Kidmondo.com is a unique online service for new parents that recently launched. Site creator Daniel Hallac wrote to tell us how he's been inspired by Basecamp and 37signals:
Kidmondo is a personalized online baby journal that helps parents to easily chronicle their child's life and share it with friends and family in a safe environment. Some of the tools we offer parents include, a online diary, photo & video gallery, growth & dental charts, medical & food journals, and an interactive timeline of the child's life.
The early reviews have been positive and many people have equated it to a baby blogging platform or even a baby Facebook. My response tends to be that I find it closer to a baby Basecamp. Basecamp --which we used religiously in the development of the product-- has been a constant inspiration in the design of the site. When we were stomped, we often asked ourselves, "what would 37signals do?"
We asked Daniel (pictured below with his son Davide) to tell us more about Kidmondo's use of Basecamp (and Backpack too):
How do you use Basecamp and why do you like it?
Kidmondo is an online baby journal founded by my wife, Carole and I soon after the birth of our second child. We couldn't find a compelling way to chronicle and share news about our kids with our family and friends, so we went ahead and built one. When we first came up with the idea, we started with another 37signals product you may have heard of, Backpack. Backpack to help us brainstorm and flesh out our ideas and the exact requirements for Kidmondo.
When it came time for the implementation, we switched to Basecamp to manage our engagement with Eastmedia Inc, the web development shop we commissioned to build the site. Luckily for us, Basecamp was also their recommended project management tool and the transition was a smooth one.
We picked both products because they just worked! My wife has a very low tolerance for complex tools and was able to quickly adapt and use it. It allowed us to concentrate on the work at hand and not have to worry about learning the idiosyncrasies of the product.
Which features do you use most?
I believe the message board were the most used tool and became the primary communication channel between us and the developers. Having all communications in a central and searchable repository really helped cut down on miscommunications. Funny story, during the project I was often away from a computer and commented that Basecamp really needed a reply by email function. Low and behold you announced this feature it a few days later. That soon became the most used feature!
During the early phase of the project, while using Backpack, my wife and I often shared a login to collaborate on the specifications. Needless to say, the new multiple user feature on Backpack was just what we needed.
What did you use before and why did you switch?
We really didn't use anything else, as this was a new initiative. In our previous lives we were never given the choice of which tools to use. When we finally did have the choice, we picked Basecamp, without a second thought. It met all our criteria: web-based simple, easy to use, fast and powerful. We found other solutions were overkill and made us less efficient.
Get specific. Tell us a story about a project or situation where Basecamp helped your team succeed.
This may not be what you had in mind, but a couple of times during the development that we turned to your products for inspiration. One case in particular was in the design of how we handled user accounts. Our baby journals are made to be shared, with different users needing different authorization rights, eg. Parents as editors while family and friends are invited just to view the journals. One could go crazy designing for every possible combination, but we wanted to keep it as simple as possible...most parents just do not have the time to deal with anything too complex. I remember asking myself at one point, "what would 37signals do?" and ended up basing our model on Basecamp's (I hope you don't mind).
Any Basecamp tips or tricks for other customers?
Learn how to use the text formatting. Start with the simple stuff (bold, italics, bullets, etc) and go from there. Once you do it will become second nature and improve the overall communication within the team.
Anything else?
Since launch we continue to use Basecamp to communicate with our developers at Eastmedia, while my wife and I tend to use Backpack to help us manage the business. We use it to track bugs, user support, sponsorship and advertising opportunities. Even though it is just the two of us, your tools really help us stay organized and, in a way, keep the peace.
Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.
