Any tips for managing a project with basecamp?

Question

I'm going to be using basecamp for the first time on new project. Does anyone have any good tips / pitfalls for using basecamp. For example, can you end up spending more time playing with the to-do lists than actually getting on with the project?

Answer 1

• Use the tool and only the tool, don't allow people to use it for 1/2 time or soemthing like that
• Use milestones both for yourself AND your client
• Setup meaningful categories for messages, they help a lot later on
• Use the files section for uploading multiple versions of files, rather than continually attaching to different messages. It helps with tracking later

Answer 2

For projects that use an Agile software development process one of the things I've found helpful is to setup four ToDo lists:

1. project backlog (everythingvstarts here)
2. current sprint (items in scope for current sprint go here)
3. in dev (items currently in progress go here)
4. dev complete (items ready for QA go here)

This really seems to help things go more smoothly, enable the devs to self manage the work, and the client to have a good idea of status. The feature BaseCamp has to drag todo items between lists makes this dead simple to manage as well.

I agree with most of the tips above except the one about using messages instead of emails to communicate with clients. I've tried this and found it to be overbearing. In any case it probably depends on the client. Some clients like the simplicity of email .. and expect you to store in a message only what is relevant to the project and team. Other clients may like using BaseCamp as the source of communication.

Answer 3

To cut down on the number of emails sent from the system, create a message category for "Announcements". Then, when you create a large number of to-do items, do not enable the "Send User Email" function. Rather, create a general announcement that's sent after all creation has occurred.

Become as familiar as you can with the groups and permissions features of Basecamp as well. Also learn the basics of formatting a message within the editor or Writeboards.

Love 90% of what Basecamp does, but that remaining 10% will get ya'! :-)