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Here's my how I manage my SaaS with my Trello board

In the Indiehacker & startup scene there is a big obsession with productivity tools and time management. I use Trello for all my most important things. I also use the basic Notes and Reminders app on my Mac, but this only works for a single person...

How does this work?

  • bug reports (either by customer or from monitoring) are pushed into Trello.
  • New feature suggestions are also recorded. They mostly come from the Drift chat widget from customers.
  • Anything really goes into the first column.

The more things move to the right, the more serious they become. The "Done" column means shipped to customers and available. "GA" if you will.

I copy & paste links to Drift discussions with customers in the Trello card so I can look up more details. I use a ton of images and check lists to make things clearer.

What I wanted to make clear is that you really do not need anything to fancy to keep track of things.

  1. 1

    I like the simplicity of your board. I see that your bucket isn't too long. Do you have a strategy for keeping it short?

    1. 2

      Well, kinda. I really get frustrated from long, catch-every-idea-in-the-world type back logs. Death by a thousand backlog items. I actively work to get things shorter and disregard anything that is not relevant right now.

      Turns out that important things stick around in your brain or you are reintroduced to them just by your customers.

      Most stuff is actually not really worth making a note of.

      1. 1

        And even if you do make note and come back to it after half-year, you've totally forgotten by then all the context and why the note was written in the first place, and likely situation will have changed drastically since that note.

  2. 1

    I like your layout. Mine has gotten a little bit unruly lately so I might try it out.

    What labels do you have?

    1. 1

      nothing special, I make 'm up as I go along. Only the "customer" one is a bit special maybe. I add it when a bug, feature, enhancement whatever originated from a (paying) customer. Helps keep focus on what matters.

  3. 1

    Love Trello too! I use a board like this for each WordPress plugin we develop, also with a to test column so I'm automatically notified when a feature needs my attention for testing.

    I also find it handy to have a higher level board listing projects to do and I'm progress. That makes it easier for me to see if I'm trying to do too many projects at once.

    Keeping it simple is always best! :-)

  4. 1

    Cool! I love trello, been using it to track the development of my SaaS right from day 1. https://i.imgur.com/UQTbUhW.png

  5. 1

    Please check out https://clubhouse.io. You'll be glad you did!

    1. 2

      I think you sort of missed the point. Trello is for me enough. I had a look at clubhouse a bit earlier this year. Already too much features and stuff.

      1. 0

        I got the point: a lot is possible with just Trello. When you need to expand into coordinating multiple faceted projects, sometimes Trello just doesn't cut it. Either way, your approach is working for you, which is the most important thing :)

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