What does your Trello board look like for managing your side-project?
I use Trello for almost everything. When it comes to building my side-project I am not able to finalize the lists.
I started a few with 'To-do', 'Doing' and 'Done' - but got really messy when I started adding low priority (or nice to have but not needed) things to 'To-do'.
As it evolved, I added another list called 'Backlog' and move things considered to be built from 'Backlog' to 'To-do'. I guess this has improved my process to some extent.
What do you all use and what else would you recommend to the community?
I've used trello for years and it's evolved a bit over time as I tried different things or something I wasn't happy with. My current set up is something I'm really happy with. I've cut it to 4 main columns.
My main Trello board is called "Doing" it does have multiple projects in there depending on what's going on. I use Labels for different projects.
- Done and Dusted - This is everything I've done or finished, that's tested and released into the wild. (I archive the cards in this column on a regular basis)
- Current - This is what I'm working on at the moment. There can be multiple cards here but they are mostly what I'm in the middle of doing. For example, right now, I have Audience Landing Page, Email Headers, Profiles in there, these are things that I am working on now.
- This week - This is what I'm aiming to get complete this week.
- This sprint - I work in six-week cycles, so I treat them like sprints, anything I plan on getting done within that six-week sprint, I add to this column.
- Upcoming - This is everything else anything I think about or might need to deal with goes here. When I plan out my sprint I decide if it goes into the "This sprint Column"
I plan out my week and move things from the "This Sprint" To the "This Week column" then move them from "This Week" to "Current" when I start working on them. Then into the "Done and Dusted"
I'm solo but I find having that structure and flow really helps me be productive. I don't have a hard and fast rule I can steal things from the "Upcoming" or "This sprint" and do them right away if I feel like it.
The other columns that go onto this board are what I call my "Hold" columns, I have a project or something that I'm looking at but I put it on Hold. It all goes into that column so it's there if I need it in the future or if I need to refresh where it is.
The other part I do is using my calendar. When I plan out my week ahead usually on a Sat or Sun morning, I will move things into the "This Week" column, then in my calendar, I schedule them. I work out what day I plan on tackling that item.
Upcoming is the backlog for me but as above I have no hard rule. If something comes up that has to be done then it goes right into "Current" or "This week" if I plan on doing it that week.
I don't use a priority if I plan on doing it, it goes in and gets done. If it's low or High it still needs to be done. The schedule and I decide when it gets done.
I like the way I have it at the moment, it works for me but isn't rigid that a major bug will derail it all.
@poppacalypse, Thanks!
There are a few factors that play into that. Firstly it isn't a fixed rule. It can change, generally it's six but if I feel I need extra time I can add a few weeks or take them off if it's just some bug fixes.
The big reason for me that six weeks works is it's enough time to get work done and not end up burning out or having to do long days or weekends. Six weeks is plenty of time to take on big chunks of work and still do it at a good pace.
The idea is to build a time frame that means I can get back to users with new features, updates, changes based on their feedback in a quick manner but not end up rushing anything or making them wait for months for me to address their feedback.
I also release and deploy a few times in that six week sprint, that way I can test things, get feedback and address that before the sprint ends. Doing this helps finish the feature or fix bugs and stop myself having to deal with them in the next sprint.
So if I have a feature for that sprint it could be released in week 3, get feedback and then fix any issues in weeks 5 and 6 as an example.
That's happening now, I released the Beta 2 of Audience, got some user feedback and I'm hoping to update that before the end of this current sprint.
@poppacalypse Kind of, it's an adapted version of what I've used to run Engineering teams and projects before. That version is usually more complex since there are more stakeholders but the goal is the same.
After using Trello and notion as kanban, I found the best thing for me is using GitHub Issues!
There's a 'Projects' kanban there where you can link tasks to the GH issues
I use Trello too and most of my boards have a similar setup:
- 🚀 The very first column is like a README of sorts where I list anything about the project I'd like a quick reference to. For example: typography, colours, tools, references, goals,
- 📆 Brain Dumps / Doable / Promising Future Tasks: i'll write down all my brain farts here
- 📝 To-Do: Tasks that are to be completed tomorrow or further out go here. i'll pick out from the brain farts section which are the most plausible next-steps.
- 🎯 Today's One Thing: from the To-Do, I pick out just The One Thing I want to focus on, and i do nothing else until this one thing is done
- 💻 Ongoing: some tasks take longer than a day, so I put them here to remind me what's going on concurrently
- ✅ Complete: all the done tasks go here!
- ⏸ Waiting for Input / On Hold: You can't always complete your tasks by yourself. So if you are waiting for feedback, put them in this list.
- 🃏 Random Ideas: some ideas are so far out they don't fit anywhere, but you don't want to forget them.
Like @jamesmkenny , this has evolved over time and is a mishmash of different techniques i've come across over the years.
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