Industry
Brand and Corporate ID
Location
White Plains, NY
Employees
8
Basecamp plan
Plus (35 active projects for $49/month)
Active project count
Usually 20-30
Basecamp color scheme
An interview with Richard Bird & Joe Favata
Richard (President, left) and Joe (Creative Director, right) are the lead creative and strategic forces behind R.BIRD & Company, Inc. — a New York identity and design consulting firm with more than 20 years of "Basecamp is just so easy to use that people actually use it. That may sound rather simplistic, but it is really a significant differentiator for Basecamp compared to competing solutions regardless of scale, functionality or cost." experience creating brand identity, packaging, corporate identity and internet applications. Its clients are internationally-recognized brands and strategy-oriented organizations.
So, let's get started. How did you first hear about Basecamp?
R.BIRD has previously collaborated with 37signals on some of our own projects, so we keep ourselves informed on new developments. We knew about Basecamp's direction during its development and were enthusiastic about its release.
What were your first impressions of the product when you signed up? What keeps you using Basecamp?
Basecamp is just so easy to use that people actually use it. That may sound rather simplistic, but it is really a significant differentiator for Basecamp compared to competing solutions regardless of scale, functionality or cost.
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?
R.BIRD has always been "adventurous" when it comes to trying new directions for software and business process. That's a great way to say that we learn by making mistakes rapidly. "It's most interesting to note that some of our client contacts who have, in the past, been averse to collaboration through anything more sophisticated than faxes and voice mail are now among our most proactive Basecamp users."We've experimented with many solutions: groupware solutions from Microsoft, Novell, and Oracle; ASP solutions, such as eProject; and desktop applications — some that we've even written ourselves. Of all attempts, Basecamp is the first to enjoy nearly instantaneous acceptance by staff and clients. Its addition to existing work flow has been virtually transparent. That's particularly important with our clients, which tend to be large, multinational organizations. In those cases, Basecamp is able to "fly under the radar" and escape premature scrutiny of otherwise strict IT guidelines. By the time Basecamp is noticed at that level, the buzz is so positive that it grows organically.
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?
One of our designers recently called Basecamp our "digital water cooler." I think that characterizes well where it's at its best for us. The message and comment threads have contributed nicely to clarity of communications and encouraged participation with our clients.
We use project ToDo lists as a way to "Using Basecamp as the focal point allows our project developments to be "open 24 hours" for all teams. You could argue that email might do the same thing, but email is one-to-one, serial and destructive versus many-to-many, parallel and archival."focus client behavior, not necessarily our own. Milestones provided a simple framework to map out general project time lines at a high level. And we upload files for ongoing reference at key milestones, particularly during design development and final release points.
How has Basecamp improved your communication with co-workers and clients?
One of our clients is a Japanese pharmaceutical with home office in Japan, manufacturing throughout the Pacific Rim, and marketing offices in Los Angeles. Using Basecamp as the focal point allows our project developments to be "open 24 hours" for all teams. You could argue that email might do the same thing, but email is one-to-one, serial and destructive versus many-to-many, parallel and archival.
How many projects do you manage at once?
We can have as many as 30 projects in various stages of development, review or implementation.
How many other people from your office are using Basecamp?
Everyone is on board at R.BIRD. In our client teams, nearly 100% of those included in project contacts actively participate.
How have your clients adjusted to using Basecamp?
It's most interesting to note that some of our We've experimented with many solutions: groupware solutions from Microsoft, Novell, and Oracle; ASP solutions, such as eProject; and desktop applications — some that we've even written ourselves. Of all attempts, Basecamp is the first to enjoy nearly instantaneous acceptance by staff and clients.client contacts who have, in the past, been averse to collaboration through anything more sophisticated than faxes and voice mail are now among our most proactive Basecamp users. At least one of our client organizations has also signed up for their own, internal Basecamp account.
How has Basecamp affected your emailing habits? Are you emailing less than before?
Absolutely. We consider our Basecamp sites to be the first point of communication with clients instead of email. That also affects how clearly we form our thoughts in writing... which is a nice side effect. It's actually resulted in better decision-making and ideas more freely expressed.
Thanks so much for your time.
Thank you.