Checklists in Trello

There is a lot to like about Trello. It has many uses beyond Scrum for Your Life. My wife and I use it for our grocery list, movies we want to see and travel tips. And because we’re on the same team, the updates to each of our devices is instant. One of the features I love about Trello is the ability to make checklists within a Card. Yes, that’s checklists - plural.

Checklists are especially useful when tracking progress on Sprint Goal that has discrete steps to its completion. And although not orthodox Scrum, you can move a Card in progress to the next Sprint and not miss a beat of where you were.

I recently used checklists on a Sprint Goal for a certification I was seeking. One checklist was for the three classes I had to attend, another for the 10 chapters I had to read, and another for exam prep and execution. It felt great to see the progress toward the eventual completion of the certification.

To add a checklist on your phone, open the Card and you will see Add Checklist under Quick Actions at the top of your screen. If you soft-tap over the word “checklist” you can rename it as you wish. Then start adding steps. I haven’t found a limit yet. Checking off each item is as simple as tapping on the box to the left of each item. The card will display a summary of the number of steps completed against the total number of all steps for all checklists. And when all of them are complete, you will see the summary turn green.