Using Trello for a parallelized process

Question

I have a business process where one entity comes into the process, and several things have to happen for that entity in parallel by different teams. At any point, we want to know how many of the things are completed for that entity.

One way to do it is to have a list for each thing that needs to happen, plus an initial list, and a "done" list. A webhook fires when a card is created in the initial list, making a copy of the card for each list. When each team finishes, they put their card in "done", and another webhook fires, updating the original card, and eventually moving it when everything is finished.

This seems a bit complicated, though. Am I going about it wrong? Am I trying to twist trello into something it's not?

Answer 1

Depending on the complexity of the work to be done, I would either:

1. Model each entity as a card, with a checklist item or checklist for each thing that has to be done, and add the point person from each team to the card.

2. Model each entity as a board, with a card for each task and a list for each team, and a 'Done' list for completed tasks

   . . . but of course you may just be in a situation where Trello is not the right tool. If it's something that you would naturally choose to model as cards in lists on a corkboard, then Trello is usually a good way to go.