As my wedding business grows, the need to be organized is key. I have recently begun using Trello to organize and track my photography workflow. From the first inquiry email to the final package delivery, I have created a checklist and boards to keep business on track and on time.
Trello is a free web based app that works much like sticky notes on a wall. It has so many bells and whistles that the only difficulty is deciding how to structure everything. It is so flexible I had to look up public boards to see the best way to utilize this tool.
I have my “Wedding Tracker” board separated into five lists: inquiry, booked, shooting, post processing and DONE! Each card has the bride's name and wedding date as the title, as I find these very important. Inside every card is a generic checklist for the wedding process. As I finish a task I check the list off, if the task moves the card to another category in my process I simply drag and drop the card on the new list. Very simple once you have it setup. You can even copy cards so you do not have to recreate the same checklist every time.
[Main Board View]
[The Card & Checklist I Create Per Client]
[Copying a Card to Carrying Over My Checklist]
Trello also allows you to embed other features within cards: photos, documents, voting poll and due dates. I can add members as well so they can view or edit my lists. There are apps for Android and Apple mobile devices that are nice to have on the fly. The possible uses for this app are endless.
In the comments, please let me know any additional items you would add to your workflow or even other uses for this awesome free software.
I've had an account with Trello ever since I saw them at the Tech Crunsh Disrupt conference. However, I haven't really used it as I couldn't really come up with a way to do so that fits in with my current work and such. I'm not a full time photographer or even a wedding photographer so my needs would certainly be different, but, this gives me some ideas to try out. Thanks!
I have been trying to figure out a use for a while. I threw a lot of ideas on some boards but the lack of structure caused me not to use it. I hope this gets me hooked and organized.
Trello has been revolutionary for me, my business and the charity I run. I use it for schedules, meeting agendas and working with my administrator. My agendas are now collaborative, so when it comes to a meeting not only does everyone know what's going on they've also contributed to it. Whether it's just to keep you organised or to help you work collaboratively this is an awesome bit of kit and the most valuable I have, outside of photo-specific software.
It does take a little bit of working with to see how it will work for you, but when you get there it more than makes up for it!!!
This is a really good post. I currently use a spreadsheet system, but it's a bit cumbersome. Looking forward to trying this out, thanks for sharing!
Interesting. I'll have to give this a try
Dude, this looks awesome.
I use Trello for my production workflow and payments. I have 2 separate boards for each. For us, our clients pay 4 times, so every time we get a payment, their card goes from the 1st payment received bucket into the 2nd payment received bucket, and so on. For production workflow, after a shoot is wrapped we place their card into the "shoot wrapped" bucket. Then it moves onto the file organization bucket, then to editing, then to client approval, masters rendered, sent and complete. It's an awesome way to see what's in the pipline. We also use it to give notes to our editors so they can have one location to reference and provide links and conversation around the project. Really, I couldn't run my business without it!
I found another tool to add to this http://www.emelloapp.com/ . I can now have my inquiry emails go straight into trello. Now I have all the information from the first email in the card already and the card created. I simply copy my master checklist over and I have a card ready to move through the process.
How is this different from Outlook?
I think trello is more visual. I can look at my board and see where each wedding is at in the workflow. I ended up not using the app above but you could.
I've started using Trello after working with one client on a large project. They use it as their task management app and required me to sign up and join the project's board. Since then I moved most of my business processes to Trello. It's an app that just does the job right, your way.
Trello has been a lifesaver for me in the freelance world and on our creative team. I can hardly remember what life was like before Trello. And I even use Trello to manage all of our studio equipment check outs. I'd be happy to temporarily share any of our boards with anyone wondering how we manage a team workflow, a freelance workflow, and our studio gear. Just send me a direct message.
Thank you for this, it really helped me to plan better
Nice. If you're interested in any other tips or need ideas for how to get started with Trello, take a look at http://leanpub.com/trellodojo
Love Trello! I used it for managing my workflow as well. But I really missed being able to send out emails with managing the tasks. And some kind of overview. So I created Shootzilla.com . It's a studio mangement system for photographers who are outgrowing Trello.
Hey, I’m eager about this now! I was truly stimulated with your kindling ideas on using Trello to manage my photography workflow. It helped me a lot because I really wanted to have a system that will work for managing all my projects and I think Trello has all the features I need to keep all my documents tidy and neat. Also, it’d be great if you could take a look at my viewpoints on this matter, “Killer Tips for Managing Workflow with Checklists” http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/08/killer-tips-managing-workflow-checklis...) as well.
I really find this post relevant in keeping all the processes and documents in a well-systemize manner and this kind of post should be read in a daily basis.
Keep posting!
This post is nearly six years old, and I found it incredibly relevant. Although there are many other workflow management systems now (paid) but this is perfect, and most importantly free. Thanks for your write up.