Trello vs Asana: Why I Switched from Trello to Asana

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Trello vs Asana - it's quite the debate in the online world isn't it?! 🥊 Well, I've picked a side and I'm telling you all the reasons why I switched from Trello to Asana in today's video!

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Trello and Asana are two fantastic project management tools that will help you be more organized, productive and hit your biggest goals. For a long time, I was a happy Trello user. BUT I finally made the switch to Asana and it works much better for me!

video transcript:

Trello vs Asana: Why I Switched from Trello to Asana

In today’s video, I want to explain why I switched from Trello to Asana. Both of these are project management tools, and both of them have their strengths, but I found that Asana ended up being a better fit for me for a few reasons, and I’m going to explain what those are in today’s video, Trello vs Asana.

If you’re new here, I’m Louise of Louisehenry.com (formerly Solopreneursidekick). I put out new videos every single week all about online business and tech, so if that is something you’re interested in, definitely hit Subscribe down below, and hit that Bell icon as well so that you get notified every time I post a new video.

Let’s dive into the reasons for the switch.

Checklists & To-Do Lists

First things first, I felt that Trello didn’t really work the way that my brain worked, and I wasn’t being as productive with this tool as I wanted to be. For me, I find that I work a lot better in checklist or to-do list format, rather than the board style of Trello. It’s a lot easier for me to follow through on tasks when I’m following through on a checklist, and yes, while you can do this in Trello, it’s just a different experience in Asana.

This is Asana, which is famous for its to-do list format. If you enjoy tracking projects through checklists, this platform is going to work really well for you. This one here is Trello. Trello is made up of boards, which you then breakdown into different columns like this, and individual cards. If you’re a really visual person, this view might work for you, and there are many different ways you can structure a project in this view. However, in Asana, you have the option of both. You can either view your project in List view or in Board view, which functions exactly the way Trello’s Board view does. Once I realized that, I knew it would be better to go with Asana, where I had the option between both views.


Let’s dive in a little bit deeper on Trello vs Asana.


Completed Tasks & Subtasks

As you complete tasks in Asana, you’re going to check them off like this, which I really enjoy. You can also create a checklist within a task as well, so, if I click on this task here, it’s going to open up on the right side, and as you can see, I can have individual tasks for that as well. Here are some subtasks which I can check off. I just like the overall user experience here, and I like that I can easily review back what I have accomplished, so clearly I can see that here, and I can also go back to the main view and I can change this to All Tasks and then I can see what has been accomplished.

Let’s go into Trello. When you complete a task, generally you either move it to a Complete tab like this, or you go like this and you archive it. I just didn’t feel that that was as fulfilling as the checkmarks in Asana. Then if I want to see what I’ve accomplished, I have to click Show Menu, then More, then Archived Items, and see what I’ve archived – I just didn’t like this user experience quite as much. I will say though, you do have checklists within Trello, so if I click on a board, it’s going to pop up and I can have the similar subtask checklist like that – it will fill 100% like that - and let you know here that all subtasks have been completed.

Calendar View

The big thing about Trello vs Asana was that I didn’t like the Calendar view in Trello. This is actually what started the entire switch. What I was really looking for, when it came to a project management software, was a Calendar view. I knew that I wanted to just have my calendar open, where I could check things off and have them still be kind of visible – so I knew what I had accomplished and so that I could feel good as I went about my day.

In Trello, I’ve gone ahead and added due dates to some of the tasks here. Now, if I want to view the Calendar view in Trello, I’m just going to go up here and click Calendar. This is what it looks like. You have to, in order to see all of your cards, click up here and it’s going to pop up like this. I didn’t love that. I also didn’t love how it looks once it’s accomplished. Even though this one is technically complete, it doesn’t fade out or anything to make it obvious. It ended up looking like I had a lot more still to do, even if I had been accomplishing things throughout the day. Alternatively, you can click on it, and then you can go down here and you can archive it – which definitely works as well – the problem is it then disappears from the calendar.

What I really wanted ended up being completely solved with Asana. Let’s go into Asana’s Calendar view now. I can easily view all of my tasks and, as I complete them, all I need to do is simply click on the Checkmark here and it’s going to fade out. I have found this to be a really nice and easy way to check things off as I go, while still seeing what I have accomplished and what needs to be done.

View Times

Another thing I didn’t like with Trello, when comparing Trello vs Asana, was it didn’t display the times for the tasks. Even though I do have times set for these, it didn’t display, and I generally like to see that in this view. All of my issues with Trello’s calendar were solved with Asana’s.

Let’s go to my main calendar in Asana. I love this because it is pulling in all of my tasks from the different projects. I end up with this fantastic, color-coded calendar, that does explain the time that I need to do things and, as well, fades out my tasks as I accomplish them. This has really become my main organizational hub. I love it, and I’d highly recommend giving this one a try. I will say as well that I really enjoy hitting Task Complete rather than simply archiving the task or dragging it into a column that said Completed. That didn’t really work for me either. Small thing here – but it is really nice to hit Mark Complete and see that go green and completed, rather than going up here and just clicking Archive.

I think if you’re more of a list person then Asana is going to be a really great fit for you, while still giving you the flexibility of switching in-between views for some projects, if needed.

My Tasks

Another thing with Trello was that I found I ended up having too many boards, and there wasn’t an easy way for me to consolidate all of my projects into one main view like I can in Asana. In Trello, I ended up with all these different boards, which means I had tasks that I needed to accomplish in all these different places. They do have this home screen here, but it ended up being more of a notification stream than anything.

In Asana, however, you have this fantastic tab of My Tasks. This is what you’re going to want to work on. This is going to consolidate all of your tasks over all your different projects, so you can still organize your work into projects, but you can actually view your to-do list for each day, and see everything that you need to accomplish for all your different projects.

One thing I do miss about Trello, when comparing Trello vs Asana, is how visual it was. It was nice to be able to change the background photo and to add things like stickers onto my cards. While I do miss a few details like that, the benefits of Asana still outweigh those for me. I think if your brain works like mine, then I would give Asana a try. I’m going to be doing a lot more videos on this topic here on this channel, so definitely hit Subscribe if you haven’t already.


So, those are the reasons why I switched from Trello to Asana. Now I would love to hear from you. Which one of these tools are you using, and, if you are using Trello, has this video convinced you to switch over to Asana? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and if you liked this Trello vs Asana video, please let me know by giving it a thumbs up. Hit Subscribe if you haven’t already, and I’ll see you real soon with another video.

I really love the topic of productivity so expect many more videos on this subject here on this channel! So don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss any new videos!

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Louise Henry

I’m the founder of an online education company. Now, I’m building the non-profit, Tim’s Club - inspired by my younger brother Tim.

https://louisehenry.com
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