Simple Collaboration Tools are Key

Today, even small design and construction projects can have large design teams with many contributing consultants. Managing the work of so many people and coordinating the result has become a herculean task. So how can this burden be relieved while ensuring all participants remain aware of the project progression so high quality documents are produced every time?

For the past 18 months we have relied on Basecamp, a web based application from 37Signals. Basecamp is an intuitive tool that provides great flexibility in managing data. We offer our subscription for this service to all our clients and their entire design team because we believe so strongly that it significantly improves collaboration and raises the quality of the resulting design.

Initially, we tried Basecamp for selfish reasons. Project schedules changed regularly, sometimes daily. We kept a paper calendar showing project deadlines. Because we were delivering up to 250 projects each year, just imagine the number of deadlines on the calendar. As the schedules changed we could not find all the previous schedule dates to void the entries. This created some tense moments with near panic when we turned the calendar and discovered an outdated completion date.

Basecamp allowed us to view the delivery milestones by specific projects. So when schedules changed, we opened the project and easily made all the adjustments at once. Ad every change was instantly available to our entire staff. At first, this feature alone was justification for using Basecamp. No more panic attacks!

However, we had an epiphany. We invited our clients and all their other consultants to use Basecamp with us. We found that Basecamp allowed us to collect all the project communications in one location, essentially replacing email. All communications are visible to everyone on the project. And automatic email notifications of Basecamp posting are sent to everyone directly involved in the issue. But wait! There is more.

To Do lists allowed team members to assign tasks and completion dates to others, for work that was required to coordinate the project and incorporate the latest design changes. Everyone on the team can view the lists for everyone else. What an incentive! It is embarrassing to open the project and discover your unfinished To Do list is the longest. The embarrassment factor worked. Things got done and in a much more timely manner.

What about project files, you may ask. Well Basecamp helps there too. There is a simple file upload feature similar to an FTP site, except multiple versions of the same file can be posted. The latest file is always on top and the previous versions directly below.

We are still only scratching the surface of what can be accomplished with Basecamp. It seems we find new ways to manage the work flow, nearly daily. The built-in flexibility allows us to try new ways to accomplish traditional tasks.

Now we use Basecamp for every project. We encourage our clients to start the project on Basecamp at day one and to include the entire team as welcome participants. There are no limits on the number of users. So there is no need for anyone to be excluded.

The cost to our clients? None! The value to the project resulting from participation far outweighs the subscription fee.

We encourage you to take the Basecamp tour to see for yourself: http://basecamphq.com/tour