Trello always fit in this perfect place between to-do list and full-blown project management. It was unique in that way. As they move to a "personal to-do list" all they're doing is moving into a space dominated by a million other products. I already have a personal to-do list. Changing Trello to that is not going to win me over. It's going to push me out, since I used Trello for what I can't do with a to-do list. I need basic, lightweight project management -- personally, and at work -- which is why I use Trello. Jira or other PM tools are overkill for my needs. Trello hit that sweet spot. But it's losing its footing with these changes. The Inbox feature is cool (about the only thing they changed that was good). The Planner feature is meh (I'm sure some people will get benefit out of it, but I didn't even use the built-in calendar functions and my personal calendars won't link to it anyway). The new card backs force insane cognitive overload (FOUR different places to look for what used to be one column of buttons) -- frankly, the worst UI/UX change I think I've ever seen in a product. The new floating bar at the bottom is not only annoying and kinda unclear, but also obscures the board scroll bar. All I see on every corner of the Internet is people complaining about the direction Trello is going in and how they all hate it, yet Atlassian is saying "most of our customers love this" -- why don't I see ANY positive posts from customers, then??? IDK, we'll see how it goes. But if Trello moves into a crippled product that my basic to-do list can already suffice for, I'll stop using it personally. And if it kills the things that allow us to do basic project management at work (we need basic task tracking, not full-fledged gantt charts and planning, etc), then we'll have to look for a different product -- and it won't be Jira.
I think you hit the nail on the head Leona - Trello was/is a perfect middle of the road solution. Yes its nice for quick to dos and sticky notes of "give my pets flea medicine" and "go grocery shopping", but it's also really great for "light" project management too - content planning, scheduling, any sort of visual workflow. While I am tinkering around more with Jira because I definitely do think I've worked with folks that push trello too its limit (and don't get me wrong— i love that), i do think there are still plenty of places that Trello is the current sweet spot.
And i agree that pushing people out of those middle of the road use cases isnt going to lead them to Jira, but lead them away from Atlassian. But i also think its going to be tough to find something. I find Monday.com, Asana, and Clickup are kinda close but also somehow not as powerful and still too complicated? haha.
IMO: Jira is not a replacement for Trello, nor do I want it to be. If they eventually "change direction" and take Trello away or "merge it" into Jira, I'm going to find another option.
Yeah, i dont think most people will find it a valid substitute. But i do think there are some scenarios where people are trying to make trello do more than it's meant to. Its just tough cause its so darn flexible it gets really close to a lot of perfect use cases!
Since Trello/Atlassian started _removing_ features like card colors to persuade the occasional user (me) to pay - I'm seriously thinking of getting the hell out of Trello.
I understand that new cool features need funding (paid accounts), but cutting off basics that were in place before ATL bought Trello feels cheap.
So in the future when I come back to run a small family or friends project in Trello, I do not want to waste time setting it up only to find out that it's now impossible without paid membership. Thanks Trello, but no thanks.
I actually think part of the problem today is that Trello gave away too much for free and now they're struggling to monetize. I've paid for trello long before i needed any premium features because i think its important to support businesses that create products you use. It's always great when someone offers something really cool for free, but that is never sustainable to build your own processes on because they're going to eventually have to charge for those things or they will go out of business.
Quick question for you Brittany - can we no longer add guests to our trello? I pay annually for a premium plan and want to add 2 guests to 1 of my boards. I used to be able to do this, but I think it’s looking like I need to invite them to the workspace now first and then restrict access to one board? Only problem is I’ll immediately get charged the annual premium fee for each of them for adding them to the workspace. Any advice or workarounds would be appreciated! Also - affirmed to hear you haven’t fully bought into planner yet. Me too!
You can add guests to a board, but as soon as a guest is part of more than one board, they're considered a "multi-board guest" and you do have to pay for them. So don't invite them to the workspace; just go to the Share button in the top right of the board and invite them there. If they are on another board in that workspace already, you'll need to remove them from that other board first.
Trello always fit in this perfect place between to-do list and full-blown project management. It was unique in that way. As they move to a "personal to-do list" all they're doing is moving into a space dominated by a million other products. I already have a personal to-do list. Changing Trello to that is not going to win me over. It's going to push me out, since I used Trello for what I can't do with a to-do list. I need basic, lightweight project management -- personally, and at work -- which is why I use Trello. Jira or other PM tools are overkill for my needs. Trello hit that sweet spot. But it's losing its footing with these changes. The Inbox feature is cool (about the only thing they changed that was good). The Planner feature is meh (I'm sure some people will get benefit out of it, but I didn't even use the built-in calendar functions and my personal calendars won't link to it anyway). The new card backs force insane cognitive overload (FOUR different places to look for what used to be one column of buttons) -- frankly, the worst UI/UX change I think I've ever seen in a product. The new floating bar at the bottom is not only annoying and kinda unclear, but also obscures the board scroll bar. All I see on every corner of the Internet is people complaining about the direction Trello is going in and how they all hate it, yet Atlassian is saying "most of our customers love this" -- why don't I see ANY positive posts from customers, then??? IDK, we'll see how it goes. But if Trello moves into a crippled product that my basic to-do list can already suffice for, I'll stop using it personally. And if it kills the things that allow us to do basic project management at work (we need basic task tracking, not full-fledged gantt charts and planning, etc), then we'll have to look for a different product -- and it won't be Jira.
I think you hit the nail on the head Leona - Trello was/is a perfect middle of the road solution. Yes its nice for quick to dos and sticky notes of "give my pets flea medicine" and "go grocery shopping", but it's also really great for "light" project management too - content planning, scheduling, any sort of visual workflow. While I am tinkering around more with Jira because I definitely do think I've worked with folks that push trello too its limit (and don't get me wrong— i love that), i do think there are still plenty of places that Trello is the current sweet spot.
And i agree that pushing people out of those middle of the road use cases isnt going to lead them to Jira, but lead them away from Atlassian. But i also think its going to be tough to find something. I find Monday.com, Asana, and Clickup are kinda close but also somehow not as powerful and still too complicated? haha.
IMO: Jira is not a replacement for Trello, nor do I want it to be. If they eventually "change direction" and take Trello away or "merge it" into Jira, I'm going to find another option.
Yeah, i dont think most people will find it a valid substitute. But i do think there are some scenarios where people are trying to make trello do more than it's meant to. Its just tough cause its so darn flexible it gets really close to a lot of perfect use cases!
Since Trello/Atlassian started _removing_ features like card colors to persuade the occasional user (me) to pay - I'm seriously thinking of getting the hell out of Trello.
I understand that new cool features need funding (paid accounts), but cutting off basics that were in place before ATL bought Trello feels cheap.
So in the future when I come back to run a small family or friends project in Trello, I do not want to waste time setting it up only to find out that it's now impossible without paid membership. Thanks Trello, but no thanks.
I actually think part of the problem today is that Trello gave away too much for free and now they're struggling to monetize. I've paid for trello long before i needed any premium features because i think its important to support businesses that create products you use. It's always great when someone offers something really cool for free, but that is never sustainable to build your own processes on because they're going to eventually have to charge for those things or they will go out of business.
Quick question for you Brittany - can we no longer add guests to our trello? I pay annually for a premium plan and want to add 2 guests to 1 of my boards. I used to be able to do this, but I think it’s looking like I need to invite them to the workspace now first and then restrict access to one board? Only problem is I’ll immediately get charged the annual premium fee for each of them for adding them to the workspace. Any advice or workarounds would be appreciated! Also - affirmed to hear you haven’t fully bought into planner yet. Me too!
You can add guests to a board, but as soon as a guest is part of more than one board, they're considered a "multi-board guest" and you do have to pay for them. So don't invite them to the workspace; just go to the Share button in the top right of the board and invite them there. If they are on another board in that workspace already, you'll need to remove them from that other board first.