Best way to manage community-driven projects with Trello?

[James Clark]

I'm curious to know how scalable Trello really is when managing small but active communities. For example, if a group of users is constantly suggesting new ideas, reporting bugs, and tracking updates, what’s the most effective way to structure Trello boards for that?

• Do you keep everything in one big board with multiple lists?
• Or is it better to create separate boards for suggestions, updates, and planning?
• Any tips or real-world examples of keeping things organized without it becoming overwhelming?

I’d love to hear how others are using Trello for ongoing, community-driven projects.

[Nils Geylen]

Interesting question, since I'm always looking for alternative use case examples. As a small Trello-only team we also fall into that category.

While we work with small physical and non-technical groups consulting and feedbacking on lists on a weekly basis I do have a couple practices, but those definitely depend on how collaborative you want to set the board parameters, and of course, what it would be exactly what you're working on and expecting out of it, including how collaborative you want to make this.

• Definitely work with different boards; the noise and complexity becomes overwhelming if you don't (then use "Watch" boards or cards with discretion)
• Create either a board as a "Manual", or a card with the smallest possible set of instructions and do's and don'ts. Promote the use and understanding of card relations, collapsing lists search.
• Make sure your users understand the difference between their space and yours; and the different views they have access to.
• Definitely work with observers; people will click anything if they spot it, so shut that board and space tight as much you can.
• If you do have busy bees with extensive rights, use some automations, eg. to keep cards ordered etc. People will click and drag and those can regularly correct.
• Use as little decorations as possible, like card covers, taks checks, labels, PowerUps, markup. The simpler the better.
• If you do need these, or have due dates, or needs checklists and custom fields set up: do this yourself or have only a small subset of people with membership status who manage this.
• Do keep in mind that if comments are turned on (which they would be) everyone on that board gets to read along--another reason for splitting boards and/or having a secondary discussion channel.
• Maybe also designate a comment card per list, unless feedback on every card is needed.
• So while multiple boards would seem to appear more overwhelming, I find it siloes the activity better. And while Trello is supposed to be for collaboration, it's also very flexible and feature rich--I've found that loose boards make a mess and people will try anything. 

I'm 'lucky' our spaces is mostly "my personal realm" and I have this dislike for boards that look like tabloids and mess with my workflows--so that too is up to you.

[Çiğdem Büyükaşik]

Hi @James Clark,

Cigdem from Hipporello here. Many of our users are already using our Service Desk for Trello to manage their communities. I'll write how it works so that you can see if it fits your needs:

• People submit ideas, requests, or bug reports through the forms provided by Hipporello. (You don’t need to worry about where to host the forms—they come with a ready-to-use user portal. Or if you like, you can also embed them onto your own website.)

• It's also possible to get requests through email (support(at)yourcommunity.com), but most of our current users do it with forms.

• Trello admins see the new cards automatically created from submissions.

• If they need to ask for clarification or simply thank the user for reporting a bug, they can just reply directly in the Trello card. The message is then delivered to the submitter’s email—making it a true 2-way communication channel managed inside Trello.

• You can also choose to easily automate responses. 

• If you have multiple Trello members, everyone stays aligned on incoming requests and outgoing responses in the same Trello board. 

This way, your Trello board stays internal to your managing team, while everyone else interacts with you through Hipporello’s user portal. And an important point: You don’t pay per submitter. 

Whether you have 50 or 100 people sending in requests, the price stays the same :)

Check it out, and let me know if you have any questions!