumption. Toyota has six rules for the effective application of Kanban: 1) Never pass on defective products; 2) Take only what is needed; 3) Produce the exact quantity required; 4) Level the production; 5) Fine-tune production; and 6) Stabilise and rationalise the process.
Source: Kanban – Toyota Production System guide
https://mag.toyota.co.uk/kanban-toyota-production-system/
What Trello can do
Kanban-style task management
Trello is good at managing task progress in a kanban format, and I think Trello has influenced many tools in this field.
The analog Kanban format looks something like this
Trello makes it possible to manage this digitally, allowing tasks to be managed in the display format shown in the following figure.
https://trello.com/b/YSlldFw3/開発プロジェクトの管理ボード
As shown above, tasks can be moved according to their status by drag and drop.
Non-kanban displays are also available
In addition to Kanban style, Trello has now grown to a product that can also easily manage large projects, with Gantt charts and timeline views.
As for the evolution of this product, Atlassian may have contributed (Just my guess).
Plenty of templates
https://trello.com/templates/marketing
Trello’s Template Gallery provides templates for different types of work.
By using these templates, you can easily set up the initial project management.
Templates are provided for a wide range of usages, from general project management to human resource management, email marketing, and more.
Works with a variety of apps for adding functionality
With Trello, you can use integration with apps such as Jira provided by Atlassian, as well as Slack, Google Drive, and InVision, is possible.
Let’s have look at the “Connect Trello to everything” page!
It is also available in Japanese, so what about? how about considering?
