Durations! or Timelines!

Question

Hi all! As the operations manager for a highly decorated and successful remodeling company, I am reviewing alternative/creative options for project management. After a year of involvement, we have decided that BuilderTrend, though incredibly robust, it is not a very good fit for us. It has all the bells and whistles a builder could want however, we can't see justifying its high cost. We are a $3-5mil company and we have come to believe that it is a platform best used by larger builders with the resources available to train and administer. That being said, Trello has piqued my interest and I could very well see our company using it, however, I do not see the ability to create "Timelines" or even set "Durations" for task/.ToDo's etc., only "Due Dates". In creating our production schedules, this is the one item that is critical. One idea was to use a Google or Outlook Calendar for each project that my PM could create schedules in but that feels far too involved and time-consumptive. Is "Durations" something Trello has in the works? If so, is there a release date?  If not - has anyone come up with a creative solution for achieving this? Thank you all in advance!

Iain Dooley · Answer

@Annette Marie Homework Remodels check out Placker, it's a fantastic Gantt charting tool that has snappy, realtime 2 way synchronisation with Trello.

You can slice your data by board, member, label and card name.

You can also use the Custom Fields power up to add multiple date fields to each card and have those appear on the "front" of the card so you can see them without opening each card.

Fundamentally, the real strength of Trello is in its API. There is a huge constellation of automations and plugins available because Trello has always maintained focus on creating a simple and robust framework upon which others can build niche solutions.

This has allowed them to create a really amazing user experience across all devices, which is great for a company such as yours which will have a mix of office and field staff.