Outgrown Trello? Use our Importer to switch to Shortcut

If Trello isn't meeting your growing software team's needs, Shortcut is the answer. Shortcut provides more structure, options, flexibility, and visibility for your team. In a recent study by Dimensional Research, users chose Shortcut over Trello because we:

• Have more detailed and flexible workflow management
• Better fit the needs of their software teams
• Scale more effectively

And, have no fear, our added robustness doesn't mean we're more complicated to use. In the same study, 77% of users reported that they onboard their teams to Shortcut in less than 3 hours. Not bad considering the study also shows that the majority of our users save at least 2 hours per week after switching over from another service.

To help make the transition from Trello to Shortcut as easy as possible, we've launched our self-service Trello Importer. Use it to move your Trello boards and data to Shortcut in just three quick steps.

How do Shortcut and Trello differ? Let's run through some of the most notable differences so your team can keep right on focusing on important work during and after the transition without skipping a beat.

Trello Cards ---> Shortcut Stories

Stories in Shortcut are the equivalent of Cards in Trello. Both represent the main work entity in their respective systems. Shortcut Stories are more fully-featured and include Types that allow you to classify work as a Feature, Bug, or Chore. Individual Stories can be linked to other Story dependencies, and external resources, such as support tickets, error stacktraces, and design prototypes.

Trello Boards vs. the Shortcut Stories Page

There is no direct equivalent of a Trello Board in Shortcut. The Shortcut Stories Page is the closest equivalent. From the Stories Page, you can toggle different Kanban views to show work by different teams and project Workflows. You can also do other cool things on the Shortcut Stories Page like create custom, filtered Spaces (that essentially allow you to create any numbers of "boards" — more on that later in the post.

Trello Lists get an upgrade with Shortcut Workflows

Customizable Shortcut Workflows help you track how work is progressing from conception to development to completion far better than a Trello List. Shortcut Workflows can be customized by individual teams within your org so that Shortcut's workflow management fits the way they work best instead of the other way around.

Connect work and initiatives across teams with Epics

A Shortcut Epic is a collection of Stories that are cross-functional and cross-team, representing larger initiatives within your org. Just like Stories, Epics move through a Workflow and can be completed. Epics can contain Stories from different Projects and different Workflows, making them a great way to multiple teams to collaborate on the same goal.

Track and prioritize your roadmap with Milestones

Shortcut Milestones are collections of Epics, which in turn are collections of Stories. Milestones are the highest level of organizational hierarchy in Shortcut. Use Milestones to set goals based on releases or quarters (or whatever you want) to track progress and see what's coming up.

Efficient sprint planning with Iterations

A Shortcut Iteration is a defined, time-boxed period of development for a collection of Stories. Many organizations that follow Agile (Scrum or Kanban) methodology use Shortcut Iterations. Using the Shortcut Iterations feature can help you streamline, manage, and review your work in sprints, and they can span multiple Epics, Projects, and Workflows.

Comprehensive project views with Spaces

Use Shortcut Spaces to see progress across Projects, Workflows, and priorities. Spaces help you filter down to view the work you care most about, ensuring you and your team are focused on the highest value Stories.

Progress and reporting with built-in Reports

Built-in reporting in Shortcut means you don't need a multitude of Trello power-ups (which also cost more money) to report on work. Shortcut offers many ways for you to effictively visualize and report on progress and data, such as Burndown Charts, Velocity Charts, Lead and Cycle Time Reports, and more, to see how teams are progressing towards company goals.

Want to import from Trello?

Importing Trello data is as easy as 1-2-3. Just:

1. Connect to your Trello board
2. Map your data
3. Sync your users

Watch this video to see the Importer in action!

Head to our Help Center for a more detailed walkthrough of how to Import your Trello Boards into Shortcut. After you import your Trello data, you can Bulk Edit your Stories in Shortcut to make sure everything is in the exact right place.

You're ready!

We've covered the essential concepts for a successful transition from Trello. Shortcut is full of powerful features, workflows, and tips that aren't covered here, so we'll leave you with a few more resources:

• How we use Shortcut at Shortcut (4 part blog series)
• Webinar: Getting started in Shortcut
• Shortcut University [available in the in-app Help Menu]

For more information on how to use the self-service Trello importer or other import options, visit our Help Center. Please reach out to us at support@clubhouse.io, tweet us @clubhouse or join our Slack community if you have any feedback! We're here to help. And also to project manage. But mostly to help.