For those of you who don’t know, Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process.

It’s available from https://www.trello.com and is free to use (although paid options are available)

I’ll be using Trello to manage the Flappyvaders project in conjunction with the GDD I shared last week. There is a link to the Flappyvaders Trello Board further down this page.

I usually set my Trello up as shown above, and here’s a quick explanation as to how it works.

The first column is for reference, or any notes relating to the project.

Next is the “Known bugs/issues” column, this is explained a bit further down.

The “Things to do” column contains cards which are ready to be taken ownership of and moved to the “In progress” column.

Each card in the “In Progress” column should have an owner. To take ownership of the card, you add your name as member, which adds your initials to the corner so you and other team members can see who is actioning that card. Once all tasks on a card are complete it is moved into the “Under review” column.

The “Under review” column contains cards which have been completed and are ready to be reviewed/evaluated by the project manager. During review any bugs or suggestions can be added to the card before its returned to the “Things to do” column.

If there is no further changes necessary then the card can be moved to the “Completed” column.

If an issue is discovered relating to a completed card, then the card can be moved to the “Known bugs/issues” column, as well as creating a sub card relating to the issue directly. If the issue does not relate to a completed card, then just add a card to the “Known bugs/issues” column to explain the issue.

Click the button below to view the Flappyvaders Trello Board in action for yourself.

If you have any questions about planning a project, creating a design document, managing a project with Trello, or anything else, then please feel free to ask it on our forum.