BKWLD, a marketing firm that creates online games, surveys, videos, and interactive for a wide range of clients. BKWLD team member Ben Borowski wrote in to tell us how the firm uses Basecamp.
How do you use Basecamp and why do you like it?
BKWLD is a company of ~20 employees, split between two cities; Seattle and Sacramento. Our design team is in Sacramento and development team is in Seattle, so coordination is crucial. We do a lot of IMs and emails to communicate, but our primary source of organization is Basecamp. Project Managers field requests from clients, massage them to be more user friendly and add them as messages to our projects. Then via email or online, one of our development leads can estimate hours, indicate whether a request is in scope, etc. At that point, tasks are created based on the approved actionable items.
We usually create lists grouped around our "releases" milestones ... internal launch, alpha, beta, live. We keep track of FTP logins, version control, CDN (basic account data) with messages as well. I personally have found writeboards excellent for spec'ing out phased development of projects. Meaning as the client requests new features, a manager will just paste them in the writeboard and a development lead can provide estimates and remove requests as they are deemed "trashed" ... we then use the writeboard as a starting point for a new proposal. All told, we are usually managing around 20-30 projects with Basecamp.
BKWLD's Dashboard.
Our dev team also uses basecamp for sharing documents such as requirements specifications and ERD schemas, keeping versions so we can track progress. We often share code and links through messages as well. I typically subscribe to the milestones calendar as well and use that in tandem with a google calendar to make sure my work is on track. Also, having all the server access and SVN info for any given project pretty much guarantees that we can fix anything from anywhere.
I love Basecamp because it's intuitive, easy to use, and easy on the eyes. Sounds simple, but that's what makes it so powerful. We use it instead of other systems because it's not developer-centric. We can use it to track development and bugs and what-not, but it's very easy for managers and clients to use. I've found that clients absolutely love writeboards as well. The ajax-based controls are lovely, making repetitious tasks much more pleasing (I referenced The Knot wedding site in my email...I had a very difficult time not having my "checked" items clear as I completed them. You had to scroll all the way to the bottom and click "update" ..ugh).
Which features do you use most?
Definitely the to-do lists.
What did you use before and why did you switch?
There was no solution before. I personally used Outlook with to-dos and iCal on my Mac.
Tell us a story about a project or situation where Basecamp helped you out.
From Mark, Lead Developer:
For a more specific example of an invaluable feature, private messages and to-do lists were a godsend for one client. This was a particularly challenging project for an extremely difficult client. Private messaging in Basecamp gives us control of our client's perception of their project, while still allowing us to be explicit with its nitty-gritty parts all in one convenient place. Sometimes the work gets a little ugly, but keeping a professional facade is extremely important to some clients. Basecamp accommodates this nicely.
From Robert, CTO:
Todos are key. On one recent project, a huge phase 1.5 enhancement to a site we made, we used them as a more granular milestone. I populated a big list of what had to be done and as openings came up in people's schedules, developers assigned those todos to themselves. Then, when their facet was done, they'd mark it as complete and assign a new todo to themselves. This way, we could easily keep track of where we were on the project and make sure two people weren't trying to work on the same component.
Any tips or tricks for other customers?
One specific thing I do to keep my lists further organized is prepending a status code to each task. High priority items get an [H] and bugs get a [B] and so on. I usually put a "legend" in the "note" area indicating what-is-what.
To-do list where high priority items get an [H], bugs get a [B], etc.
Another tip is USE OPENID. I love being able to switch easily between my six basecamps and not have to re-log-in. Genius.
37signals' OpenBar.
Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.
