Basecamp has a number of features and can easily be used in a
way that hinders rather than helps your project run smoothly. This
summarises how we prefer to use it.
The reason for using Basecamp to manage your project are
Visibility By having open tasks visible to
everyone involved in the project, you will always be able to see
which tasks have been completed or not.
Tracking Keeping track of tasks by email is not
the best way to do this. If someone sends an email with 10 tasks
and half of them can be completed, but half require additional
input or time, there is then the added complexity of tracking which
emails still have outstanding tasks, plus the tasks themselves
can't be checked without opening the messages individually. By
having individual tasks listed and crossed off when complete, the
need to track multiple emails is removed.
Tabs
Please note that when you first log in to Basecamp, you may be
on the Overview tab at the top of the page. You will only see the
top 5 To-Dos here. You shoudl click on the individual tabs to see
all items in that area.
To-Dos
To-Dos are where we spend most of our time. We'll work through
the list of open tasks until we complete all tasks assigned to us
at which point your website will either be complete, or will be
waiting on you completing some tasks.
Messages
Messages are used for discussions where you can notify multiple
people about hte message and invite feedback from everyone
involved. Once a decision is reached, messages should probably
result in the creation of a To-Do item, or the marking off of an
item that may no longer be needed.
Files
You may choose to use the files section, or you may prefer to
just email files, we don;t mind either way. Fiels may be usefule if
you need feedback from a numer of people and you post a message
related to the file for discussion