Considering Workspaces : Good Guides, Best Practices, Tips? | Ramblings

[Nils Geylen]

Been on Trello ten years and manage a number of Workspaces free and paid for different orgs and SMBs. But I've never really managed workspaces within the same team--(do we still use that term?)

For our own org, which still only has one space (we're small), I am considering creating a few workspaces.

But I'm not sure how that would help.

Current issues

For one, there is no search filter for workspaces and that's currently my biggest issue:
I'm and admin in so many, even non-related ones, that results show up from everywhere.

I guess another reason is observers on a team asking to join the space and afraid a colleague would accept them--to the entire working space!

[I'm aware there are a number of space and board setting I can apply to mitigate that.]

So a "Shared Boards" space is currently my top idea.

I don't know: I keep expecting that dividing our org into workspaces would be The Solution, but every time I start looking into it, it doesn't seem to add that value.

What hierarchy?

I also don't quite get the "hierarchy" here.

We're one org, and Trello is used by just one department.
In that dept. there are just three admins, a few members; most other users are board members or even observers.

We have about three or four different "types" of boards I'd imagine creating a new separate space for. But I can't begin to decide what should be way to organise this.

Collections--haha!

Collections would be great if you could add users there, or somehow manage those, but if there ever was a lacklustre feature in Trello that's been completely ignored, it's that. (*)

No Enterprise

I know there's the Enterprise plan but we're way too small a non-profit to consider that.

Since we regard Trello to be a collaborative platform for externals, we've always maintained that everyone, esp. observers, manages their own account. 

In fact, I'm not even on a @ org mail myself because I'm in a way a contractor from earlier times.

I have been thinking of managing everyone in the team with a company email, and all the observers with a secondary "externals mail address" but I'm not sure even starting to unpack that is an option. That might be where the space does come in handy.

Result then, of ten years of organic growth that leaves a mess to untangle perhaps.
Also a shifting focus with Atlassian and within our own org.
It'complicated.

Rambling

Vague question, I know.

But if you have any use cases, online guides, a Trello article I've not seen yet, or ideas or issues you've run into yourself? Do share.

Maybe some replies here will simply help my brain kickstart in the right direction, cheers.

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Stuff found

https://support.atlassian.com/trello/docs/how-to-manage-trello-in-your-organization/

Good question here but even Atlassian suggests Collections, see my response https://community.atlassian.com/forums/Trello-questions/Workspaces-and-Business-Class-is-a-workspace-the-same-as-a-team/qaq-p/1673389#U3074705

[Theodoro Reato]

Hi again Nils, :)

I think this would be better handled on a ticket, with a ticket we can schedule a time to discuss your case. If you agree, feel free to raise a ticket at https://support.atlassian.com/contact/. 

But I'll try my best to answer and help you here. 

1 - For one, there is no search filter for workspaces and that's currently my biggest issue:
I'm and admin in so many, even non-related ones, that results show up from everywhere.

Indeed, we don't have a specific way to search inside a Workpace. But we do have advanced search, where you can create (and save) a filter to search with more control. You can find more information in this article.

2 - I guess another reason is observers on a team asking to join the space and afraid a colleague would accept them--to the entire working space!

We can't prevent users from asking to join the Workspace if they're invited to the board, but you can control who is the admin and only the admin can accept this requests. So handling who has this power would be the best solution here.

3 - I don't know: I keep expecting that dividing our org into workspaces would be The Solution, but every time I start looking into it, it doesn't seem to add that value.

I'd need a bit more details on this topic to help you. If you'd like to explain how you control your work, we might be able to come up with something to help you. 

4 - I also don't quite get the "hierarchy" here.

I'm not sure if I fully understand you on this topic. 

You have your account, your account can have multiple Workspaces, and each Workspace contain boards, the cards are placed under the boards. But I feel you're not referring to this hierarchy.

What do you mean by board types? Could you elaborate a bit on this topic? 

5 - Collections

Thank you, I also enjoy this feature a lot! Could you explain how collections would be linked with users? Right now, collections are used to group the boards, how the users would be added in this scenario?

6 - Enterprise

Enterprise isn't needed for all situations, you can check our pricing page to see the different features per plan.

You can decide which is the best plan for you based on that. 

7 - Online Guides

I'd suggest checking out the Getting Started Guide, which is a great illustrated how-to guide for getting started with Trello, we also have recorded webinars that you can watch. 

Sometimes, one of the best ways to get started with Trello is to see how other people are using it to gain perspective on their own projects. I'd recommend checking out this list of inspiring boards and our Trello Workspace Playbooks. 

You may also be interested in working with one of our Atlassian Solution Partners, as they are able to provide more of a traditional service model.  Our Solution Partners specialize in migrations, integrations, training, hands-on configuration and custom development of our products.

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I think that's it. Let me know if this raises new questions! Thanks, Nils.