Trello: Visual Kanban Simplicity

Trello is a project and task management tool known for its visual simplicity and strong focus on the Kanban paradigm.

It uses a system of boards, lists and cards that is very intuitive for organizing work.

Although it can be used by agile teams, its inherent simplicity makes it especially popular for personal projects, small teams or as a less complex alternative to more robust tools such as Jira.

Its main appeal lies in its ease of use and its freemium model, which offers considerable functionality at no cost.

Advantages (Free, Intuitive, Flexible Kanban Board)

Trello has several significant advantages:

Free (Freemium Model): it offers a completely free version with sufficient functionality for small teams (up to 10 boards per workspace), making it very accessible.

Intuitive and Easy to Use: Its interface based on drag and drop cards between lists is very easy to learn and use.

Flexible Kanban Board: Allows to create multiple columns (lists) and scroll horizontally through them, offering great visual flexibility to represent different workflows.

Visual: Allows adding images to the cards displayed on the board, making it attractive.

These features make it an excellent choice for starters or for teams that prioritize simplicity over advanced functionality.

Limitations (Single View, Simple Issue Management, No Native Epics)

Despite its simplicity, Trello has limitations, especially for agile teams with more complex needs:

Single View (Kanban): primarily offers the Kanban board view; it does not have other built-in views such as advanced lists, timelines, or complex native dashboards.

Simple Issue Management (Cards): Cards have a relatively simple structure. There is no clear native hierarchy such as Epics > Stories > Subtasks.

Although checklists can be used as subtasks, managing large initiatives can become complicated.

Does not allow for easy differentiation of issue types (stories, bugs, spikes) without using labels.

Limited cross-board management: Moving cards between different boards is not easy and a card cannot belong to multiple boards simultaneously.

Limited Labels: Labels are only colors in the basic version, with no visible text directly on the board, which limits their visual usefulness compared to other tools.

Power-Ups to Extend Functionality

To mitigate some of its limitations, Trello offers a system of "Power-Ups".

These are add-ons or integrations (some free, some paid or part of the paid version of Trello) that add additional functionality to the boards.

There are Power-Ups for:

• Custom Fields: Adding additional fields to cards.
• Agile Estimation: Tools like "Agile Guy" allow you to add estimates (e.g., story points) and manage sprints.
• Automation