First, I am new with Atlassian. Long range Project Management

[drob_krob]

I am with a non-profit organization as a project manager.  We have been using Jira as a scrum model.  We are realizing the power of this in getting tasks listed and accomplished however, we feel that without an overall project management life cycle tool.  Jira is just a slice.  It is currently serving a scrum manager with asking us to update where we are with tasks with the status's of to do, in progress and done within a week.  So rather than managing a program, we are managing individual tasks without context to the larger program.

Is it possible Trellis is what we should be using or does Trellis feed Jira

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Trello is not an issue tracker, it's a noteboard.  You can use it as a simple issue tracker, but you're going in the wrong direction.  You would need to add a huge pile of powerups to get it to do even the most basic project management that Jira has built-in!

Jira is an issue tracker, and as such, has reporting built into it that your Scrum manager could be looking at to see progress.  Trello does not have anywhere near as much reporting, and, more importantly, your people would have to do way more managing of individual tasks in Trello to be able to generate the reports, even if you were to start using Trello and automate feeds into Jira.

The thing I think you need to look at is how you are using Jira.  A big part of it is that your Scrum team members should be able to concentrate on their work, rather than constantly having to update Trello cards.  If they do the minimum to stay on top of their Jira issues (simply dragging a card to the right column when the status changes), then Jira automatically has all the data it needs to provide reports to all sorts of people.  To keep on top of a Trello card, your users will have to be shifting them between lists and updating all the reporting fields on them every single change.

[Daydreamer Mike]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- 

Can you please stop erroneously stating what Trello is not! You would soon complain if people were replying to posts with erroneous content in other groups!

Trello is not an issue tracker, it's a noteboard. 

Incorrect.  It is a very capable issue tracker, whether you like it or not!

It is not a noteboard either, although it can be used as one!

You can use it as a simple issue tracker, but you're going in the wrong direction. 
You would need to add a huge pile of powerups to get it to do even the most basic project management that Jira has built-in!

Wrong!  I have dozens of clients, small medium and large businesses who use Trello and use it for project management in many different domains and with varying complexities.  I can't think of any instances where I use more than 3 power-ups, even 3 is rare

Jira is an issue tracker, and as such, has reporting built into it that your Scrum manager could be looking at to see progress.  Trello does not have anywhere near as much reporting, and, more importantly, your people would have to do way more managing of individual tasks in Trello to be able to generate the reports, even if you were to start using Trello and automate feeds into Jira.

I dispute this too.  While Jira is an issue tracker and does have reports built in, I know many Jira users who have to dip into the marketplace to enhance their reporting.  But, you are in essence right here.  There are some very capable reporting solutions in Trello also! 

However, the bit I disagree with most in your statement is the ludicrous idea that Trello require the users will have to be spending more time in Trello than they would be in Jira.  This is quite laughable.

Jira is inherently complex, it is vastly more complex than Trello and thus it has way more overhead in all areas, including for the users.  Trello is simple, user friendly and just about the most Agile tool I have ever used, infinitely more Agile than Jira is...

....Ends rant and waits for post to be deleted, like last time...

@drob_krob  I am not a Jira expert so I am not going to try to tell you why you are wrong with Jira and direct you towards Trello.  I have been a Jira user and administrator for a small business many years ago...I DO know that it is more than capable of the program management elements you are looking for.  I suggest that you put a post in the Jira group on here, explaining your setup and what you are looking for and I imagine that you will get the kind of advice you are looking at.

Jira is a complex product though, the learning curve is steep and generally the setup and administration requires Jira experts or to work with a partner to mould it to what you want it to be. But, as you are already using it, it is likely it is worth persevering with but perhaps you may need to seek some help with the setup.

The reason to switch to Trello would be if you want something simple, open, agile, flexible and that you can roll out really fast to a team, regardless of experience...

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

So Trello has a workflow engine and complete tracking history as an issue tracker does?

I'm sorry to have to disagree with you, but it is a simple fact that Trello is not an issue tracker at its core.  It is a noteboard.

It is a superb noteboard and it is very easy and natural to use it as an issue tracker, especially if you start adding power-ups to add the essential functions of an issue tracker.  And you're absolutely right that it is a better answer than Jira for a lot of people who have needs to track things.  I regularly recommend it as a replacement for Jira, bugzilla, pivotal and and and for people who don't really need an issue tracker.

[Sean Blezard]

Trello was envisaged as a list management tool. It didn’t take people long to realise that it mapped well to the kind of physical Kanban boards many of us were used to from the early to mid 2000s - where lists became columns. Without powerups there are complex scenarios and rules it can’t implement - but that wasn’t the use case. The use case was to make what we do with index cards on a whiteboard into something digital. It solved that problem. They even added features like checklists and issue linking.

The closest analogue in Jira is the team-managed project, which really took shape after Atlassian bought Trello (I might misremember timings here).

Jira software is way more powerful - when coupled with a few choice plugins eg Scriptrunner and Structure. It takes more skill and experience to manage but can achieve almost BPM levels of functionality. You can even use Forge to build your own user experiences in it - making it more like a low code development platform than a simple issue tracker.

And now Atlassian has beta released Databases, its clone of Airtable. This offers *another* way to create board views - in confluence.

Atlassian is throwing a lot of spaghetti at the use-case wall to see what sticks.

[Daydreamer Mike]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- 

In answer to your questions, a workflow engine is just an industry term for saying it can do automation's, triggered by particular workflow states.  Trello's automation engine is fantastic, flexible and can create every single workflow condition that a workflow engine does, perhaps even more. 

Tracking history is more crude in Trello but it certainly can be set up in a way to provide full tracking capability.  I have rolled it out to highly regulated industries, where full audit history is required, no problem.  So yes and yes it can.

We are entitled to have differing opinions on this and we are experts in very different domains.  As you can tell, I am very passionate about Trello and feel I have to fight against the common misconceptions.   It may have been conceived as a digital whiteboard with post-its but believe me, it is so much more....

I have been lucky enough to have spent a lot of time with a very wide array of business tools in all domains of business.  The passion for Trello comes from the fact that no matter what area of business it is,  Trello can be the solution.  Its openness, simplicity and flexibility means that it can be built around the uniqueness of any business.  No other solution I have used has the flexibility to create solutions across such a wide ranging scope as Trello...
Something that stuck with me from hearing it 10 years ago.  "If you have to change the way you run your business to fit a tool, that tool has already failed".  

I also believe in this instance, the OP should look to solve the problems they have with Jira before looking at other options...

But, at the end of the day, these are just tools and should never become the focal point of a business.