For several years, I had been searching for a tool that would help me translate complex projects into simple “dashboards,” thereby helping me remember the intricate web of a project’s relationships, people, ideas, and goals. Interestingly, my son’s girlfriend had just shared her excitement about a website called Pinterest, one of the fastest-growing social networking sites on the web. It’s fast-growing because it allows users to collect and portray their interests by posting lots of pictures, almost like trading cards, adorning their online home much like a bulletin board might display art drawings outside the school cafeteria. Then last week, Jane, an active Brigada participant, wrote to draw attention to Trello.
Although you could use it in 100 different ways, perhaps one of the most outstanding applications would be a think of it as a planning and picture board, like Pinterest. You can model your project there and even invite trusted cohorts to help you create your vision. Your fellow-designers can work with you simultaneously, real-time (the cards move almost instantly to reflect your friends’ changes). It honestly makes a great brainstorming tool, especially for the price (free!).
Example: We’re already using it for trip planning. Start a “list” for background information for the trip, another list for trip participants, then do a list for each “day” of the trip — so a person can see the trip shaping up graphically. Since the “cards” are drag and drop, one can easily float them throughout a day — or to a completely different day. It’s secure (the public can’t look at your board unless you say so)… and, did I mention it’s FREE? You see, the company who programmed it is giving it as a “gift” to the world, saying that the company is already making enough off of its [very profitable] tech support trouble-ticket software (which is pretty much the best there is). Someday the programmers might provide additional tools or features for an add-on “freemium” payment — like $25/year — but they’ve gone on record promising they’ll never charge and never remove boards we start up right now. The public seems to believe them.
The only hitch — it’s online only. So… there’s no Windows, Mac, or linux version. But — there’s a great iPhone version and once you VIEW the board, one list at a time, the iPhone ‘remembers’ the cards, even if the iPhone is offline… like a “shadow copy” for reference only (but one can’t add or change anything). Pretty cool, especially for the price. Definitely worth a look.
so, but Firefox browser is NOT supported? How is that? I stay away from IE for obvious reasons.
Firefox IS supported. I’ve been using Trello all morning using Firefox. Just make sure it’s a recent version.