Collaborative Project Management Using Basecamp

Tito SierraNCSU Libraries

DLF Fall Forum 2008Project Manager’s Group Meeting

November 14, 2008

Outline

• What is Basecamp?• Our Experience Thus Far• Features and Pricing• Strengths and Weaknesses• Best Practices

What is Basecamp?

• Web-based project management tool• Tool for the Project Team

…not just the Project Manager

• Emphasis on collaboration tools…not just schedules and tasks

Why Basecamp?

“Basecamp takes a fresh, novel approach to project collaboration. Projects don’t fail from a lack of charts, graphs, stats, or reports, they fail from a clear lack of communication. Basecamp solves this problem by providing tools tailored to improve the communication between people working together on a project.”

— http://www.basecamphq.com

Our Experience Thus Far

• Using it for the last eight months• Projects• Many web development projects• Grant proposal• Search committee work

• People• 30 user accounts in our organization• 3 user accounts outside NCSU

Features

• Messages• To-Do• Milestones• Writeboards• Files• Dashboard

Messages

Project blogging with email

To-Do

Assigned tasks grouped into categories

Milestones

Lightweight project scheduling

Writeboards

Document-level wiki with versioning

Files

File storage with versioning

Dashboard

Activity summary across all your projects

Features We Don’t Use

• Chat• Real-time web based chat• Useful for distributed teams

• Time tracking• Logging hours people spend on tasks• Useful for consultants

Pricing

Pricing

Strengths

• Collaboration tools• Writeboard, pervasive commenting

• Communication tools• Messages, RSS feeds, milestone calendar

• Document management• Project-based file storage, versioning

• User interface• Hosted service

Weaknesses

• Lack of task management tools• No prioritization outside of ordering• No dependencies tracking

• Limited scheduling functionality• Not for managing deployed projects• Hosted service• Subscription fee ($$$)

Emergent Best Practices

• Open task assignment• In meeting task assignment• Writeboards for technical docs• Organize work around milestones

Thanks!

Tito SierraNorth Carolina State University

tito_sierra@ncsu.edu

More Information

Basecamp:http://www.basecamphq.com/videos