T H E O F F I C I A L S M EM B E R S H I P H Q C O U R S E

TRELLO FORPRODUCTIVITY

Hey Official !

It 's Trello Time ! Trello is an application that can help you stay on top of your To Do

list , projects and ideas . It starts off with a very simple interface and by adding

additional functionality one step at a time you can build a robust solution that helps

you be more productive and in control .

You may have seen a TEDx video posted in HQ of a talk by Mike Cannon-Brookes , co-

founder of Atlassian which owns Trello (see Videos section of this course). Not only is

Trello a fabulous tool but Mike 's story resonates with assistants . He 's a BILLIONAIRE

and yet he still feels Imposter Syndrome all the time . He expresses it beautifully in

his TEDx talk and it 's nice to see someone who is a leader be humble and passionate

about creating products that help others .

Don 't forget to check out the Slack channel #course_trelloforproductivity to ask

questions and chat with other Officials who are going through the course . If you are

interested in a more advanced course please comment there and I 'll get it on the

schedule !

WELCOME

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TRELLO IS. . ."A collaboration tool that organizes

your projects into boards . In one

glance , Trello tel ls you what ’s being

worked on , who ’s working on what ,

and where something is in a process , "

as described on the Trello website .

There are a few programs out that are

similar to Trello including Asana and

Monday .com . I l ike Trello for two

main reasons :

Trello  starts you off with a  Board  to

which you can add Lists.  Trellotypically starts you off with 3 l ists :

From there you can add Cards toeach l ist . A card is typically a task , as

part of a workflow . But i t could be an

idea , contact details , etc .

TRELLO

When you click on a card you will

then see the Card Back where you

can f i l l in details on that card . The

details can include the description ,

attached documents , a checklist ,

deadlines , assigned team members ,

any recorded activity on that task and

more .

You can then add Power-ups and

automations to enhance your boards .

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Check out the Videos section of

this course to learn about how to

get started with Trello.

The free version is fab

It starts off with a very easy to use

basic interface and can get as

complex as you wish with add-ons

Things to Do

Doing

Done

Below you will f ind a video that

describes the two common styles of

Agile planning as well as some t ips

on how you can use the system that

developers have used for years to

keep projects moving forward . Trellois the perfect tool to util ize these

methods .

SCRUM + KANBANI f you 've been around your IT

department long enough you may

have heard the terms Scrum , Scrum

Master or Kanban . Scrum and Kanban

are essential ly boards with l ists that

in their simplest forms includes To

Do , Doing and Done . In the Videossection of this course you will f ind a

video that I think explains the Agile

methodology very well . Once you

have watched the video give the

Agile methodology a go on the

Personal Scrum board provided on

the next page .

THE AGILE ASSISTANT

AGILEAgile is the abil ity to create and

respond to change . It is a way of

dealing with , and ultimately

succeeding in , an uncertain and

turbulent environment .

Software development teams have

implemented Agile since 2001 when

the Manifesto for Software

Development was released

advocating Agile . Today Agile has

been adopted worldwide for general

management as our workplaces

become increasingly complex .

Admin teams and software

development teams are not dissimilar

in that they are often inundated with

requests (t ickets ) and are constantly

improving important systems . Some

requests are simple and immediate

fixes , some are issues with the system

such as a software bug , and some are

long term projects that need to be

kept on the radar .

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Check out the Videos section

of this course to find more

valuable tips and tricks.

PER

SO

NA

L S

CR

UM

To D

oDO

ING

Done

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT 101

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IN ITIATION+ CONCEPTION

PLANNING LAUNCH+ EXECUTION

MONITORING+ CONTROL

PROJECT CLOSURE

Define Project

Goals

Create Project

Brief

Project Scope +

Budget

Deadlines

Team Roles

Communication

Plan

Milestones

Budget

Management

Resource

Planning

Status Reports

Project Goals

Quality of

Deliverables

Team

Performance

Celebrate!

Retrospective

Meeting

Project Closure

Report

1 INITIATION + CONCEPTIONThis is the earliest stage of a project where

you are defining why the project is needed,

the goals of the project and creating a brief

on these findings. You are essentially

defining the project.

2 PLANNINGThe planning stage is crucial. At this stage

you are creating a Scope of Work (SOW),

defining deadlines, milestones, budget,

resources and risks. You should also

determine a communication plan.

3 LAUNCH + EXECUTIONNow it's time to get down to business and

kick the project off. This is the actual

"doing" of the project.

Trello is a great tool for project management . Admins and assistants get involved in

lots of projects but you don 't need a PMP Certification to utilize the principles of

project management in your role . Let 's go over a few basics .

4 MONITORING + CONTROLDuring the project it is imperative that

all resources are closely monitored - is

the project on time , is the spending on

track , are those related to the project

delivering their work as needed?

5 PROJECT CLOSUREClosure is making sure that you have

met all the deliverables , the team has

properly been recognized for their

efforts , and that you have completed a

post-mortem to discuss lessons learned ,

feedback and project success .

Process Mapping is a great way to document a process before putting it into

Trello. If you want to learn more about process mapping and the symbols, look in

the Downloadables section of this course.

I personally prefer the Post-it note method. I use Post-it notes for each stage of the

process and arrange the workflow physically.

DOCUMENTING A PROCESS

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FROM THIS TO THIS TO THIS

Then I use the Post-it app to capture the info and put it in Trello as cards. Check

out the Videos section of this course to see how the Post-It note app interacts with

Trello. It's awesome!

POWER-UPSPower-ups are add-on features that

bring additional functionality to your

Trello boards .

The free version comes with one Power-

Up , while Gold comes with three .

CALENDARThis is a must to me .

Not only does this Power-up let you see

any cards with a due date in a weekly

and monthly calendar view but you can

also use the iCal l ink to bring it into

whatever calendar you use (Google

Calendar , Outlook , Mac) .

BIGPICTUREIf you are used to traditional Gantt

Charts for project management then get

this Power-up ! It allows you to schedule

tasks with drag and drop as well as see

dependency l inks .

POWER-UPS

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CUSTOM FIELDSThis is an awesome Power-up to use if

you are a VA and want to use a Trello

board as a Customer Relationship

Manager (CRM) . For example you can

add custom fields for name , contact

number , email address , etc . for contacts .

SLACKYou know at The Officials we love Slack .

The Slack Power-up allows you to set-up

alerts to designated Slack channels

when there are changes on a Trello

board .

Increase collaboration by sharing cards

in Slack and asking for feedback .

You must install the Trello for Slack app

into Slack for even more crossover

functionality .

Check out the Videos section to learn

more about Power-ups.

BUTLER FOR TRELLO

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AUTOMATION POWER-UPButler is a baked in feature of Trello

that allows you to set up

automations based on your

workflow needs .

It basically uses I f /Then statement

to tel l Trello what to do . This is

especial ly helpful for repeating

tasks and workflows /routines .

GETTING STARTEDAs we learned in the section on

Project Management , planning is an

important part to any project .

Implementing Trello into your work

is a project with stages .

STAGE 1 - Get your To do l ist into

Trello

STAGE 2 - Automate systems with

Butler

1 .

2 .

The   free version of Trello only

allows one command per category .

The categories are :

When you click on Butler i t will

actually give you some AutomationTips  based on how you have been

using the board .  

Rules

Card Button

Board Button

Calendar

Due Date

Check out the

Videos section of

this course to find

more about Butler.

BOARD TEMPLATES

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There are so many great sample and

inspiration boards on the Trello

website. Luckily, Trello has two places

where you can find sample boards and

inspiration from other Trello users.

Go to the Trello Board Templates section

of the course and you will find links to the

"Official" favs including:

IMAGINATIONYour imagination is really the l imit with

Trello .

You can create boards that track your to

do l ists or a project . Or you can track a

process such as Onboarding .

Why not plan your next big party or

holiday meal? You can even invite others

and assign them dishes and recipes !

Onboarding

Project Management

Life Goals

Staff Handbook

Job Search

CRM

Simple To Do List

Bonus! Assistant To Do List

COMPLIMENTARY PROGRAMS

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Power-ups are not the only way that you

can add functionality to your Trello boards.

There are many companies out there that

have created programs to integration with

Trello. Here are the "Official" favs...

CARD COLOR CHROME EXTENSIONThis extension for Chrome browser will fill

your Trello cards with the color of the

selected label. 

CLOCKIFY CHROME EXTENSION If you are a VA and need to track your time

per project, per client, then this integration

between Trello and Clockify is perfect for

you.

ZAPIERZapier takes automation to the next level

for Trello. It allows you Zaps between

countless apps such as Trello and Slack, or

Trello and Google Docs. In fact, it allows

you to connect Trello with 1,500+ apps to

automate your work and find productivity

super powers.

The free version of Zapier will give you 5

Zaps and 100 tasks a month.

Check out the Videos section to

learn more about ComplimentaryPrograms + Card Color

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NOTES

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NOTES