Trello is one of our favourite apps. We use Trello to manage projects, our hiring process, and standard operating procedures. We have had our fair share of project/task management apps. Back in the day, we used 
then moved to 
and we are finally happy and productive using 
.
In this blog post, we are going to mostly talk about Trello. But if you are looking for more options you can check out this list of the best project management software for business by Cloudwards.
What is Trello?
In this post, I assume you are familiar and know the basics of how to use Trello. If you don’t or haven’t used Trello, i would recommend using it or at least trying it. Think of Trello as a big To-Do board where you can define columns to post sticky notes and move them around.
Okay, I know Trello, what’s Butler?
Butler is the automation built into Trello, and it puts your boards on steroids. Let me explain by a simple example: Let’s say you use Trello in a team where you have the following Lists:
Backlog, To Do, In Progress, Test, Done, Archive
Now using the basic features in Trello. You can create tasks, assign members and add them to lists. In some instances, you want to attach a member (Sam) to your card when the card is moved to the Test list. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to automate this functionality by just using Trello. So here comes the power of Trello automation using Butler. Atlassian bought Butler in 2019 and built it into Trello, so there is nothing to install any more.
Setting up Butler
Open your Trello board and click Automation in the board menu.
Choose Rules, then Create Rule.
Set the trigger and the actions you want.
Save the rule.
Your rules live in the Automation panel rather than on the board, so nothing clutters your lists.
Adding your first Butler command
So from the above example. You can add a Butler command in plain English which says:
When a card is moved into the list "In Test", add member @sam to the card
Once you save the rule, Butler confirms it understood the command and runs it every time a card is moved into the “In Test” list.
The above command is quite simple but you can come up with complex scenarios which can help you automate a lot of manual actions.
Here is a more complex example:
When a card is moved into list "Development", add the blue "Development" label to the card, add the "Developer Checklist" checklist to the card, and move the "Developer Checklist" checklist to the top, add the green "In Progress" label to the card, and remove the black "Management" label from the card, and reset checklist "Developer Checklist" on the card.
In the above scenario, we assign a checklist from a template card which we have set up separately.
When a card is moved into the Development List, the Developer checklist is added to the card and moved to the top. Rest of the commands are self-explanatory.
How to Archive Trello Cards automatically
One command which you should always include in your arsenal is the operation cleanup Trello. Every Wednesday at 12:09 BST we archive all cards in Trello which are in the done list for more than 14 days.
Every Wednesday 12:09 BST, archive all the cards more than 14 days in the list "Done".
With Butler you can create Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) for your various activities like Content Marketing, Social Media, Client Onboarding, Hiring, etc. In our design agency, all our landing page requests are sent to Trello and assigned to a team member. Based on their role the card moves from a Project Coordinator to an Unbounce Landing Page Designer and finally to the client manager. Having a workflow which doesn’t require a manual or documentation means less onboarding and training. We love it when a system just works and we as a business manage processes which manage people.
Waseem founded Apexure in 2015 and has led its work on 3,000+ pages for 300+ clients since. He writes about what the team sees after the click, which is pages, forms, tracking and the systems behind them.
