Is Trello Still Worth It for Tracking Progress in 2025?

Is Trello Still Worth It for Tracking Progress in 2025?

Indie game development is a marathon, not a sprint. You start with a brilliant idea, dive into code and art, and somewhere along the line, details blur. That unique design choice from three months ago? The bug fix you implemented that had an unintended side effect? The precise rationale for a specific technical approach? They can easily fade into the mists of project memory. This isn’t a failure of discipline; it’s a natural consequence of time and the sheer volume of decisions. Progress tracking, especially for solo developers, isn’t just about managing tasks; it’s about building an external memory for your project.

To explore this, I sat down with Alex Chen, an indie developer who has successfully shipped two acclaimed titles using Trello for project management. Alex has navigated the solo development journey multiple times, understanding the unique challenges of keeping a project’s history alive.

“My first game was a mess, memory-wise,” Alex admitted with a chuckle. “I’d fix a bug, then encounter a related issue weeks later and completely forget why I made the original fix, or even that I had made it. It felt like constantly rediscovering the wheel, or worse, reintroducing old bugs.”

The Trello Basics (Revisited) for Memory

At its core, Trello offers boards, lists, cards, and checklists. Most people use them for simple task management: “To Do,” “Doing,” “Done.” But Alex quickly emphasized, “That’s just scratching the surface. For me, these aren’t just containers for tasks; they’re building blocks for a project’s long-term memory. Each card can become a rich historical record.”

Common Trello Mistakes & Memory Gaps

“The biggest pitfall is treating Trello like a simple shopping list,” Alex explained. He outlined several common mistakes that actively erode project memory:

• "Tasks with No Story": “A card that just says ‘Fix Bug X’ is a disaster waiting to happen,” Alex stated. “What’s Bug X? What’s its impact? When did it appear? Without context, that card is useless within a week.” You often forget the true scope or original impact.
• "The Ever-Growing Backlog": “An uncurated ‘Backlog’ list quickly becomes a graveyard of good intentions,” he observed. “It’s not a roadmap; it’s where good ideas go to die because they lose their relevance or get buried under new tasks.”
• "Decisions Lost in Time": “How many times have you revisited a part of your game and thought, 'Why did I implement it this way?’” Alex asked rhetorically. “Design choices or technical approaches made weeks ago are easily forgotten, leading to duplicated effort or inconsistent mechanics.”
• "The Solo Dev’s Burden": “For solo developers, these memory gaps are magnified,” Alex stressed. “There’s no team to collectively remember why a certain decision was made or what the original scope of a task was. You are the sole keeper of the project’s history.”

Trello for Long-Term Memory: Actionable Strategies

Alex then shared his process for transforming Trello into an external brain for his game development log.

• "The Context Card": “Every card needs a story,” Alex insisted. “The description field is crucial. I include the ‘why’ behind the ‘what.’ If it’s a bug, I describe the steps to reproduce it, its impact, and initial thoughts on a fix. If it’s a feature, I outline its purpose, target feeling, and how it integrates with existing systems.” He also uses comments for progress updates, mini-design discussions, and linking to relevant assets or code snippets. “Attachments are gold for linking design docs, concept art, or even screen recordings of bugs.”
• "Evolving Lists, Evolving Clarity": Beyond “To Do, Doing, Done,” Alex’s boards feature more nuanced lists. “I have ‘Icebox’ for raw ideas, 'Backlog (Prioritized)' for ready-to-work items, ‘In Progress,’ ‘Testing,’ and critically, ‘Done (Archived).’ The 'Done (Archived)' list isn’t just a completion marker; it’s a searchable history. Every completed card retains its context for future reference.”
• "Milestone Boards & Retrospective Cards": “For larger projects, I’ll create separate boards for major milestones,” Alex explained. “Before starting a new milestone, I always create a ‘Retrospective’ card on the previous milestone’s board. In its description, I’ll list what went well, what could improve, and key learnings. This becomes invaluable when planning the next phase.” This ensures that lessons learned aren’t forgotten.
• "Decision Log Cards": “Whenever a significant design or technical decision is made, especially if it involved trade-offs or alternatives, I create a dedicated ‘Decision Log’ card,” Alex revealed. “It’s a simple card, often in a dedicated ‘Decisions’ list. The description details the problem, the options considered, the chosen solution, and most importantly, the reasoning behind it. This prevents ‘why did I do that?’ moments months later.”
• "Linking for Sanity": “Trello’s linking feature is underrated,” Alex pointed out. “If ‘Bug A’ is related to ‘Feature B,’ I link them. If ‘Task C’ was split from ‘Task D,’ I link them. This creates a web of interconnected information that mirrors the complexity of actual game development.” This helps maintain a clear game development journal.
• "Labels for Filtering Memory": Alex uses labels strategically. “Beyond basic categories like ‘Bug’ or ‘Feature,’ I use labels for ‘Blocker,’ ‘Design Decision,’ ‘Technical Debt,’ or even ‘Requires Research.’ This allows me to quickly filter and find specific types of information when I’m tracking my game development progress.”

“Ultimately,” Alex concluded, “effective progress tracking isn’t just about discipline; it’s about building an external memory for your project, much like a well-kept journal. It’s about ensuring that every decision, every bug fix, every feature implementation has a story attached to it, a story you can always revisit and understand.” This proactive approach to building a robust game development log, whether through Trello or a dedicated game dev journal, is what separates sustainable solo development from cycles of forgotten work.

If you’re ready to transform your development process and build that essential external memory for your project, start by creating a comprehensive game dev journal. A tool designed specifically for game developers can streamline this process and ensure you capture every crucial detail. You can start building your project’s memory today with a dedicated game development journal.