Trello: How We've Set Up Our Two-Week Schedule

We use Trello as our company hub. Since our employees work remotely and in cities across Canada, we needed a place where informtion can be shared and easily accessed. There are so many organizational applications available nowadays but after much research, we landed on Trello. Today we will be going over one Board in particular, one that helps keep everyone busy and on task. We call this board our Team Schedule.

Our Team Schedule shows designated tasks and goals which span a 2-week period. It’s the first place our employees visit in the morning and it gives them a quick snapshot of what’s to come.

It’s organized with each column as a different day and below each day are our employee names. Beneath the employee’s name their daily tasks are inserted letting them know what they will need to work on.

Every Monday a portion of my morning is used to review our projects, website tasks and social media goals. We need to keep in mind deadlines and things we want to see completed within the day or week. I can then start to break down each project or goal and start to create individual tasks. The tasks will be evenly distributed to each employee all the while making sure everything gets completed. We can also see whether too much work has been given to one employee and not enough to another. The goal is to not have anyone feel overwhelmed but also to make sure everyone is utilizing their time.

Below is an example of a normal week, here at MM Designs.

In order to prevent the board from looking too busy we will only put the project name and a brief description of the task. When an employee sees what projects they need to work on that day they can go to the projects board where they can find more detailed information regarding the task.

The tasks in the project board will include what needs to be done and a checklist of steps needed to be taken. We often include attachments, pictures or documents which help to explain the task and gives the employees something to reference. Due dates can also be set so that everyone understands the timeline of when tasks needs to completed. There is also a useful chat function on each card where my team can ask me any questions regarding the task, everything in one small space!

Pros	Cons
Everything is in one space and easily accessible	If someone forgets to check the schedule, things can be missed and deadlines may not be met
If details of a project have changed, (which happens often) new information can be easily added to the tasks in order to keep everyone up-to-date	Employees need to be consistent with checking the schedule so that they are aware of all changes and don't miss anything
Labels can be customized to look aesthetically pleasing and make the schedule enjoyable to use	Things can at times look a little busy if there are too many tasks, labels or team members

Our Schedule has been a great way for our team to see their upcoming projects and for myself to feel confident that nothing is being missed. Also, as a small business owner the notion of, “I can just do this myself” often kicks in making me feel overwhelmed. This tool has helped me to delegate tasks and take them off my plate so that I have enough time to run the business!

Let us know in the comments what programs or apps you use to keep yourself or your business organized!

Until next time,

Melissa