If you want to start living the freedom you‘ve always imagined you would with your business, then it all boils down to the amount of time you‘re willing to invest in training your team and utilising the right apps to streamline your operations. Trello is a project management tool that serves as a processing hub to allow anyone in your team to know, at a glance, the status of any project or task. With the help of a virtual assistant from Outsourcing Angel, you can set up Trello’s boards to systemise your business, creating a system that is easy to follow, that is replicable and that will optimise your processes and actions.
1. What is Trello?
Trello is a simple and easy-to-use project management app. Think of it as the digital and paperless version of the whiteboard and post-it note system. Based on the Kanban system (kanban is Japanese for “visual signal” or “card”) developed by Toyota’s engineers, Trello utilises the power of visual information by using post-it (sticky) notes on a whiteboard to create a “picture” of your work.
In other words, with Trello, you are able to visually process the flow of your activities from left to right. With a quick glance, you can see what your workflow is, you can communicate work status to the whole team, and you can give and receive context for the work. It also allows you to tag labels, add comments, attach documents, set due dates on tasks, assign card owners, and much more.
2. Why do you need Trello?
I’m guessing you feel like you have too much to do. For entrepreneurs, in this hyperconnected, on-demand world, this feeling has become the status quo for so many of us. It’s overwhelming to get your business started, much less get it to the level that allows you to leave your job. Then, once you’re in it, it gets difficult to focus on strategic growth when you’re juggling marketing, sales calls, client questions, social media, and your monthly financials.
Trello is a boon for small businesses as it serves as a processing hub that allows anyone in the team to know, at a glance, the status of any process. You save time when you systemise your business because the board allows you to communicate information more efficiently.
A well-designed (not overly complicated) Trello board becomes the one-stop shop where every person in your team turns to first to check for any information they might need for their specific task. The search function on Trello also helps you and your team save time. You are able to search through cards, comments and even attachment names.
3. Tips & Tricks to Optimise Trello
Here are some simple tips and tricks to help you get the best out of Trello:
- Create a focus funnel that lists all the tasks you are currently performing.
- Reassign unimportant tasks to a virtual assistant (these should be tasks that are not worth dedicating your time to).
- Figure out which tasks can be automated and get your virtual assistant to implement it.
- Work together with your virtual assistant to create a checklist for the most important tasks (this builds a step-by-step process that is replicable and easy to follow).
- Ask your virtual assistant to create a “ReadMe Card” for each list – this helps your team members better understand the processes that are in place.
- Colour code your boards so that your team can visually identify the work stage of a task quickly. This also has the advantage of allowing you to identify bottlenecks in the work process and gives you an opportunity to refine the process.
- Shoot a short little screen capture video in Camtasia or Loom to explain how the board works (the flow), the different lists (and their purpose), as well as the Resources stored in the Trello board.
- Encourage your team to use the search bar to look for instructions, documents, login information before asking for direction. This helps them become more self-empowered and shifts them into making their own decisions.
- Use Slack to communicate with your team and to keep tabs on Trello.
- Assign your virtual assistant to review your Trello boards on a weekly basis so that the board does not get cluttered or becomes unproductive.
- Implement a task manager tool such as Wunderlist or ToDoist to supplement Trello to manage the work processes and to ensure that no task gets missed or falls off the radar.
It takes some time to design and set up your Trello boards to be the most efficient and useful system for you. A virtual assistant from Outsourcing Angel can help you create a simple and effective Trello board for your business, thereby giving you the freedom to focus on the strategic aspects of your business.
For more tips and guidance on how to systemise your business and create freedom for yourself, visit me at richardphu.com/blog!
Join my 50 minute Trello class where I will give you the tools, processes and tips to make your business more productive.
In this class you’ll learn to:
- Systemise your business to allow you to scale your team
- Build custom workflows to your business to maximize team productivity
- Use productivity methods to work collaboratively with your team
- Learning these foundations will transform and prepare your online business to work without you, so you can work more on the business and stop being trapped in the business.
Writer: Richard Phu
Position: Operations Manager
