Industry
Customer experience consulting
Location
San Francisco, CA
Employees
12
Basecamp plan
Plus (35 active projects for $49/month)
Active project count
Around 15-20
Basecamp color scheme
An interview with Jesse James Garrett
Jesse James Garrett is a founding partner of Adaptive Path, the world's premier user experience consulting company. Jesse is also the author of "The Elements of User Experience" — highly regarded as one"The first thing that struck me about Basecamp was the forethought that clearly went into the design of the application. The organization of the functionality and the display of the information was very clear. I didn't have to hunt around for things the way I usually do when learning a new application." of the best books on the subject. If that wasn't enough, Jesse is recognized as a pioneer in the field of information architecture and has worked for clients including AT&T, Intel, Crayola, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, and National Public Radio.
So, let's get started. How did you first hear about Basecamp?
We at Adaptive Path have been big 37signals fans for a long time. So when Basecamp was announced, we were eager to try it out.
What were your first impressions of the product when you signed up? What keeps you using Basecamp?
We're using the Plus plan right now. The first thing that struck me about it was the forethought that clearly went into the design of the application. The organization of the functionality and the display of the information was very clear. I didn't have to hunt around for things the way I usually do when learning a new application.
Were you using another product before or were you managing your projects manually (or with a combination of emails, post-it notes, notepads, etc.)? Was the transition difficult?
We've been pretty good at managing our projects paperlessly, but it has still involved a lot of different documents scattered around: emails, spreadsheets, checklists, meeting notes, and so on. We looked at a few other project management software packages, but they all seemed needlessly complex and cumbersome.
The hardest part of the transition was getting out of the mindset that all project management tasks are necessarily hard. I tend to procrastinate tasks that are going to be tedious or troublesome. "Basecamp makes it easy to make sure the right people receive a communication. I'm less likely to inadvertently leave someone out of an important discussion because Basecamp shows me the whole list of project participants."Basecamp made it easy to knock out those project managment tasks as they came up.
How are you using Basecamp? What are you using it for? What parts do you use most (messages, to-dos, milestones, files)? Have you used Basecamp in ways you hadn't anticipated?
We are primarily using Basecamp to manage exchanging files, both collecting and organizing documentation as well as circulating drafts of deliverables in progress. We're using the message functionality rather than the file storage functionality for this so people can append comments as needed. We haven't used the milestone and to-do functionality as much as I had thought we would; I think this is mainly because these issues often get worked out in meetings where we don't have Internet access. (Not all our clients have Wi-Fi deployed just yet!)
How has Basecamp improved your communication with co-workers and clients?
Basecamp makes it easy to make sure the right people receive a communication. I'm less likely to inadvertently leave someone out of an important discussion because Basecamp shows me the whole list of project participants.
How many projects do you manage at once?
Historically, I haven't been able to handle more than one project at a time. With Basecamp, I can easily see myself being able to keep up with three or more.
How many other people from your office are using Basecamp?
We've got about a dozen people using Basecamp, either as administrators or as end-users. The great unexpected benefit is that we've started using Basecamp to manage our internal projects as well as our client projects.
How have your clients adjusted to using Basecamp?
At first, our clients have had to adjust their thinking a bit. They're used to document repositories like Microsoft Sharepoint,"Historically, I haven't been able to handle more than one project at a time. With Basecamp, I can easily see myself being able to keep up with three or more." and they expect it to work like that. Once they get the idea that Basecamp is oriented around managing communication, they take to it pretty quickly.
How has Basecamp affected your emailing habits? Are you emailing less than before?
We are definitely emailing less. Email has always been our main repository of knowledge about any given project. The problem with that approach, of course, is that it's not what email is designed for! Having a tool that's tailored to the information retrieval needs of project teams is a huge advantage for us.
Thanks so much for your time and insight.
Thank you.