How to make an effective Trello board:

While working with other people on a project, it is necessary to have a trello board. You should probably know about the Backlog, Burn List, Review, and Completed lists, but you might have to go in a little more depth than that to actually make use out of your trello board. First of all, your goals must be measurable, something that you could both say and show is done. The goals also have to be timely, something you could get done within one to two class periods. Make sure you have enough goals for multiple people in your group to be working on different things at the same time. You also need enough goals in your burn list to sufficiently fill your time until the next step. Avoid the temptation to write one or two broad, unspecific goals that you believe will take up your whole time. Split them up into more specific, smaller goals!

A helpful, more organized way of using the trello board is to make different color labels with each group member's name on it. This will allow you to assign goals to different people, and make sure you aren't overlapping any work. This will also help if you are in need of a shopping list on your trello board. It will be helpful to have everyone mark their label on the product you have to buy once someone comments a link to the item so each person has the opportunity to show that he or she approves the item for ordering.

Also, if it helps, you should add more lists to organize your thinking. Do not feel as if you have to only stick to the backlog, burn list, review, and completed lists. It might be helpful to have a list named "Pictures" to show the work you have done visually. Having a requirements list for S.M.A.R.T goals or epic goals can also be helpful to you. These should be goals for your sprint period that fill your time. They will describe the project behavior, not your work. As this isn’t a necessary list for your trello board, it might be helpful to have your goals in front of you to visualize your final project as you add more and more things to your trello board that need to be completed.

Keep in mind that trello boards are supposed to help you and your group prioritize important tasks and get things done in a more timely fashion. It is not something you should just do because you “have to”. Use this tool as an advantage and to the best of your group’s ability. Don’t try to quickly make things up last minute before presenting your goals so it can appear that you and your group did more than you actually did. It’s okay if you don’t reach your goals every week. Just keep using trello to help you and your group pinpoint what exactly needs to get done so everyone is on the same page and is aware of what they are supposed to be working on. Make sure to daily update your board and keep up with who’s doing what. Avoid confusion by communicating in the comments and continuing to move items from your backlog to your burnlist to the completed board. It’s okay to make your own lists too for organizing things like shopping items or supplies still needed to be ordered. Lastly, keep track of deadlines and who’s assigned to what with the labels and don’t forget to rank the importance of your goals.