Wednesday, February 19

Jutta and I had been talking about the need for a collaborative tool for project planning, and especially one that we could use with the students. Yesterday I remembered that I had looked at both Asana and Trello before Christmas and decided against using either. Asana had seemd too complex, and the design seemed to interfere with the function. I had not understood what problem Trello was supposed to solve.

I decided to spend the morning looking at both of them again, since I felt that Omtänk needed a planning tool. I started by talking with Tomas who said that Sanna had proposed Trello at an Omtänk meeting I had missed but the others had resisted. Ah ha, I thought: someone understands it!

I started by finding information about Personal Kanban, which at least clued me in on what problem Trello was solving. I then found a Trello board that served as links to example Trello boards. After an hour I suddenly got it. I then looked at Asana and decided that my first impressions of it were broadly speaking correct. It had animations where it simply didn’t need them, and a colour scheme that hid the controls when they should be visible. I went back to Trello.

Now I have decided to walk to Arabia for a break. Outside the mall is the only large pile of snow I have seen this winter. It is standing there like an exhibit from the Museum of Winters Past.

In the afternoon I will explore Trello in more depth and finally decide that it is a brilliant idea – once you understand what it is supposed to do. I will even find a place for it in my own system, as a way of visualising projects before making task lists. The fact that you can actually embed it in Outlook is a pleasant bonus.

Irma will phone to say she is driving past and would like to give me a lift home. I will leave at about 15:45 and we will drive circuitously home. She is not happy. I am not happy either, but she is more not happy than me, I think.

Naa will be at the cinema with Niilia when we get home and will arrive later.