Trello...How Are You Using It?

[idsignsil]

I saw in another thread a mention of Trello for job management. Took a look at it and it look good, plus it's free. I have some questions for anyone who is using it, if you would like to share.

How have you set up everything? (just in general) I was thinking of having lists for Design, Production, Installation, Needs Billed.

If a person quits or gets fired, can you get rid of their account, or lock them out?

How do you feel about having all of that on the internet, what if the internet is not working? Does work stop for the day?

Do you have install guys that use it? Do they use their smart phones/does it work?

Have you done away with all paperwork? What about national accounts that need sign offs?

Any other thoughts or suggestions on how to integrate this would be great. Thanks

 

[slappy]

I seen that too.. but it looks like it's for groups of people working on a project together, which i'm normally the only one.
i found a few others also after watching a youtube video from this chick on that trello after the other thread, and just signed up for springpad which looks a lil more promising for me. Glad you posted on the topic cause i was also

 

[kanini]

I use it as you described it, Chad, with different lists for different tasks/machines, e.g. design, digital print, vinyl, lamination, assembly etc. I'm the only one using it for now, but after new year I think I'll have to get another employee involved in it too, but it works very well even if you are a one-man user.

I have the impression that you can delete/lock another users account if you are the "administrator" of the board, but I'll have to look in to that, good point!

It has been one occasion when the Trello was down (due to the thunderstorms), but that didn't really matter for us as we are a small shop, I then had to go trough the orders manually in the inbox etc., but I guess you have to take that into consideration and perhaps once a week print a hard copy (for example as PDF or on paper) if you want to have a backup.
I find that the cards change very fast since the work usually turns around in max. a week, so I guess it wouldn't be that big catastrophe if the whole system would go down. It is free to use after all...

Since I'm the only one right now using it (we are a three person shop only) I have Trellizzo app on my Windows phone and it works quite well. Fast and simple, but if you need to edit the cards more troughly then you should use a computer or pad.

 

[idsignsil]

kanini, thanks for the reply. We are a 6 person shop. Every job that comes in gets a plastic sleeve and everything gets shoved into it. Then it goes to whomever needs to do the next part of the job. Then the bosses are always looking for who has this paperwork, or where did I put that job. And the guys out back are not taking the job forms with them so they don't know what is going on. The old guy out back forgets to turn them in, so we don't know if a job is done. I am thinking, if I can get everyone to use Trello, we would know where the jobs were, who has done what, what needs done, and eliminate mountains of paperwork.

 

[Marie]

I saw the reference to Trello and have been playing around with it, too. We have three specific types of jobs: sign production, offset printing, and brokered. I set up a board for each one then put lists inside the board - like for brokered: Design, Ready to Order, On Order, and Received

I also made a board for "shop projects" - like straighten the storage shed or wash the van

I would love to be able to make three or four different checklists and have them saved somewhere and then be able to make a new card and pick which checklist is appropriate for that job. Anyone know if that is possible?

 

[jimbug72]

First I've heard of it, but it does look very interesting. Definitely going to check it out. Good thread!

 

[Priscilla]

I haven't heard of it until today- I've been using Evernote for simple notes and such but this program seems a lot better as far as job management goes. I installed Streak onto chrome a while back but I feel like it has too many "bells and whistles" for my liking. Either way, I'm definitely going to be utilizing this as soon as I figure out how it works!

 

[SightLine]

We use it daily now. Yes you, the board admin can add or remove others from the board permissions as well as making the board public or private. We have ours setup with more lists that will fit on screen at once but you can just drag left/right and scroll to others. For what it is and for the cost I have no complaints. It has allowed us to much more easily have a picture of what is going on in the shop at any given time and to keep track of things much better.