Summer is just about over. Time to get back to work in earnest after the lazy days of summer, and try to be more efficient and productive than ever before. One of the best ways to do that is to use the right tools. Basecamp is one of those tools if you are a small business owner or project manager.
Basecamp is one of the most popular project management tools on the planet. It was first developed by 37Signals in 2004 for their own internal use, but quickly took off as more and more people adopted it. The popular “Ruby on Rails” programming framework was built originally in order to program Basecamp.
For the small business project manager, Basecamp is a dream come true. Here are a few tips for making the most of Basecamp.
The “All in Basecamp” Mentality
Once you’ve gotten the hang of Basecamp, you’ll very quickly find that Basecamp’s communication capabilities exceed email in just about every department.
One of the best ways you can increase your productivity on Basecamp is to just switch everything over to Basecamp so you have everything under the one roof, so to speak.
Use Basecamp to:
– Communicate
– Store files
– Manage tasks
– Assign roles
and so on. In this way, you won’t have to hunt through your email box for communications, attachments, etc. Everything is all filed right there under each project.
Using Basecamp allows you to make your communications visible to everyone in your group. It makes it a lot easier for people to catch mistakes or contribute to a discussion.
Keep a “Potential Projects” To-Do List
If someone has a great idea for a potential project, put it in a To-Do list of potential projects.
This allows you to keep track of all the things you might want to do in the future. There are no milestones, actions or tasks associated with these to-dos, as they’re just ideas.
This prevents great ideas from being lost to the ether and never getting acted upon.
Use Text Documents As Wikis
Basecamp has a text document feature that works a lot like a wiki. This means that anyone can edit the document. You can use this document for a whole host of different things.
You can use it as a white board. You can use it to store ideas. You can also use it to make notes about a certain aspect of a project. You can even use it as a chat room. It’s up to you!
Make Templates for Common Projects
If you find that you’re regularly creating projects that have very similar To-Do lists or milestones, create a template for it. Creating a template allows you to save time and replicate a project with just a few clicks.
Subscribe to Projects You Manage
Want to know when things are getting done? Basecamp makes this easy. Just subscribe to updates from the projects that you’re in charge of or a part of.
You’ll be notified whenever people update their milestones or when people upload new files.
Basecamp is a highly versatile tool. There are many ways to use Basecamp and most people really only touch on the most basic of functions. If you take the time to dive a little deeper into what Basecamp has to offer, you’ll find many features that help improve productivity and boost performance. We’ve used other tools like Trello, Workfront and Asana, but in terms of professionalism and a short learning curve, we recommend Basecamp.
