Joseph Rueter, Idea Engineer at Hello Viking, writes about how his virtual company uses Basecamp to work with teams and clients all over the world.
About our company
Hello Viking provides consulting, creative and production services to marketers, ad agencies, design and PR firms and media companies. Launched in June 2007, Hello Viking has collaborated with over a dozen clients and 40 freelancers to create brand strategy, design, advertising concepts, information architecture, websites and marketing materials for PricewaterhouseCoopers, 3M, BlueCross BlueShield, Audi, Borders, GM, Pillsbury, Decora Cabinets and other organizations.
The 37signals products we use, and why we like them
We are entirely virtual, working with teams and clients all over the world. We use Apple products for calendaring and messaging, but the bulk of our project management and file maintenance is done via 37signals:
Basecamp is our core. We use the Writeboards for early strategy brainstorming. Messaging is critical—it’s how we evolve and develop presentations, IA and other communal documents with multiple authors in different time zones. To Do lists keep everyone on track, especially during QA sessions and beta launches. Our clients have also appreciated Basecamp—in fact, one of them signed up after working with it through us. The simplicity of Basecamp’s interface means anyone can figure out what they need to do immediately. We haven’t had a single client get confused logging-in or viewing and approving files; it’s very reassuring from that perspective. We really appreciate being able to turn files “on/off” for privacy as projects evolve, too. (The only thing we haven’t really dug into is Chat, as we’re all addicted to other IM platforms.)
Highrise is our new business lifeline. Keeping the phones ringing is a constant pressure, and everyone on the core team is responsible for developing leads. Highrise helps maintain order and facilitates a unified system and organization for business development. Of course, you need to provide the effort—it’s only as good as the information and time you put in; but Highrise has made it very easy to stay on top of leads and prepare for pitches. We love the BCC “dropbox” feature.
Getting Real is one of our top five recommended books to collaborators and clients alike. We really appreciate the concise, clear perspective—even when we don’t necessarily agree with it. There are several copies floating around the Minneapolis office and it’s not unusual for someone to quote Getting Real at some point during strategy and early project definition planning.
It’s pretty easy to say Hello Viking would not exist as strongly as it does without 37signals. The tools we use require almost zero training to use, which (again) is wonderful when we’re bringing a new employee or client into an ongoing project. Your team gets to work immediately, versus spending time figuring out how to use the project management system or track hours. The best compliment we could make about Basecamp or Highrise is that they require very little thinking to use.
Oftentimes, when we’re architecting an idea or even as far along as coding an interface, we refer to 37signals products: “Make the tabs open like they do in Basecamp.” There’s such a universal clarity to these products that we aspire to emulate in our own work.
