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Trello Spins Out of Fog Creek With $10.3M

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Re: Trello Spins Out of Fog Creek With $10.3M

#21

Post by doorhammer »

andr3a wrote: post #15
weavie wrote: post #6

It's incredible how such a simple idea could become so big. I'm sat here trying to think up some grand scheme that's going to make me my millions. Its a great lesson that really all I need is a simple idea. The key is in the execution. Take that simple idea and develop (and market) it to perfection.

it's not a simple idea, it's a deep idea refined over decades and implemented simply. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban

I think it's simple in the "simple made easy" kind of way that Rich Hickey has spoken about [1]. I think something can be deep, refined, and simple. I'd also say that those are my favorite concepts. I guess it's what I think of when I use the word 'elegant'.

It's really clean and straight-forward to use, but the simple components provide a lot of flexibility and power, while being easy to teach someone.

I use trello for just about everything, and I would have dropped it a long time ago if it took more than five minutes to show someone how to use the fundamental concepts. I can get them up and running in no time, and the users (even non technical users) tend to find all the interesting bits on their own as they go.

[1] http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy

Re: Trello Spins Out of Fog Creek With $10.3M

#22

Post by benjiweber »

richardwigley wrote: post #2

I would be interested if anyone has used this for project management?

Yes. It works well for us because you build your process on it rather than having a process dictated to you. A lot of the "agile" project management tools are too opinionated about how you should work, and hence are difficult to use unless your process fits exactly.

Re: Trello Spins Out of Fog Creek With $10.3M

#23

Post by theg2 »

[deleted] wrote: post #17
[deleted] wrote: post #11

[deleted]

[deleted]

I consider myself pretty adept at UX and have no real issues with Trello and it's been quick to learn and use for our technical and non technical staff alike. It may have slight issues but nothing in the scale your comment suggests.

Re: Trello Spins Out of Fog Creek With $10.3M

#24

Post by weavie »

andr3a wrote: post #15
weavie wrote: post #6

It's incredible how such a simple idea could become so big. I'm sat here trying to think up some grand scheme that's going to make me my millions. Its a great lesson that really all I need is a simple idea. The key is in the execution. Take that simple idea and develop (and market) it to perfection.

it's not a simple idea, it's a deep idea refined over decades and implemented simply. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban

Trello at its core is just a list of lists. Very simple concept.

It can be used to implement more deep ideas such as Kanban, but these aren't forced on you.

I remember before Trello came out I needed an app that provided a list of lists (who doesn't). I designed it all out but never implemented it. I saw how much competition there was in the space. There are hundreds of tasks list and to-do apps out there.

So when Trello was announced I secretly scoffed at them thinking they were doomed from the start for choosing such an obvious and already implemented idea.

Still I signed up and started using it. It has been fascinating to see the app evolve and become a huge success. I only feel a little bit miffed that it was something I almost did myself since I know I would not have implemented it anywhere near as well.

Re: Trello Spins Out of Fog Creek With $10.3M

#25

Post by [deleted] »

theg2 wrote: post #23
[deleted] wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

I consider myself pretty adept at UX and have no real issues with Trello and it's been quick to learn and use for our technical and non technical staff alike. It may have slight issues but nothing in the scale your comment suggests.

[deleted]

Re: Trello Spins Out of Fog Creek With $10.3M

#27

Post by mhp »

andygcook wrote: post #10

Does anyone know how this type of spin out works? I would imagine FogCreek has an ownership stake in the company for "seed funding" Trello with resources.

It was a 355 spinoff. If you are into reading boring IRS guidelines, you can start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Code_section_3...

tldr; imagine a stock split like Google did recently where the shareholders end up with 2 different stocks.

Re: Trello Spins Out of Fog Creek With $10.3M

#28

Post by hamidpalo »

andr3a wrote: post #15
weavie wrote: post #6

It's incredible how such a simple idea could become so big. I'm sat here trying to think up some grand scheme that's going to make me my millions. Its a great lesson that really all I need is a simple idea. The key is in the execution. Take that simple idea and develop (and market) it to perfection.

it's not a simple idea, it's a deep idea refined over decades and implemented simply. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban

I work at Trello. We actually don't think of Trello as Kanban. Trello at its core is a collaborative list of lists. You can use Trello to implement a Kanban workflow but Trello is not an implementation of Kanban. A lot of people use Trello for things like to organizing their soccer teams where there isn't a hint of Kanban -- each list could be a game and people add themselves to indicate that they want to play.

Re: Trello Spins Out of Fog Creek With $10.3M

#29

Post by NickPollard »

hamidpalo wrote: post #28
andr3a wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's not a simple idea, it's a deep idea refined over decades and implemented simply. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban

I work at Trello. We actually don't think of Trello as Kanban. Trello at its core is a collaborative list of lists. You can use Trello to implement a Kanban workflow but Trello is not an implementation of Kanban. A lot of people use Trello for things like to organizing their soccer teams where there isn't a hint of Kanban -- each list could be a game and people add themselves to indicate that they want to play.

I think the great thing about Trello is simplifying down to a pure visual metaphor.

Trello is about putting lists of cards on boards. That's it.

You can use it to do all kinds of things, but it's a medium rather than a framework. When I've tried other to-do list apps, or project management tools, etc. they all end up becoming too restrictive. They try to teach you to do the right thing in the right way, not realizing that it is different for different people.

Joel himself once talked about Excel, and how for most people, Excel isn't about spreadsheets, or formulas, or calculations - it's about laying things out in a grid. That's it. People just want to be able to write things in columns and rows, and colour them. And that simple behaviour is incredibly powerful.

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