Trying to manage your company’s projects and programs can be an exhausting, time and money-consuming task. It can be a daily burden to organize employees, deliver tasks, control them, follow the execution, juggle meetings, assignments, deadlines, project implementation, and more. It can be chaotic, unorganized, and very frustrating for all participants in the process unless you have some of the project management tools to help.
What could be the solution to help you organize your own business, to survive by the end of the day, and to help you establish daily routing and more efficient processes within the company?
It could be some of the Project Management Software with different options such as general ones, not specialized ones or specialized for certain business niches, helping managers in need to get things organized and in order.
Companies that use project management applications reduce their chance of budget overruns, manage projects more efficiently, and have higher-performing projects than those that don’t.
We will now analyze two Project Management Software and Tools: Asana and Trello. There is not a predetermined answer to which one is better, nor we could give it to you since you will need to try, explore, find the best fit, the most appropriate one for your business. Because you are the one knowing what your needs are, what there is to be organized, who the members in the process are, how the process itself looks like, and how it should be organized.
We are just making our own assessment here based on our experience and on our research. Nothing is set in stone, as one of my CEOs would like to say. Try one, test it and if it is not working well, if it doesn’t fit your business culture, change it. This is better than to work and organizing work in inappropriate software using the wrong tools, showing you bad reports, causing difficulties to your employees, making it hard to organize the process.
So, there is no definite and final answer to the question what is better, Asana or Trello?
If you wish for a competent Collaboration Software product for your business you must remember to assess a wide range of options. It doesn’t have to be challenging and can be as quick as matching their traits in a table like the one below. You will also get a brief idea of how each product functions. The comparison will allow you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each service, and choose which fits your requirements better. Aside from the robust features, an application that is easy to understand and use is always a better choice.
Both applications, Asana and Trello, are being used by Small businesses, Large enterprises, Medium Businesses, and Freelancers. Furthermore, both apps are available for Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone/iPad, Mac, web-based, and windows mobile.
Both applications also utilize the Kanban process management method which visualizes the steps in a process and a task’s movement through each process.
Trello
Let’s start with Trello. Trello proves to be an efficient project management system that lets you break down large projects into smaller tasks and lists. It offers Kanban-style boards, cards, and lists, along with drag-and-drop functions to help users organize projects and track projects’ progress. This mobile-ready platform has a free version that is great support for small businesses.
Trello organizes your projects and day-to-day tasks by creating notecards on the dashboard. The software can also be used as a trip planner, a side project, a community bulletin, an event, or an idea repository. Tasks and ideas can be noted on the Trello cards and the work progress can also be tracked. The user can sort and organize these cards based on their categories. A quick overview is displayed on the front of the cards which the user can flip over to dive into more detailed information such as checklists, due dates, comments, attachments, etc. There is a progress meter that adds a checklist to organize your to-do list. You can also attach documents and multimedia files to the cards.
You can implement Trello with different types of management, methodologies, and approaches, such as:
- Budget Management; Issue Management; IT Project Management; Milestone Tracking; Percent-Complete Tracking; Portfolio Management; Project Planning; Requirement Management; Resource Management; Status Tracking; Task Management; Time & Expense Tracking; Recurring Task Management; Kanban Board; Idea Management; Project Templates; Timeline View
Trello, at its core, is a visual collaboration tool that utilizes the concept of boards. It’s a simple and effective tool to manage and organize tasks. It helps teams to organize tasks within a project. But it can also be used as a personal to-do- list. Due to its versatile nature, Trello is one of the most popular projects management apps.
Creating your first Trello board is pretty simple. I just started a few weeks ago, and I’m almost a professional. It is very intuitive and easy to adopt. You just need to sign in, and after you sign up, by clicking the + button you can create a new board. Choose the name for your board. Then, add lists that will serve as your task containers. In Kanban, the lists or columns are used to represent the steps of your process. Depending on your process, you can add as many lists as you need. And of course, you can rename the lists to correspond to the action or the step that a task needs to undergo to get from To Do to Done.
Now that you have your project steps visualized, it’s time to add the Trello cards. Each card should represent one task or idea. You can then split bigger tasks into smaller components by adding a checklist to your card and attaching important files and documents to the card itself.
Learn more about the difference between Asana and Jira.
Place the cards in the list that shows the stage the task is in. Then assign the tasks to people responsible for completing them. You can invite team members or collaborators on your board so they can follow the project activity with you. Similar to other project management tools, Trello has the option to add a due date to tasks. It will remind the assignees when the deadline is approaching and if it passes. You can also color-code and label cards. These features are very useful when you want to make it easier to distinguish between different types of tasks.
Since Trello uses the Kanban method as a basis, tasks move across lists according to their status. To move a task from one stage to the next, click-and-hold to drag it to the next list.
You could plan sprints in Trello as well. It’s not giving such a clear view on the sprints, spring backlog, but if there are not some specific tools, you could use Trello for this purpose, to organize and implement sprints.
Kanban-style Trello board that you can use to track the progress of your lean startup experiments.
Step 1. Anyone can view the template board that we’ve created. But to edit and use it in anger, you’ll first need to create a Trello account, which is free, if you don’t have one already.
Step 2. Next, copy the board to your own account. Open the board’s menu, then click “More” and choose “Copy Board.”
Step 3. For each assumption, you want to log, copy the Experiment Template card. Click on the pencil icon on the template card, then “Copy”
Step 4. Record all the assumptions about your business model in the Assumptions Backlog.
Step 5. Create one card for each assumption – fill in the Assumption section of the Experiment Card.
Step 6. Add labels to each card to identify which aspect of your business model the assumption relates to.
Step 7. Prioritize your assumptions by dragging cards up and down in the list.
Step 8. When you’re ready to begin running some experiments, drag those cards to the Plan column and complete the Test section of the card.
Step 9. As you build out and run the test to collect data, move the cards through the Build and Measure columns to track progress.
Step 10. With data gathering complete, move the card to the Learn column and complete the analysis of your data.
Step 11. If there are follow-up experiments to run, create a new card in the Assumptions Backlog. Then move your card to either the Valid Assumptions or Invalid Assumptions columns to keep a record of what you have learned.
Asana
Asana is one of the most popular projects management software currently available on the market and one of the leading project management solutions. It has an interface that allows users to see what tasks they have done what is still on their plate and what is due. Thus, project managers can ensure that their team members are focused on their goals, and with clear and easy-to-find instruction on what they are supposed to do.
The work management platform lets you set priorities and deadlines, share details and assign tasks—all in one place. To stay on track, it allows you to follow projects and tasks through every stage. You know where you’re at with your work and you can keep everyone aligned with goals. It can help you keep track of deadlines, and report on your work, as well as share results with your team and see how work is progressing and to see what’s on track and what needs attention.
You can share info in Asana or make teams and projects private to create a safe space for sensitive work. Share info with the right people. Make teams and projects private to create a safe space for sensitive work.
You can use Asana for a range of activities from company road mapping to day-to-day operations. Asana is not meant just for task management, it is a communication super tool that helps the whole company collaborate on common goals. Asana helped users in the company keep track of their activities and break up projects into smaller, actionable tasks. This helped the project members get things done efficiently. Now, Baggu uses Asana to confidently assign tasks as well as long projects that need close teamwork over a period of time.
- Budget Management; Issue Management; IT Project Management; Milestone Tracking; Percent-Complete Tracking; Portfolio Management; Project Planning; Requirement Management; Resource Management; Status Tracking; Task Management; Time & Expense Tracking; Recurring Task Management; Kanban Board; Idea Management; Project Templates; Timeline View
It seems that Asana is more appropriate for the Agile Scrum concepts than Trello. By planning sprints in Asana, teams can have full clarity on sprint plans, milestones, launch dates, and backlog, with work efforts and communication together in one place.
Importance of agile project management.
You can create epics in Asana, features, backlogs, stories and add them to your sprint. By keeping backlog sections or projects in Asana, you can have an up-to-date, running list of all the items on the backlog. By using custom fields, you can filter tasks in your backlog to help you decide what you should prioritize next. Plus, you can easily move tasks to and from the backlog.
Asana tool allows you to monitor all your project initiatives in a single place and at a quick glance, it will show you which ones are on track, which are off track, and which are at risk of failing.
This is a very helpful feature of the Asana desktop app, Asana online, Asana Windows app, or iOS app because at a quick glance, you can see your company’s projects by priority, their date ranges, who is responsible for the overall project, and how each is doing.
Project Management Software Overview
| Asana | Trello |
| User satisfaction 96% | User satisfaction 97% |
| Starting price from 9.99 $ | Starting price from 9.99$ |
| Free up to 15 users | Free for personal use with unlimited cards |
| Monthly Payment | Monthly payment |
| Annual subscription | Annual subscription |
| Features | Features |
| Activity feed | Free of charge for the basic private use |
| Add assignees, attachments and hearts to tasks | Quick overview on front and back of the cards |
| Create custom calendar and views | Easy organizations with tags, labels and categories |
| Email bridge | Drag and drop functionality |
| My tasks list Focus Mode | In-line editing |
| Track tasks and add followers | Real-time sync |
| Get notifications and reminders | Checklists with a progress meter |
| iPhone support, HTML5 mobile site | Easy uploading of files and attachments |
| Multiple workspaces | Data filtering |
| Project Sections and Search Views | Archiving of cards records |
| Real-time updates | Unlimited member invites |
| See team member’s tasks and priorities | Deadline reminders |
| Set goals, priorities and due dates | Discussion trough comments |
| Set project permissions | Email notifications |
| Project and task creation | Activity log |
| Comments on tasks | Assign tasks |
| Task dependencies | Voting feature |
| Gantt Charts with Timeline | Upload attachments |
| Kanban support with boards | Information retrieves and back up |
| SSL encryption data | |
| Text and visuals fit any screen size | |
| Search function | |
| 10 supported languages | |
| Mobile functionality | |
| Developer API |
| Asana | Trello |
| Pricing info | Pricing info |
| For teams up to 15 users, it’s free. | Free for personal non-business use |
| Free Unlimited tasks, projects and conversations | With free unlimited boards |
| Basic dashboards | Unlimited cards |
| Unlimited lists | |
| Unlimited Members | |
| Unlimited checklists | |
| Unlimited attachments up to 10 MB each | |
| Integration with the Drive, Box and Dropbox |
| Premium plan pricing starting from 9.99$ | Business-class 9.99$ per user/month |
| Private teams | Unlimited Power-Ups |
| Exclusive projects | Unlimited File attachments – 250 MB per attachment |
| Unlimited dashboards | Collection Tool |
| Data export | One-click Access Removal |
| SSO & SAML | Public and Private Board Control |
| Centralized administration | Restricted Membership Invitations |
| Customer success program | Custom Background |
| Enterprise plan | |
| Use of sophisticated admin tools like SAML and service accounts from team member management | |
| Receive white-glove treatment with a dedicated Customer Success Manager | |
| Guaranteed Customer support within two hours | |
| Robust control over the data and security | |
| Personalized branding such as placing logo |
Conclusions and suggestions
After using both software and tools, it seems to me that Asana is more suitable for the Lean methodology based on concepts and principles of lean process implementation. You can easily track, diagnose, report, and evaluate the tasks in Asana; changes are easy to implement and you will have control of the whole process. Asana is more suitable for implementing Lean methodology and Lean management principles, since it eliminates the “organizational and communicational” waste, provides you with different communication and organization channels, with an overcrowded board, with the knowledge base inside of the Asana. Moreover, it is excellent for Knowledge management and documenting the processes inside the company. You can differ tasks, differ responsibilities, and it is easier to communicate inside the task/card than it is in Trello.
Who is Luciano Castro? Visit the About Me page and find out more.
Moreover, all are standardized, all look neat, all look clean and in order compared to Trello. Trello boards can sometimes look messy, unorganized, and unstructured, with a lot of different messed-up cards.
It’s more suitable for creating your digital Kanban board rather than a Scrum board. Trello offers plenty of functionalities to help manage your team. It uses lists and cards to map the flow, share the lists and cards between teams and team members, attach files and create checklists.
As much as it is good for the Kanban, it seems not so much appropriate and practical for the scrum approach, since it is harder to organize repeating tasks, to organize tasks with one and even several ongoing and overlapping projects, to follow their track and implementation of the team members, which is a must for the scrum, and available in some other tools which are more appropriate for the Scrum process.
It looks as if in Asana you could keep your sprints more structured than in Trello. Just having a list of to-do’s doesn’t help you understand if your sprint is on track and you will have a clearer view of each task as well.
To conclude, Trello doesn’t seem to be adequate for Scrum because of the layout, but it is more suitable, or perfect for the Kanban beginners.
Asana proves to be more versatile, providing more options than Trello, which you could use in different situations, with different teams. Such possibilities are limited or non-existing with Trello.
But, nevertheless, Trello, I love you and thank you for all your help.
Sincerely yours,
Humble project manager
Sources:
1. Asana / you can find out more following this link.
2. Trello / you can find out more following this link.