I have had several clients over the past year where they have asked me to manage their projects or programmes for them. Sometimes, if the client is relatively “immature” in their approach to project management the last thing they want or need is lots of project templates and Gantt charts. I have been using Trello as a simple tool to help me (and them).

1. © 2015 Copyright ISC Ltd.
How I use to
support client projects
Ian J Seath

2. Start from the client’s perspective
 Sometimes, if a client is
relatively “immature” in
their approach to project
management the last
thing they want or need is
lots of project templates
and Gantt charts
 I use Trello as a simple
tool to help me (and them)
© 2015 Copyright ISC Ltd.

3. Boards, columns and cards
 Trello has its origins in
agile project management
and comprises three core
components: boards,
columns and cards
 I create a new Board for
each programme or project
 Columns capture when
work needs to be done
(week or month)
 Cards then capture what
needs to be done and by
whom, with specific
deadlines
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4. First: define Trello’s columns
 A “conventional” (simple) agile board would
have columns for “To Do”, “In Progress” and
“Done”
 I find that columns for months or weeks
works better for me, for most client projects
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To do
• Activity F
• Activity G
In progress
• Activity C
• Activity D
• Activity E
Done
• Activity A
• Activity B

5. Use Trello’s labels for RAG status
 My column headings might be “week commencing” for shorter
projects or “month” for longer ones and for programmes
 In the case of weekly columns, I use cards to capture activities: the
work that needs to be started or finished in that week
 Each card is colour-coded with a status such as “On track”,
“Concerns”, “Problems” or “Done”
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6. Not yet started and Due Dates
 I have sometimes colour-coded Trello labels blue for “not
yet started”, but found it’s more efficient just to leave off
any colour-coding
 Any uncoloured card is therefore “not yet started” in a
particular time period; everything else is underway
 Trello also enables me to put specific due dates on each
activity, if needed, and lower levels of detail for tasks can
be added by using a checklist on any card
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Due Date
Status:
“Done”

7. Multi-week activities
 If an activity spans several weeks I create a card for the
first week which says “start doing xyz” and show the Due
Date on that card
 In the week when the activity is due to end, I create a
“complete xyz” card and repeat the Due Date
 Everybody then knows exactly what is due to be started
and completed each week.
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8. Longer projects and programmes
 For projects where I use the
monthly column headings, I
tend to use cards to define the
milestones and deliverables
due in each month
 I use the same colour-codes
for monthly status as for my
weekly boards
 The reason I don’t put detailed
activity descriptions on the
monthly cards is that there is
more time available in the
project for me to have one-to-
one discussions with the
people who will be doing the
work
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9. Trello is a collaboration tool, but…
 Sometimes, I share the
Trello board with my
clients
 More often, I just want
them to focus on doing
what’s required and not
be distracted by having to
log into a system they’ve
not seen before (and
won’t want to update
themselves)
© 2015 Copyright ISC Ltd.

10. Useful Trello Extensions
 To help with reporting progress I use a Chrome
extension called Export for Trello which enables
me to export the Trello board to an Excel file
 Projects for Trello enables me to label each
card with the activity owner’s initials
 Putting their initials in {parentheses} shows up as a
label on the card and I can then filter the Excel
spreadsheet reports by person
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11. In summary…
 As project manager I get all the benefits of
visual management of the project when I
work in Trello, while the client gets clear,
simple communication on what needs to be
done next and how things are progressing
 Trello’s flexibility means there is no one “right
way” to use it and it can be configured to
meet a wide range of needs (not just project
management)
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12. I’m a Trello fan!
 I already use Trello to share my Project Management
resources via my blog
 Trello is such a flexible tool that it’s easy to configure it in
a way that will work for many different types of project
 Oh, by the way, it’s free! [trello.com]
© 2015 Copyright ISC Ltd.

13. © 2015 Copyright ISC Ltd.
• ian.seath@improvement-skills.co.uk
• 07850 728506
• @ianjseath
• www.improvement-skills.co.uk
Read more of my Project Management articles here.