Tra-la-la-la Trello!

Not sure if this meets our syllabus requirements for blog posts, but here's something for y'all:

Until December 2012, my staff used an anachronistic system for our deadline planning and tracking that consisted of an in-lab binder with a sheet of paper for each spread complemented by an online tracking/completion spreadsheet (Google Doc, of course!) that allowed our editors to keep tabs on progress.

I can't remember if I stumbled across a blog post or got a hot tip from an adviser friend, but in the first week of December, I heard about Trello.com, an project management/workflow web app that has revolutionized how our students collaborate, plan, organize, and meet their deadlines.

Back when I started posting about the changes we were making in our lab, a bunch of my colleague friends on Facebook asked "What's this Trello thing you keep talking about?"  My response was the video that I posted below.  Admittedly, I go a little long on the narration–apologies on that count–but on the whole I think it's a solid introduction to the app.  And speaking of apps, there is a Droid and iPhone app for Trello.  I was able to monitor my students' collaboration via Trello passive notifications in real time. That is, I didn't need to jump into the nitty gritty; my notifications would ping with something like "@LydiaBruffey commented on @SophiSophi's card entitled 'Homecoming'" and I could get a 4,000 foot view of our team's progress.

Here's the video. I welcome comments and questions on this one. I know we're talking staff management next week, so I hope some of you consider Trello as we approach that conversation. I'd be 100% game to show you some of the boards/lists/cards from our last deadline of the year via my account.



Trello for Publication Advisers -- Overview from Mike Simons on Vimeo.


-Mike Simons
West HS / East HS
Corning-Painted Post, NY