How to Log Tasks and Create Transparent and Accountable Workplace Using Free Tools?

Do you still use Excel to log your team’s tasks and try to calculate the time spent for each process? Have you found that not all your teammates remember to fill in the Excel? Do you find analyzing data in Excel difficult due to inconsistent formatting?

You are not alone. I have the same problems until I use Trello. It is incredibly flexible which is essential because your tasks vary across teams. It also provides free API which makes data analysis easy.

Some terminology of Trello should be introduced before we go further. Board is the fundamental building block. Inside the board, we have lists. Inside the lists, we have cards.

The API has so much information logged for each board, list, and card. The most relevant one should be date. You can use the date field to calculate the time used from one process to another process. With all the information logged automatically by Trello, you can do a lot of analysis, depending on your needs and creativity.

Similar to any deployment of technology, execution is the key. Human is a big factor since, in the end, it is human using technology. User-friendliness and resilience to human errors will smoothen the execution. In Trello, you can define the card template that represents your process (like the image above). What users need to do is to add a new card using the predefined template. It is quicker than typing and ensures consistency.

I will keep this post short. What I find out from experience is that if you need anything systematic and long term, think outside Excel!

Yes, not everyone knows coding and API. You can find other options like Monday.com if you are willing to pay.