As an early-career researcher, I am still figuring out the best way to get stuff done. Every day it seems like my to-do list gets longer and longer, for every item I tick off two more take its place and I have no doubt it will only get worse. I am all about finding the best, most efficient and connected technologies to help alleviate some unnecessary legwork. After my first toolbox post, I have decided to write more on the programs, apps and integrations that I use every day starting with one of the newest additions: Trello!
The basics: What the Tr-hell-o is all the fuss about??
Trello is fundamentally a project management application with a simple but sophisticated hierarchical interface consisting of boards, lists and cards. Trello thrives in settings suited to kanban-style organisation. In the context of Trello, kanban is most often laid out as three stages (lists) – to-do, doing, done – and each element (or card) of a project (board) is represented within a list according to its state of completion. Elements progress through each list, giving a simple, visual overview of the project’s overall state.
This style works well when you work alone on individual projects – but it is also something you could easily accomplish with a chalkboard and some post-it notes. Where Trello really comes into its own is the ability to share and collaborate, such that individual tasks can be assigned to different people, comments can be added to cards specific for that task, and everyone can know at a glance the current big picture.
Trello is free (for the basic version, which is all I have needed thus far!), and accessible via the web interface, PC and iOS apps. It also integrates with all manner of other productivity apps, including GoogleDrive, GitHub, Dropbox, Slack, Evernote, OneDrive… Together, these features enrich the functionality of boards, providing a kind of dashboard from which to tackle projects and giving unparalleled flexibility for teams with diverse computing and file storage preferences.
Trello in action: managing your research projects
First things first: keeping track of experiments. There are many many electronic lab notebooks currently on the market, and I have tried more than my fair share. If you are not stuck in your ways (like I am) I highly recommend shopping around and picking one that you can integrate into your work as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I am a control freak and I am yet to find one that fits seamlessly with my workflow, and so I have resorted to building my own system using Trello!
The basic elements include lists for Ideas, Planned experiments, Lab work in progress, Analysis in progress, Ready to writeup, and Complete. Each new experiment or idea gets a card, for which I quickly note the purpose, reagents to be used, techniques and instrument details, and any pertinent references in the description. I then link this card (using the GoogleDrive powerup) to the folder containing the full experimental plan, results, analysis and write-up. The card then gets moved across the columns (lists) as each stage of the experiment is completed. For similar types of experiments, I have a checklist that allows me to easily track specific small elements of the experiment (e.g. plating cells, collecting results etc). If I complete a particular action for the experiment, I will also note in the comments any details specifically about that action. These comments are date and time stamped, helping to keep track of my activity on a day-to-day basis.
Another awesome Trello feature is the ability to label cards with a customisable category, which appears as a coloured bar on the front of the card. I use this feature here to label experiments with which one of my (many) projects it is specifically associated with.
This brings me to my second board – my project board. This is a board with which I track all of the ongoing projects I am involved in. There are lists for my individual projects (think: first author work), students projects I am involved with, collaborators projects, and ideas to keep in mind. The cards on each of these lists refer to a specific project, which can then also link to another Trello board or card which contains information, ideas and important references specifically for that project. That’s right baby, it’s Trello-ception!
Along similar lines, I have a board for manuscripts which tracks each manuscript I am involved in (cards) as they progress from the first draft to submission to revision to (if I’m lucky!) acceptance. In this case, labels are assigned to indicate my author position, and whether my contribution is required to move the article to the next stage. Individual cards link to additional Trello boards for each manuscript (normally only those for which I am the first author) where I can store more detailed information and ideas, tasks etc in a kanban layout.
By starring the top-level boards for Projects, Manuscripts and my Virtual Lab Book (starring is an inbuilt Trello function that allows you to favourite boards to be displayed at the top of your home page) I can easily get an overview of current progress, then by clicking a specific project or manuscript card I am automatically linked to all the more specific information I might need when working on that project, article or experiment.
The bigger picture: managing your science
When I first started with Trello, the ability to modularly (and very visually) manage and monitor my projects was a great tool. Since then, I have expanded my use of Trello boards to include the peripherals necessary for managing life as an ECR. Things like how to prioritise your workload, manage your short-term and long-term goals and keep on top of your reading list all become easier using Trello. My most recent addition was a prioritisation board, based on the priorities list shared by Corey J. A. Bradshaw in his amazing book “The Effective Scientist” (stay tuned for a book review – I really cannot recommend this book highly enough!). In short, Bradshaw runs through an exemplary list of how to prioritise the many competing interests vying for the time of an academic to get the maximum bang-for-your-buck in terms of career returns. These include things like writing articles, doing experiments (duh), helping students and colleagues, social media and writing grants.
When I first filled in all of the elements of the board, I realised just how unbalanced I have been in allocating time to each of these aspects. It was a great way to put into perspective where I should be spending the majority of my time and revisiting this structured big-picture priority list once a fortnight has helped refocus my research output.
Resources
That’s enough from me for now – if I have convinced you to give Trello a go, there are a couple of handy links below. I have included template examples for each of the board types that I mentioned above: feel free to use, abuse, copy and manipulate them to fit your own workflow, I honestly believe one of the best assets of Trello is it’s customisability – so don’t be afraid to make it your own. Just be sure to let me know if you find it helpful!
Template boards:
Additional info (from those who’ve said it better than me!):
Happy organising!
Image credit: @sidneyperryphotography via @unsplash
