Basecamp customer Wake Interactive is a web design agency based in Boca Raton, Florida that believes in keeping things simple.
Our principles lie in the use of simple and thoughtful design decisions to make interaction between customers and businesses more enjoyable and effective. The most challenging aspect of modern interface design is that it's easier to achieve complexity because complex interfaces are so hard to simplify. We believe in taking out as much as possible without losing the message or the purpose.
The team uses Basecamp to unite its members from around the globe. Wake's Damien Huze talked to us about how Basecamp helps them stay in the zone.
How do you use Basecamp and why do you like it?
Wake Interactive is a team of web design consultants, currently working from Florida, Texas, Chicago, and Melbourne Australia. We use Basecamp (affectionately dubbed Wakecamp) to exchange ideas, solicit comments, and upload creative output for client feedback and approval. We like it because it’s web-based and platform independent. Most importantly, we don’t have to worry about training our clients to use it.
When I decided to form Wake, geographical location wasn't high in priority for finding the right people to team up with. It wouldn’t be a smart business decision to pick a designer or programmer based on physical proximity, when the right fit could be 3000 miles away. The virtual proximity Basecamp forms is just as good or sometimes better because it encourages thoughtful participation in problem solving, rather than vague and sometimes digressive physical discussions.
Wake Interactive's site.
Which features in Basecamp do you use most?
Messages & Comments for accountability
To-dos to delegate responsibility
Files to insure compatibility
What did you use before Basecamp and why did you switch?
We used email. Basecamp solved the biggest counter-productive aspects of email communication in project management.
Email is the biggest source of distraction and will quickly derail just about any current task when that “new mail” notification sounds. I now keep my email program closed, only to be opened at scheduled “processing” times. This is because having to open email to find something a client sent will push other commitments of varied importance to the forefront of my consciousness and break focus. It’s important to train yourself, your team and your clients that if it’s not posted in Basecamp, it won’t be regarded as part of getting the project done.
With Basecamp I can dedicate a time window solely to a particular task on a project, which is the most productive way to work. All content, files, and comments needed are within reach and nothing else. If I’m waiting for something from the client while I’m working on their project I will see it on the project overview page when it’s received. Basecamp keeps me focused on that project without having to deal with a deluge of non-prioritized inbox items in my peripheral.
As web designers and developers the time we have on the computer on any given day is very valuable because the potential for lost income is so great. Our livelihood depends on each minute we can output productive results at our computers. We all know that once we can get in that zone an unrelenting efficiency propels us to create our best design and code.
Get specific. Tell us about a project or situation where Basecamp helped your business.
Basecamp has helped us earn our clients’ trust in our approach to web design. We can have less meetings and give them more frequent updates. Most importantly it makes our clients feel comfortable working with a group of remote consultants.
Any tips or tricks for other Basecamp customers?
If you have a problem getting your client to post their messages on Basecamp, quote their messages and respond to them in Basecamp, that usually is more efficient and less awkward than asking them over and over to post on Basecamp.
Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.
