How to track and estimate time in Trello?

We believe that there is no single person who hasn't heard of Trello. However, we are certain that you haven't heard about the best ways to use Trello, even though you might know how does Trello work. Trello is a great management tool that allows tracking projects, amount of work, and tasks, including personal ones, to see the progress and understand how the project works. Being one of the best time management strategies for the workplace, Trello surely has incorporated additional tools to upgrade its usage, like adding the ability to track the effective use of time.

There is no native Trello time tracker, so you have to find one and add it to your system, so you can be more specific about your projects. Further, in this article, we will write down the most important aspects of why you should use the Trello timer to track your work and the work of others. But don't worry, we are here not to catch those workers who try to hide from tasks, but rather to calculate the amount of time you spend on tasks to understand whether you charge enough money for your services.

There are several time trackers for Trello on the internet, but we will focus on one particular, which is the online time tracking software Wobbly. It's easy to install and easy to use, so don't worry — you are in good hands and will be able to track time and see one of the best ways to use Trello.

Best Ways to Use Trello

One of the simplest tools on the market is web-based and requires nothing from you. Just open your browser, get to the Trello website, and start planning and managing. Oh, we wish everything could be as easy as using Trello.

As soon as you have your page, you'll see three different elements that you're going to use as a Trello workspace table:

• With Boards, you can see all your past, current, and future tasks in one place. All your team can work on these boards and see what's going on. This is quite helpful as many enjoy seeing the bigger picture of the project rather than just following orders.
• Lists can help you organize all the tasks you have and prioritize them, so you always know what exactly you need to do without thinking twice.
• And Cards that show the tasks. Each task has its personal card where one can find all the related information to the task — the manager's name, deadline, additional info, extra materials, links, etc.

With these available items, you can not only plan your work and upgrade time management techniques for work, but you can also manage the view to your taste to be even more productive. It is possible to organize your cart, so they are shown as an interactive Kanban board, or to organize all tasks per type. Kanban is the concept of maintaining a continuous flow of tasks and their efficient execution through maximum team efficiency. At the same time, you can always understand how much work your team has, so you don't give people more work than they can do. Everyone gets exactly how much they can handle. To simplify the concept — you create a Trello to-do list, and people do those tasks.

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Kanban has two main principles:

• visualization of work
• limiting the number of tasks that are in progress

If you create a board like that, you'll move your cards a lot. Even though this might seem a bit exaggerated, it is necessary for tasks and time management. A lot of dragging, a lot of dropping, a lot of understanding of your working processes. Create lists like Ideas, To Do, In Process, and Done to track your work. You can also categorize your lists by the name of the group you are assigning tasks to. For example, you can name lists like Designers, Copywriters, Front-end Developers, Back-end Developers, Marketing, Content, etc.

Keep your finger on the pulse of your project and see your company grow. And here's an example of how you can name your lists based on the working team.

If you want to work with this approach — don't worry; you'll still be able to use all these cards moving; however, it won't have the same sense when moving cards with names like To Do or Done. Or you can perfectly leave them in the initial place, and it won't hurt your Trello task at all.

Let's talk a bit deeper about the parts that make Trello a perfect time management practice.

Trello Boards

Trello boards will help you to manage all your Trello tasks, Trello subtasks, Trello lists — everything you need for your project. This is the Home of your project, where you can get an overall look at all the processes. So besides having it, you should be sure to keep everything in order.

Multiple boards on Trello are perfect for your time management plans that allow you to find everything you require regarding your project in a split second.

Please keep in mind that you can customize the boards to get even more from them. Of course, it doesn't mean that you can create something extremely different from it already is, but still, you can adjust it to your needs. You can add new people to the task and manage who can access particular links or documents.

And you can also change the background! It's a small touch, but gives you an opportunity to bring some team spirit to your work and cheer up your co-workers with your brand colors or a funny kitten picture.

Trello Checklists

Trello lists help organize all tasks and items you have on your board. Here you can list all the things you need to do and add information that has to be written down, including pictures, announcements, notes, and whatever you possibly need to keep in one place. Trello's lists are perfect for organizing your workspace as you can also label things that have to be done, that are in the process, and those that are already done.

Trello Cards

The smallest items you have on your board are Trello count cards, as each of them represents the specific task with all the necessary information that you can keep inside such cards: names, text, documents, files, links, pictures, etc. You can also write down problems you face with the task to keep Trello issue tracking, which can resemble some kind of journal. This is good for the workflow as everyone in the team can see what is happening with the particular task and plan their time if they depend on some of those tasks. You can also add Trello tags, so it is easier to find something specific. But such tags should be developed based on your team's preferences and strict logic, as you should be able to find everything you need in seconds.

Why Should You Track Tasks in Trello?

For many, a simple question as to why one should not stop with Trello time tracking is that you have to know how much time exactly you spend on a particular task or a project. But there are many more reasons to that why one should not forget about time tracking with Trello.

Trello Cards

When you understand the effective use of time and have the necessary time management skills, you can estimate the amount of money you'll receive from doing the job. You can be sure to see exactly the cost of working and the revenue you get. That's why it is highly important to track the time and count your budget, so you can always cover the working expenses and have some money for further business development.

Shift Focus to Prioritize

When you know the best ways to use Trello, you know that you can work with your task priorities. You can also count where you spend too much time on basic tasks, or whether you commit to tasks that don't matter that much daily. The Trello time tracker can help you to spot these issues. You'll always know where you need to speed up a bit, where you can take a break, and where you are on good timing. A time tracker can tell you all those things.

Use Resources In a Smart Way

As a team, you have one resource, but each individual on your team has their resources that also need to be considered. This will help you to work more effectively and actually do more, keeping your employees happy and satisfied. Isn't it the goal? To get the work done and keep everyone happy? Sure it is. And that's why the Trello workspace table and Trello timer are must-haves in any company.

Improve Estimates, Rates and Overall Efficiency

When you start time tracking with Trello, you can later understand how much time you need to spend on similar projects, so it helps to tell your clients the deadlines and budget the project right. It is no secret that all teams sell their time and brains in exchange for money, so you have to be sure to calculate everything right, so your team gets the respectful rewards and your business grows.

And when you check all the Trello reports and things like that, you can also see which specialist works more or less than desired, calculate the future tasks price and see the project from different sides, so to speak.

Get Ambitious

Yes, you've heard it right! The Trello time estimates can help you be more ambitious with your future projects. You can quote your previous experiences and time new ones properly based on your previous works. It's it great? And you can also check whether you can get an additional project, or do the new one faster and charge some extra money for speed or additional work that might come up later.

No Mispricing

As we said before, time tracking with Trello can easily help you bill your customers. You will always have the exact time you've spent on a particular task or a particular project. Besides, you know how many adjustments you should apply as clients change minds or have different moods. So be sure to track each thing you do so you know how much your work is worth.

Manage Productivity

And finally — plenty of time management techniques and tools offer many options to track personal productivity. But one tool to rule them all is a time tracker, as this is the only option how you can actually see and improve your efficiency. See which tasks take longer and which do not, follow the tasks that are harder, and see which ones are easier for you so you can switch your focus when needed.

This will extremely boost your performance after a while, so don't hesitate to try the Trello time tracker at least.

How does the Wobbly Button Browser Extension work?

What are time management strategies? There are plenty as there are different extensions to boost your management game. However, as we are talking about time tracking in Trello, we will focus on a relevant extension that is easy to use yet has all the necessary features to be your favorite option.

If you use Trello right out of the box, you won't have a time tracking option that you need to work successfully. And if you skip on that, you won't know the amount of time spent on a particular task or project, meaning you'll run into all the above-mentioned issues. And believe us, you won't be happy with them.

Here you can start tracking hours in Trello thanks to browser extensions. The one we suggest you use is Wobbly. You can install it in one click and add it to your Trello board, so you can use it right away.

This free extension won't get a wave of hate and misunderstanding from your co-workers, as it is the easiest thing you can use to track time. And as it can be easily integrated into Trello, you and your team won't even notice how you get used to pushing one button, so you can work properly.

You can install this extension for your Chrome and Firefox browsers.

What Can Wobbly Browser Extension Do for You?

There are plenty of things that you can do when you start to install the Wobbly time tracker for Trello. Most of the things we've mentioned, but here is a list of the best things you get when using Wobbly:

• Start and end time tracking with Trello in one click
• Continue track time when you've left off.
• Synchronize other projects you have with your Trello account.
• Understand how much you need to charge for a particular project or task.
• Export Trello reports analyzing your productivity.
• Add tasks names and extras to the already running timer.

Basically, the ones who can manage their time are always happier and more successful, so why don't you be one of them

How to Track Time with Wobbly in Trello

Have you heard of Wobbly before reading this? If so, you could have been using Wobbly and Trello separately, as tracking time is a good method of time management. But you can use them both and boost your productivity and work time quality, which will result in having plenty of nice things like the right amount of payment and additional time to spend on things that matter most.

Combine these two free products to boost your time management skills and make the most out of your working hours!

Let's see how you can do this step by step.

How to Start Tracking Time with Wobbly in Trello

Once you've installed the Wobbly extension, you can visit the Trello website and start working there. This is the beginning of this whole process.

After you add the Wobbly extension, you'll see a tiny Time Tracker button that will help you track time from your Trello cards. You can easily start or stop the timer by clicking on that button and start working.

You can also start the timer by selecting the desired text on the page, right-clicking, and selecting Start timer in the context menu. This is the alternative to the standard method mentioned above.

When you start your Trello time tracker, you'll see how the icon of your browser extension has changed. It changes the color, signaling that the timer is on and that you should start working. Chop-chop!

But make sure you don't forget to shut down your browser when you're done, as the time tracker will continue working. If you've forgotten about shutting it down, you can manually turn it off from any device with a Wobbly app on your smartphone or any other mobile device.

Tracking Subtasks

If you need to track time for a specific task in your card and not the card itself, you can pick the necessary task, right-click it, and run a timer specifically for it.

This is the issue you might run into any time, so we want you to know that Wobbly can work with that and do just fine. No worries.

Finding the Tracked Time

As soon as you start the timer, it starts ticking in the web extension you have in your browser. You can stop the Trello time tracker once you finish the task you've been tracking time for.

You can find all the tracked time in the Wobbly extension you use. As it can work with plenty of other apps, each task will be signed and linked to the appropriate project, so you won't miss track of your work.

Adding Time Manually

You can add working time later if you forget to turn on your timer. All you need to do is start a new timer, write down the task's name and enter the starting and finishing time. Make sure you do this in a relative project.

Checking the Tracked Time

After you are done with your task, you can go to the Wobbly browser account and see how much time you've spent on the task. Wobbly's reports give you an eagle view of the time estimated and spent by projects. Also, you can view every member's effectiveness by tasks and time spent. You can sort data in the report by clients, projects, and team members. Also, you can check a real-time report, allowing managers to see the project that employees work on.

The Wobbly extension will provide you with the desired report on your work. You just have to analyze it and understand which adjustments to your work can be made with the help of detailed reports. And when you download those reports, you can adjust the Duration Display Format to understand your processes better. Three views are available:

• Classic (1h 32m; 32m; 16s)
• Improved (0:42:03)
• Decimal (0.67h)

Why Choose Wobbly as Trello Time Tracker?

To wrap it up, we would like to name several reasons why you should be calculating full-time equivalent in Wobbly as your Trello time tracker.

The first thing is that it is free. You don't have to spend a dime for an extension that will help you earn more money and save time. The second thing is that it is a cross-platform solution, which means that you can access your data from any device that has the Wobbly extension. And the third thing is that Wobbly is easy to use — it is user-friendly and intuitive, so not a single member of your team will have issues with using it.

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