Juggling multiple personal projects with tasks, deadlines, and collaboration can get overwhelming at times. Instead of using age-old methods like pen and paper, use dedicated solutions to fly through your projects in no time. Among all these project management tools, Trello and Asana stand out due to their visual simplicity and customizable workflows. Whether you are a visual thinker, a productivity nerd, or a data-driven organizer, continue reading to learn why and how you could use Trello or Asana for personal project management on your laptop.

Use Trello to manage your projects

Trello is one of the easiest project management tools to get started with. The built-in Kanban boards make it ideal for individuals and small teams who prefer a straightforward approach. Before we start, let’s glance over the major Trello features.

Key Trello features

• Different views, including table, calendar, timeline, dashboard, and map
• A robust templates library
• Checklists to manage your tasks
• Automation to create rules
• Integration with third-party apps like Slack, Teams, Evernote, Gmail, and more
• Deadlines and activity log
• Labels and stickers for customization

Explore templates

As mentioned, Trello offers hundreds of ready-to-use templates. If you don’t want to start from scratch, use the templates library to find a relevant option.

It’s neatly divided into relevant categories like Business, Design, Education, Marketing, Personal, Sales, Productivity, and more. Overall, you won’t have a hard time finding a template that matches your use case.

Get started with Trello

In the example below, we will create a software development plan for an indie developer. Let’s get started.

Create a new board

1. Head to Trello and sign in with your account credentials. Select Create from the homepage. Click Create board.
2. Pick a relevant background (you can change it later), enter the board title, set its visibility to Private and select Create.

Create lists

1. Enter a relevant list title and select Add list.
2. In the example below, we have created relevant lists like Backlog, Working on, Testing, Bugs, and Done. You can also spice up the column with relevant emojis.
3. If you want to differentiate your columns further, create a new card at the top.
4. Select a cover and apply a suitable cover. It definitely levels up your Trello board. Check the screenshot below for reference.

Create and fill-in card details

Once you have added list columns, it’s time to add cards within them.

1. Select Add a card option under a list and enter a title.
2. Open the card and enter relevant details like description, checklist, and more. When you add the latter, Trello shows a live progress tracker at the top.
3. When adding a description, you can use the top toolbar to use text editing options like bold, italic, divider, emoji, bullet list, and numbered list.

Overall, you have ample options to add all the relevant details to a Trello card.

Customize cards using labels

You can use labels to further differentiate between cards and their status.

1. Open any card in Trello and select Labels.
2. Click the pen icon beside any table, give it a relevant name and shade, and select Save.
3. Your label appears above the card, visible at-a-glance on the board, and you can take action accordingly.

Share your Trello board

Once your Trello board is ready, share it with your client or team members. Open a Trello board, select Share in the top-right corner and click Copy link. By default, your client can join the board as a member with editing permission.

You can create a software development plan, lifestyle goals, book writing project, Christmas planner, family adventure board, home remodel plan, and more. The possibilities are endless here.

Trello pricing

Trello offers a robust free plan with unlimited cards, up to 10 boards per workspace, unlimited power-ups, custom backgrounds, and more. You can unlock more features via Trello Standard at $5 per month.

Explore Asana for navigating personal projects

Asana is basically Trello on steroids. It’s suitable for complex projects, small businesses, and startups. You can use it for your long-term personal projects, too. Here are the key Asana features to master your projects.

Key Asana features

• Different views including list, board, timeline, calendar, dashboard, and Gantt
• Workflow and automation
• Integration with popular tools like Microsoft 365, Outlook, Gmail, Zoom, Slack, and more
• A rich templates library

Get started with Asana

Like Trello, you can explore the default templates to get started. Whether you work in sales, marketing, HR, or Design, you have sufficient options to choose from.

1. Head to Asana and sign in with your account credentials.
2. Select Create and click Project. Select Blank project.
3. Give it a relevant name, set privacy, pick default view, and select Create project. Since it’s your private project, Asana shows a small lock icon below the project name.
4. The entire layout is quite similar to Trello, where you can create new columns and add tasks within them.
5. We have created a new Home Furniture project and added columns like Bedroom 1, Drawing Room, Kitchen, Bedroom 2, Bathroom, and Store room.
6. Select Add a task to enter the to-do list, due date, description, and other details. You can use the rich text editor to add relevant details like videos, images, links, emojis, tables, and more. Unlike Trello, Asana opens task details on the side, which can be more convenient.
7. Enter all the relevant tasks under each list, and you are good to go.

You can use the top drop-down menu to enter project details, set color and icon, and copy project link. If you want to share your project with others, upgrade to one of the paid plans.

Asana pricing

Asana pricing starts at $11 per month. The free personal plan lets you create unlimited projects, tasks, up to three project views, and basic workflow with popular apps like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, and reporting. The free plan is generally good enough for personal use.

Complete your projects in style

As you can see, both Trello and Asana are dynamic duos in project management. Evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and pick one that suits your unique project style. If you are heavily invested in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, you could alternatively use the company’s newest collaboration tool, Microsoft Loop, to tackle your small projects. Apart from project management, glance over other reasons for using Microsoft Loop.