Basecamp: Hire when it hurts… or don't We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Hey there- We don't hire often at 37signals. In fact, we only hire when it hurts. And lately our team in has been hurting for a third member. Our Ops team is responsible for keeping our lights on and apps running smoothly. To ensure that happens, our mighty team of 10 uses a follow the sun model. Incident and on-call response flows through team members, region to region - the , to , to - so critical work remains prioritized. The sun touches the -Pacific region for quite a while, so we made the decision to hire a third teammate to distribute the work more evenly. You might think - hire when it hurts, doesn't that mean lowering standards? The team is in pain! Hire someone, quickly, and get them some help! But, no, we take a different approach at 37signals. First, "hire when it hurts" is a simplification. Hurts means mild discomfort, not abject agony. A 2-3 on the pain scale, not an . Second, because we work under constraints , because we're able to say no , and because we're used to achieving big things with small teams , our teams are conditioned to make highly impactful choices about their scope of work before compromising on something as important as a new teammate. We can be highly selective about who we're bringing on because our teams are empowered to make such choices while waiting for the right person to come along. Our SRE search is looking very promising! But there have also been times in the recent past when we've concluded a hiring round without the reward of a new teammate at the end of it. , we put out a call for a new Rails programmer. We received over 1000 applications! Yet none of those applications convinced us that hiring would be advantageous. Our existing team is in great shape. Adding someone who we're not excited about means potentially adding bloat to the team. Weighing them down and reducing their capacity, which isn't fair to them nor does it serve to ease the pain that prompted hiring in the first place. The work will always be there. If you enable your teams to amp up or throttle that work according to their capacity, hiring becomes a simple exercise. 'No' is always an option for empowered teams - within their work, and to hiring. Some recent updates New in HEY: Power Through New Spending too much time going through unread emails? Even with The Screener keeping unwanted messages out, it can be hard to stay on top of new emails coming in. We recently introduced Power Through New - a streamlined way to get through unread messages quickly. Read more! New in HEY: Accessibility improvements to HEY Navigating a calendar with a screen reader can be tricky. Screen readers typically read content in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom sequence, which doesn't match the layout of a calendar grid. So, we made improvements to make HEY Calendar easier to use with a screen reader. Read more! Talk to you next time! - Andrea, People Ops at 37signals


Basecamp: You need less than you think We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Hey there- When you're running a small business, you may think you need to have "all the things" when it comes to documentation. But you probably need less legal overhead than you think. Take trademarks, for instance. Sure, having a registered trademark can give you some peace of mind. And in the , you can register one pretty easily for just a few hundred dollars. But do you need to do it at all? Trademark protection is only as strong as your willingness and ability to defend it. If someone infringes on your trademark, are you prepared fund a legal battle? If you've been using the name or logo for a while, you may have some protection without a formal registration . Then there are contracts. Conventional wisdom says long contracts with exhaustive clauses are important. The reality? No contract can protect you from everything. Instead of getting lost in legal jargon, why not use clear, straightforward bullet points to outline your agreement? It's about building trust and clarity, not creating a document that no one fully comprehends. Here's a old favorite example of a client contract . , we created a one-page contract to spin-off a business . It could have been a handshake - it wouldn't have changed anything. Part of it was daring ourselves to keep it that simple. Sure, we could have handed it to lawyers, who would have added more pages and billed everyone on both sides. But at , keeping it simple worked. This approach might not suit every situation, but it's a viable option more often than you might think. Licenses are another area where simplicity can win. At 37signals, we use a version of the MIT Open Source license for all our ONCE products. It's short, to the point, and doesn't overcomplicate things. A simple, clear license can save you time, money, and headaches. On occasion, we do run things by a Real Lawyer™, but that's not the default. So if you've been dreading filing that thing or letting that contract slow you don't. Maybe you don't need to. Maybe you can take a simpler path and get back to what you do best - building a great business. Thoughts we've shared (Literally) Moving with Basecamp Brian, our head of product strategy, is moving across the country . And of course, he used Basecamp to manage the project and track the progress - including a Hill Chart. Check it out here . SaaStock Interview with company is essentially two things: a group of people and a collection of decisions. How those people make these decisions is the art of running a business (37signals). We make decisions , it's what often dictates the direction of a business. Some decisions work out and some don't. Some are quick to make and some tough to call. You'll never be able to consider every single piece of data, analysis or consequence when making a decision - sometimes a decision has to be made from the gut . Listener Questions: HR Edition How do we approach people management and performance reviews? Do we use AI to screen applications for open jobs? What do we look for in hiring? You had questions, we have answers. , Head of People Operations at 37signals, joins host in this episode of the REWORK Podcast . By the way, if you want a little more REWORK in your life, stop by the new merch store . (The notepad is my personal favorite!) Things we're excited about Is it time to go Pro? Have you checked out the new Timesheet feature in ? We've been excited to see the positive response. And, if you're the admin for your Basecamp account, you might also be interested in the Admin Pro Pack that gives you additional controls over your account, changing permissions for sending pings, editing project details, turning on public links, and archiving/deleting projects. You can also require two-factor authentication and change chat history settings. Until next time, - , COO at 37signals


Basecamp: New Cycle, new Kickoff We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Hey there- I've had a few conversations lately about how to plan and organize work, and not just in product development, but all areas - marketing, customer support, operations. Shape Up is familiar to many programmers and designers , but did you know you can also apply it to more than development work? Right now, at 37signals, we're at the start of a new cycle, which means the teams have just finished posting their Kickoffs. A Kickoff 🥾 tells everyone in the company what you're committing to doing in . Just writing it forces you to think hard about how you're using your time, and your team's time. And publishing it live creates visibility and accountability. We often get asked if teams whose work is primarily "reactive" or "ongoing" can use Shape Up. Yes! For example, in Customer Support, we don't use Shape Up for the everyday work of responding to our customers. We use it to take on special projects to provide a better experience and to make Basecamp customers more successful. Here's the actual Kickoff for our Customer Support team this cycle. Like a Kickoff for Product, each item on the list is a summary of what we're going to do, a little on why, and specific assignments of people and the expectation of the work. How do you choose what you're committing to? That's a process of shaping, pitching, and betting that you can read more about in Shape Up . Have more questions about how to use Shape Up? Drop me a line at . Thoughts we've shared 37signals datacenter overview During our journey off the cloud, we got a lot of questions about our datacenters. All of 37signals' apps that serve millions of users are served from one datacenter in , and one in , . This includes Basecamp , HEY , and our many heritage apps that we have dedicated to run until the end of the internet . , director of operations, gives a high level review of what 37signals' datacenter presence looks like . …and how we monitor performance , from our team, covers how we use to properly ingest, store, and alert based on metrics in a way we can confidently migrate and manage infrastructure and applications on-prem. Things we're excited about New Openings People in and might have noticed that we recently launched new, localized pricing to make Basecamp more accessible to small businesses in those countries. The great response suggests that we could use a couple of enthusiastic and entrepreneurial people who want to help others learn more about Basecamp and how it can make their organizations better. Check out our first-ever country manager roles here. Enterprise Extravaganza! Are you with a small company that wants to feel "big?" Download the EnterpriseExtravaganzaSuite™ today and get all the complexity and confusion of a big company! Use it as your desktop wallpaper! Look busy! of mesmerizing, eye-watering fun! Until next time, - , COO at 37signals


Basecamp: Going, and staying, remote We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Hey there- Seems like every day there's a new report out, confirming what we already know - remote work is better for getting work done, getting the best people and giving people the chance to do their best work. Hybrid schedules might sound like the best compromise, but it's actually the worst of office and remote worlds, with people still tied to expensive cities and congested commutes, only to go into an office for Zoom calls. Executives might argue that collaboration happens best when people are in the same room, but ideas aren't contained . They aren't "located" and they don't "reside." You just need the right minds, wherever they are. And if managers are being honest, what they're most worried about is not knowing what people are doing or where they are. We'd argue that doesn't matter. What matters is letting people design their own schedule around when they can do their best work. As a company that has had the majority of people working remotely for , we've accumulated enough thoughts and best practices on the subject. Enough, in fact, to fill a whole book, , and two podcast episodes . We cover everything from how to manage a remote team to how to communicate and organize time. If you're still trying to figure out how to transition your team's (or your boss's) way of thinking, you might check these out. Thoughts we've shared the competition From the latest episode of The REWORK Podcast: In business, the idea that more is better often leads companies to engage in an endless race to add more features while losing sight of what truly matters to their users. From Basecamp's high-level simplicity to the disruptive potential of the new product line, "ONCE," the conversation explores the success of products that have rewritten the rules through simplicity, focusing on the small details that elevate products to greatness. Look back less One of the reasons companies have a hard time moving forward is because they've tangled themselves in the near past. They've trapped themselves looking for certainty where there isn't any. Searching for actionable advice where there are only guesses. It's a mistake most of the time. And a waste of time almost all of the time. Things we're excited about Behind the scenes of the new HEY Calendar As we finish up the all new HEY Calendar, here's a peek behind the scenes of the project itself. In this LinkedIn post, we share screenshots of updates and Hill Charts from the actual project. You can see movement of different scopes over , as well as a new scope that appeared on the "figuring things out" side. Now live! The Rails Documentary With one of the most faithful communities online, Rails also has one of the most controversial, rabble-rousing creators out there, programmer, . Get the whole spill from the people who had a front-row seat to the creation and development of Ruby on Rails. Until next time, - , COO at 37signals


Basecamp: Rules of the road We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Hey there- We just finished updating the 37signals employee handbook . Yes, I know. You'd rather read the dictionary than an employee handbook. They're usually full of dense policies that are hard to understand and often out of date. They don't tell you anything about how the company really works, or the things that matter most to you, like pay or promotions. But ours is much different. We put a lot of effort into being very transparent about how we work, and it's just 16 pages. Here are a few sections that may be interesting to you: Getting started: Onboarding new people well takes thought and preparation, and you never get a second shot at those "first day vibes." Your at a new job should be full of excitement. But in remote work, you'll likely just walk to your same home office spot, turn on your computer, and get started without much fanfare. We do our best to give people a warm welcome through posts and pre-scheduled introductions. Each person's onboarding project gives them an overview of what's going to happen, what they should spend their time on, and what's expected. How we work: No matter what role you hold at 37signals, our cadence of cycles, and asynchronous work and communication are fundamentals. They're a big part of how we prioritize work and keep our calendars free for periods of deep work and focus. We also have a few rituals, that are experiences shared by all, that help keep us connected to each other and our customers. Your career path: People are motivated by personal growth; increasing their skills, developing a career. We make it clear from the start what the titles and proficiencies are for each job function, and how we calculate pay for each role. Qualifications and progress toward promotion shouldn't be a guessing game. If you're interested in learning more about how we work, and how we use , register for our upcoming Office Hours session on , Central Time. and will be leading a tour through our company HQ project, What Works, cycle projects, Automatic Check-ins, and more. Thoughts we've shared Swimming the center or the edge Imagine a vast swimming pool 25 miles long, 50 miles wide, and 25 feet deep. Swimming this pool is akin to running a business. And how you swim this pool is akin to how you run the business. Everyone starts at the beginning, but you decide how close to the center or the edge you swim. There's only one rule: You can't turn around, there's no going back. Where would you start? - Pessimism is on the retreat We've lived through in the recent past. Much stranger than any I can remember since my earliest, solid memories of the broader world from . That's been the vibe, at least as I've received it, over at least. But I think maybe the fever is finally breaking . The dark clouds of pessimism are parting from optimistic rays of light. I think they're seeping into the groundwater, and we're seeing sprouts everywhere with brighter, greener hues of positivity. - Things we're excited about HEY Calendar Thanks to all the early release and beta testers of the new HEY Calendar! After some drama getting approved for Apple's app store , we're thrilled to have released the Calendar across all platforms (web, iOS, and Android). If you don't have HEY already, 's the perfect day to jump in with a free trial at . Rails World and Rails 8 in Rails World was the first major Rails conference on the continent in , and sold out in ! So in , we'll nearly double the capacity for attendance, and again have tons of new stuff to talk about for the next one in in . It'll be the conference where you go to hear about the latest technology and techniques in the Rails world from the people who build and advanced it. Until next time, - , COO at 37signals


Basecamp: How's your work ethic? We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Dear 37signals, My boss is super passionate about our work, which is awesome, but it's like he's got a turbo button stuck on " ." Everything's "top priority," and he's all about those pings, updates and tweaks. You know, the kind where you redo a project because… well, reasons. He's really into micromanaging, too. Picture this: changing a single page umpteen times until it's just so. His heart's in the right place, aiming for the stars for our clients and all that, but I'm not totally convinced it's making the magic happen like he thinks it is. He says if I was "fully committed," I'd act the same way. AITA? Signed, - Running on Empty Dear Empty, In a word. No. has captured a monopoly on entrepreneurial inspiration. This endless stream of pump-me-up quotes about working yourself to the bone. It's time to snap out of it. The hustle may have started as a beacon for those with little to outsmart those with a lot, but now it's just synonymous with "the grind." And so many people end up broken and burned out with nothing to show for it. You aren't more worthy because you sacrificed everything, because you kept pushing through the pain or drove your team "to the max." When management holds up certain people as having a "great work ethic" because they're always around, always working, that's a terrible example of a work ethic and a great example of someone who's overworked. We can't do anything about your boss, but equating work ethic with excessive hours isn't going to get you ahead. Trust us. It doesn't have to be crazy at work . Thoughts we've shared A New Take on Platform Preferences recently made the switch from Apple to Android and Mac to PC . In this episode of the REWORK Podcast, and discuss the shift in direction , the events that led to the change of platform, and what the company was missing by being focused on the Apple ecosystem. Avoiding pile-ups When you work on really long projects, there's no harm in kicking the can down the line. In other words, when you say "later," it makes a pile at the end. But, when you work in cycles, or relatively short time frames, "later" means something else entirely . There's no time for later. It's now or not. - we're excited about New feature alerts! Maybe you're using it as a product roadmap and want to share it with customers. Or perhaps you'd like to give your board members visibility into your progress without bogging them down in the day-to-day details. Now you can make a Card Table public . Plus, we've made better than ever . You can bookmark pings and chats, delete old ones in one step, and see bookmarks from archived projects. Seeing the big picture Managing multiple projects or teams can be a lot to keep track of. Basecamp has tools to help you get a better handle on all the activity. From the Lineup to Mission Control, can help you get an overview of what's happening . Until next time, - , COO at 37signals


Basecamp: What's next? We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Hey there- Sometimes you have too many good ideas. But sometimes you might be waiting for inspiration to strike. How long do you wait for that muse to show up? We'd say, don't wait. Get inspired by nature Spend some time outside. Take a walk in the woods. Stroll through a prairie. Climb a hill. Get down on your knees and look at the grass. Plant a garden. No space? Get some plants or flowers and put them on your desk. And if you're lucky enough to live near botanical gardens, visit a few times a year during peak seasons. What you'll see are ridiculously good designs. Millions of iterations are folded into what you see. Everything is the product of a million successful tries. The colors and shapes and structures and textures are manifestations of survival. If it's alive it's good design. Build something that you need You may not think you need anything right now. But have you run across something in every day life that just seems like it could be better, or easier, or less clunky? Maybe, like , your homeowner's association has terrible software . Those could be problems you could solve. Check out the customers you already have The other place to look for problems is with the customers you already have, what actual industries are they in? If you're working on something on their behalf, is there a bespoke piece of software that they're trying to get you to build? Maybe their problem is common in the industry and there's a generic software solution that you could build. You're already getting intimate with a problem, and can build on it from there. Just start building anything is good practice. It doesn't even really matter. Before <LOCATION>, and were working on something completely different that didn't turn out to be a major commercial success, but it was very helpful for honing the skills to create Basecamp. You can work for clients and pay the bills, but also work on something for yourself, even if it's kind of halfway stupid, because that's the practice you need for when the good idea actually comes to you. If the great idea comes to you, and it's literally your first idea, you're probably going to blow it. You're probably going to squander it because you've had no practice on some dummy problems. Thoughts we've shared How does it compare to…? That's a common question you often hear when you suggest a product to someone. They already have something, and they want to know how the thing you're recommending compares to the thing they already have. But it's an impossible question to answer . - Jason Fried Live design review for Another first look at the newest ONCE product and the design process. and (37signals principal designer) walk through a design review, including recent changes, what makes and what doesn't, and discussed a variety of small UX improvements. Things we're excited about Introducing can look and feel so good, but it often doesn't out of the box. It's almost like there's a rite of passage in certain parts of the community where becoming an expert in the intricacies of every tool and its theming is required to prove you're a proper nerd. I think that's a bit silly, so I created : An opinionated web developer setup for Ubuntu . turns a fresh Ubuntu installation into a fully-configured, beautiful, and modern web development system by running a single command. - We're hiring! We're looking for experienced Rails programmers based in the . The salary range for this position is $<US_DRIVER_LICENSE>-$<US_DRIVER_LICENSE> USD. You'll be building new product features alongside a designer using our Shape Up methodology, as well as spending time addressing issues to make sure our apps are robust and our codebase is weed free. Meet people just like you Are you part of the Basecamp C@mmunity yet? It's the place where long-time users and folks brand new to the platform exchange ideas about improving the way they work. You'll learn from small teams helping each other stay on top of a project, new businesses showing how they bring calm to a growing team, and even non-profit groups like teachers using Basecamp to coordinate projects between staff and parents. Until next time, - , COO at 37signals


Basecamp: Shape Up - it's not just for products We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Hey there- We talk about Shape Up a lot. After all, it's the way we work and central to how we're able to ship a lot of products and features quickly, with small teams. Shape Up is focused on product development, but a lot of it is applicable to any situation. Here's an example of how we applied the concept of shaping to the marketing campaign we did for the HEY Calendar launch. Setting boundaries This is really a question of "appetite", or how much time are we willing to invest in this? We're continually experimenting with new marketing channels and highlighting different products. In general, our maximum appetite is a single cycle. We only have three people on the marketing team, so devoting one or two people for a whole cycle is a lot. Smaller, projects might be something like updates to the website or a single feature video. HEY is almost a whole product in itself, so we were willing to devote two people to it for , or half a cycle. Shaping the work "Shaping" is about setting the team up for success by clarifying the problem/goal and thinking through the general solution. The work isn't specified down to individual elements or tasks, but the overall solution is spelled out. And, we try to address any open questions or rabbit holes we could see up front. We started with a few possible campaign themes , each with several elements in mind… a longer form "anthem" video, a series of videos about specific features, and a new landing page that showed HEY and Calendar together. We then promoted all of these creative assets on LinkedIn and YouTube. After discussing the options, we decided to keep it simple. Since HEY Calendar is all new, it was more important to show how it actually worked than to spend a lot of time on an elaborate brand video. Also, we could just add a dedicated page for the new feature to instead of trying to cram ALL the features on one. Finally, we chose a "Best of Both" theme that highlights how HEY combines the utility of digital calendars with the personality of paper calendars - something that differentiates it from Apple Calendar and Google Calendar. Here's the final pitch , and how we shared it in the Marketing Kickoff 🥾 before the cycle started. Handing it off to the team Here's the project in . In the pitch, we outlined what each of the use cases might look like, but there was a lot more to actually bring the ideas to life. We didn't produce that list of ideas exactly, and that's okay. We expect that things will be cut and added along the way, just as when developing new features. And, here's a playlist of the final work ! If you're curious about other ways we use Shape Up in non-product work, drop me a line . Thoughts we've shared Why am I still doing this? , 37signals celebrates its 25th anniversary! Founder blogs about why he's still in it , and why he's as motivated as ever. A Spin-Off Story On the REWORK Podcast, we talk about spinning off products . They stress the value of keeping contracts simple and how once the handover is done, it's best to take a hands-off approach and let the new team run things. They share their experiences with boards and underline the need for trust and flexibility. Things we're excited about New feature alerts! We've just revamped an essential part of HEY - working with long email threads! Before, one click expanded all of them, which was disorienting. Now, you can take a peek into individual messages , while the rest stay in place. In , you'll definitely want to check out References, a new feature that automatically ties related things together ! No more "Where was that original message?" or "What happened to the card for this?" References appear in a separate tab alongside comments. The next ONCE product… Nope, sorry. Not going to tell you what it is yet. But if you watch or listen in to this recent podcast episode, we've been dropping some clues and an exciting announcement about the price point . Until next time, - , COO at 37signals


Basecamp: Get help from the support team We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine There are no stupid questions. For pre-sales questions, existing customers who need a hand, or other inquiries, contact us and we'll get back to you within . What do you need help with? Required This helps make sure you get the right answer fast. Please select one… I can't access my account I have a question before I sign up I want to request a feature I have a billing question I'm not receiving emails I'm confused about how something works I think something is broken Other What's your question, comment, or issue? Required Share all the details. The more we know, the better we can help you. Send us a file, screenshot, or document Hold the shift key to select multiple files. What's your email address? Required This is where we'll get back to you. Double check that it's right. What's your account URL? Example: Send support request "Extremely user friendly" "Truly amazing!" "A godsend for our org" "Simple, quick, powerful" "So glad I found Basecamp" "The perfect solution" "Really great" "Outstanding" "Best app for teams" "Awesome service" "Gets better and better" "Great collaboration tool" "Great software" "Gold standard PM app" "Brilliant solution" "Clean and easy to use" "Fantastic app" "Organized and on point" "Extremely user friendly" "Truly amazing!" "A godsend for our org" "Simple, quick, powerful" "So glad I found Basecamp" "The perfect solution" "Really great" "Outstanding" "Best app for teams" "Awesome service" "Gets better and better" "Great collaboration tool" "Great software" "Gold standard PM app" "Brilliant solution" "Clean and easy to use" "Fantastic app" "Organized and on point"


Basecamp: Mastering Basecamp We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Ready to get started with Basecamp? Basecamp Basics Overview School is in session! Get a preview of the Basecamp Basics series - think of this as your class syllabus. Understanding the Home Screen How to add your logo, pin your most important projects, view projects in a list, and jump between projects with a quick keyboard command. What is a Project? To understand how Basecamp works, it's important to understand what a project is - this video breaks down the four most common uses for a project. Starting a Project Before starting your first project, learn about invite-only and all-access projects, project tools, and managing tools within a project. Inviting People to Collaborate Basecamp shines when it comes to collaboration - learn how to invite people to your account, add them to a project, and set their involvement level. Setting Up Notifications Personalize your notification settings. Whether you want them , every day, or need to temporarily turn them off, this video walks you through it. Take your Basecamp knowledge to the next level. 10 Features You Might Have Missed Check out 10 features in you might not know about - from customizing your home screen to marking a notification as unread. 10 Hidden Features in Basecamp From changing your accent colors to closing comment threads - this video shows 10 Basecamp features even power users may not know about. Working with To-Dos Breaking down your work into tasks is critical for managing any type of project. This video does a deep dive into 's To-do tool, including some tips to make working with to-dos even easier. Working with Clients Looking to work with clients inside of ? This video walks you through adding clients to your account, adding them to a project, and controlling what parts of a project they can see. Project Templates Instead of creating the same type of Basecamp projects over and over again, save time by creating a template. You can even assign to-dos and set relative due dates in advance. Organizing Work with Card Table Want to visually see work that progresses through stages? This video walks you through using Card Table - our unique take on kanban. Automatic Check-ins Ask recurring questions and gather answers all in one place. Replace status calls or meetings while keeping everything on the record. Communication Tools Basecamp communication tools are intentionally different from one another. In this video, learn about the three main tools - Message Board, Chat, and Pings - and when to use each one. Customizing Project Tools One of the best ways to personalize a project is to customize the project tools. This video walks through how and why to change, rename, and duplicate tools. Using the Message Board The Message Board is the perfect place to make announcements, pitch ideas, pose a question, or share progress. And in many cases, it can replace emails. Connecting to an Outside Service With Basecamp's Doors feature, you can connect to an outside service, external platform, or online file - all from within a project. Hill Charts Visually track your To-do list progress with Hill Charts. Quickly see what hasn't been started, what's moving forward, and where work might be stuck. See the Big Picture Overseeing multiple projects? Basecamp has several ways to see high-level overviews of everything that's happening in your account. Customizing Basecamp for your language Basecamp was built in English, but you can use other languages anywhere you can enter text. This video walks through what areas you can customize, including tool names, message categories, and templates. Get educated on features in or less! Grouping To-dos in Basecamp Want your to-do list to be even more detailed? In , you can create sections within a to-do list to divide your tasks by category, department, priority, or status. Use Boosts for Quick Replies Not everything requires a long response. Sometimes a quick emoji will do the trick! In Basecamp, you can "boost" a message, document, or chat message instead of replying with a lengthier reply. 's Focus Mode When you need to shut out distractions and get some work done, you need Focus Mode. Temporarily turn off all incoming notifications and pings so you can focus, and when you're ready, they'll be waiting for you. "Extremely user friendly" "Truly amazing!" "A godsend for our org" "Simple, quick, powerful" "So glad I found Basecamp" "The perfect solution" "Really great" "Outstanding" "Best app for teams" "Awesome service" "Gets better and better" "Great collaboration tool" "Great software" "Gold standard PM app" "Brilliant solution" "Clean and easy to use" "Fantastic app" "Organized and on point" "Extremely user friendly" "Truly amazing!" "A godsend for our org" "Simple, quick, powerful" "So glad I found Basecamp" "The perfect solution" "Really great" "Outstanding" "Best app for teams" "Awesome service" "Gets better and better" "Great collaboration tool" "Great software" "Gold standard PM app" "Brilliant solution" "Clean and easy to use" "Fantastic app" "Organized and on point"


Basecamp: Basecamp Help We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Basecamp 3 & 4 Basecamp 2 Basecamp Classic "Extremely user friendly" "Truly amazing!" "A godsend for our org" "Simple, quick, powerful" "So glad I found Basecamp" "The perfect solution" "Really great" "Outstanding" "Best app for teams" "Awesome service" "Gets better and better" "Great collaboration tool" "Great software" "Gold standard PM app" "Brilliant solution" "Clean and easy to use" "Fantastic app" "Organized and on point" "Extremely user friendly" "Truly amazing!" "A godsend for our org" "Simple, quick, powerful" "So glad I found Basecamp" "The perfect solution" "Really great" "Outstanding" "Best app for teams" "Awesome service" "Gets better and better" "Great collaboration tool" "Great software" "Gold standard PM app" "Brilliant solution" "Clean and easy to use" "Fantastic app" "Organized and on point"


Basecamp: New in Basecamp We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine A collection of new features we've just launched in ! <PERSON> let you track your to-do lists from figuring things out to completion. With the new , you can now see all your Hill Charts, across your entire account, on one screen. Project templates are a game changer when you do the same kind of work over and over again. We made some improvements to make working with clients and templates easier. Now you can choose what clients see (and what stays private) from inside the template. Public links let you share parts of with people outside your account. We made some improvements to publicly-shared content, including a visual update and a new feature to make public links even more useful. We improved scheduling events in , including adding two new features - one-click access for video calls and everyday language support. Pings are an essential communication tool in . But when you have a lot of pings with a lot of people, it's hard to tell conversations apart. We fixed that! Now you can give your pings a name and add an image so they're easier to identify. Need to track time so you can bill your client? Want to know who's spending how much time on what? Introducing Timesheet, an add-on that makes tracking time simple. Track time spent on to-dos, cards, docs, and more without ever leaving Basecamp. See everything that's unassigned across your projects on a single page. Under Activity, you'll see the new report: work. Assign tasks and set deadlines to ensure nothing slips through the cracks. It's now easier to make quick edits to titles of projects, tool names, documents, messages and more without ever leaving the page. Simply click and make your changes. Now in , linking to a message, to-do, card, event, document, or file automatically creates a Reference, instantly tying related things together. Card Tables help visualize tasks in a workflow, like bug fixes or design requests. Now it's possible to share a Card Table with people outside of your account. Turn on a public link and anyone with the link can view it without logging into . Make your home screen even more personal… and colorful! Now you can customize your home screen with images and colors. Project templates are handy when you create the same kind of project over and over. Until now, the only way to make a project template was to start from scratch. Now you can create a template from an existing project. Duplicating to-do list and project templates has also been added. You've always been able to move individual items from one project to another - like a single message, to-do list, or card. Now you can move an entire tool from one project to another. Sometimes you need to quickly see how a project is going. How far along is it? Are things moving forward as planned or are there concerns? With Move the Needle , your team can visually communicate how a project is doing - right from the top of the page. The activity page shows everything that's happening across all of your projects. But sometimes it can be challenging to find what's important - like what your team is working on, or projects that you really care about. Now you can filter recent activity to only show what you need to see. When you have a lot of images in the Docs & Files tool, it can be difficult to flip through them quickly. Not anymore! You can now see an image preview and cycle through photos, videos, and files in just one click. With our latest product update, you can now group similar projects together on your home screen into piles we call . Arrange your projects by team, client, or time period for more visual clarity over your work. You've always been able to send links to individual documents to someone outside your Basecamp account. And now, you can send access to entire folders for people outside your account to view or download. With the Doors feature, you've always been able to connect to an outside product or service. But now, we've added the options to upload a custom image to better identify the link. Now you can go as far forward or backward in the Lineup ! Also, Admins can add markers for all relevant, company-wide events. Now in , you have the option to change your time preferences. You can choose to see your time with the settings ( ) or the time clock. Now adding events to the calendar, scheduling a message to post later, and even seeing time stamps in rooms are easy to read, no matter where in the world you live. We've added the option of turning off reminders for events & assignments! Now you can choose to be reminded about upcoming stuff, or not. We've updated how you choose dates in ! No more clicking and clicking until you break your mouse button. "Extremely user friendly" "Truly amazing!" "A godsend for our org" "Simple, quick, powerful" "So glad I found Basecamp" "The perfect solution" "Really great" "Outstanding" "Best app for teams" "Awesome service" "Gets better and better" "Great collaboration tool" "Great software" "Gold standard PM app" "Brilliant solution" "Clean and easy to use" "Fantastic app" "Organized and on point" "Extremely user friendly" "Truly amazing!" "A godsend for our org" "Simple, quick, powerful" "So glad I found Basecamp" "The perfect solution" "Really great" "Outstanding" "Best app for teams" "Awesome service" "Gets better and better" "Great collaboration tool" "Great software" "Gold standard PM app" "Brilliant solution" "Clean and easy to use" "Fantastic app" "Organized and on point"


Basecamp: Where we came from We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Born out of desperate necessity to stop embarrassing ourselves in front of our clients, the story of how was born is likely your story, too. Hey there - I'm , one of the co-founders here. I've been running 37signals - the business that makes Basecamp - for . People often ask me why we built Basecamp. They've never seen anything like it before, so they're curious where the idea came from. I wish I could credit a spark of genius, or some deep insight. But I can't. Truth is, we built Basecamp out of desperate necessity . We needed it bad. Without it, we were embarrassing ourselves. Way back when, we used to be a design firm. As we grew, we kept taking on more and more projects. We thought we could handle it, while still providing the same level of service, but we couldn't. We were fooling ourselves. Sound familiar? It wasn't that we didn't have the skills - we just didn't have the right tools, nor the method, to juggle the additional workload. We were disorganized, we were dropping balls, and stuff was slipping. Quality was suffering, and, as is often the case in situations like this, our clients noticed before we noticed. That was the especially painful and uncomfortable part. We needed a better way to manage projects, track feedback, and make progress. , chat, spreadsheets, calls, scattered documents, information here, there, and everywhere just wasn't cutting it. Systems like that work for , and then they fall apart fast - especially as you grow and add more people to the mix. We looked around and tried a few things, but the popular tools we tried simply didn't cut it. So we had to build our own project management system from scratch. We focused on building a simple, straightforward collection of tools that could track work so everyone knew who was doing what, keep feedback and revisions on the record, centralize communication so no one missed anything, and schedule important milestones. We started using the system with our clients. They kept asking "What is this? We could totally use this for our own projects!" And that's when the lightbulb went on - maybe this is a product for others, and not just for us? If we need it, surely others need it. So we tweaked it, tightened it up, polished the rough edges, and put it on the market. It was an instant hit. Turns out, tens of thousands of other companies had similar struggles managing their projects, and needed what we needed. And released it, it was generating more revenue for us than our web design business. So we stopped doing web design and have been focused on building ever since. Based on feedback, and our own ideas, we've made thousands of improvements over , with so much more to come. Basecamp defined a category, and continues to constantly push that category forward in innovative ways. It's been an incredible ride so far, and we have so many people to thank. But most of all, we feel a deep sense of responsibility to continue to make the best product we can for companies who desperately seek a better way to work. We're here for them, and running. Thanks for reading, and for giving Basecamp a try . You can always contact me directly if you have any questions at . I look forward to hearing from you. founder & CEO


Basecamp: Basecamp stands with the underdogs We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Freelancer? Underfunded non-profit? Small team feeling stuck in a large enterprise? Start-up battling established competitors? You're our people. What do they got? A big team, lots of money, a strong brand, seemingly unlimited resources, panache, reputation, all that. They're established. They're your competitors. You want to look away, but you see them everywhere. Their ads on your social, their name in the media, your dream clients on their website. But you know what else they got? Bigger company bloat. Overflowing obligations. Narratives to uphold. Appearances to maintain. Entitlement. Too much overhead. They're slow. They're conservative. They talk too much. They've stopped taking risks. They're resting on their laurels, gliding on their reputation. They're on defense. What they've really got is a lot to lose. What do you got? Hunger. Drive. Grit. Scrappiness. Independence. You're on offense. You don't have enough, which is why you're dangerous. You have no choice but to be clever and creative. To make up for what you don't have with something they can't have: The underdog spirit. You can move. You can adjust. You can adapt. You can get it done while they're still stuck deciding what to do. Small is not a stepping stone. Small is not less than. It's greater than. It's faster than. It's better than. Savor your position. You don't get to be the underdog forever. The baton will be passed. But for now, it's your magic wand. Use it. Basecamp is built for you. Go get it. We stand with the underdogs Thanks for reading, and for giving Basecamp a try . You can always contact me directly if you have any questions at . I look forward to hearing from you. founder & CEO


Basecamp: Basecamp for Small Business We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Small businesses are our favorite businesses. For , we've kept our company small, sharp, and profitable - on purpose. Because small is not less than. It's greater than. It's faster than. It's friendlier than. It's better than. We're for the Fortune 5000,000 Most big software companies fight over the Fortune 500. The whales, the thousand-seat contracts, the enterprise deals. They can have them. Our favorite customers are the Fortune 5000,000. The small and medium-sized businesses of the world, the individual freelancers, the creative shops that do the best work, not the most work. Have 3 employees? We'd be honored to have you as a customer. Just you on your own? We're here for you. 43 folks and growing? That's what we call and Tall - fantastic, come on in. Small is not less than. It's greater than. It's faster than. It's friendlier than. It's closer than. It's better than. Don't be used by big Big software companies use small companies like yours to pad their customer count, but you're just the bait they hook to land the biggest trophy fish - the enterprises they're really in business to serve. Don't support those who wouldn't be proud to display you on their client list. Check out all the small businesses excited about Basecamp . Asana, , and <NRP> are all losing boatloads of money chasing the big accounts. is burning through the $400 million they raised on the same playbook. Slack was losing big before they got bailed out by Salesforce, too. Just check out these numbers . These companies can't even make their own businesses work, yet they're trying to sell you software to run yours. Why would you follow their lead? Buying from them is like taking marital advice from someone who's been divorced five times. And putting your business on their platforms puts your own business at risk. Companies that lose that much money are fundamentally unstable. Don't inherit their risk. Don't make their problems your problems. Tools and lessons from the small business trenches You don't get to lose money like they do. Instead, you have to make it work. That means doing the great work that small organizations must do to survive, thrive, and stand out. Basecamp can absolutely help you with that. Our business is better because it runs on , and we're confident yours can be too. With our new pricing, plus everything new in , it's time to give Basecamp another look. A thoroughly innovative product paired with a unique perspective, outstanding customer service, and unbeatable value - the best combo in the business. Not to mention Basecamp can simplify your operations, and reduce your costs, by replacing a handful of other products you use. Check out these before and after stories . And be sure to check out our books - they're full of original perspective and pragmatic, practical lessons learned from running a long-term, profitable business. We're in your corner Finally, we answer to no one but you and us. We don't have investors (intentionally), we don't have a board of directors (intentionally), we're never going public (intentionally). We don't have to juice numbers to move stock prices, push upsells on you to hit revenue targets, or manipulate valuations to make venture capitalists even richer. We're an independent, self-sufficient company focused on making great stuff for our customers - just like you are. Stable and reliable, and running. Buying Basecamp is investing in yourself, your team, and your company. You in the foreground, us in the background - together we'll show them what small can do. Let's join up. Thanks for reading, and for giving Basecamp a try . You can always contact me directly if you have any questions at . I look forward to hearing from you. founder & CEO


Basecamp: Kill overkill We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Amass what you need, but ignore even more. Business is often seen as the art of acquisition. Acquiring talent, customers, revenue, profits, mindshare, marketshare. Building and growing requires consumption, addition, parlaying some of this into a lot of that. But the smartest businesses - the ones that tend to stick around for the long haul - know that existence is also about avoidance. Avoiding careening variable costs, avoiding getting involved with things that aren't core to your business, avoiding spending time on things that don't matter, avoiding bad investments, avoiding people who don't help you prosper, and even avoiding customers who aren't the right fit. However, there's something even more fundamental to avoid. It would be easy to call it "complexity" but that's not quite it. Complexity can be necessary, and intricacy can be quite beautiful - just stare into a mosaic and you'll know it. So complexity isn't the issue. Overkill is the issue. Avoiding overkill is the real cheat code. That's how you jump levels. It's how you make a lot more progress with a lot less effort. Overkill is the dust that settles on the stuff that took a lot of energy to build or buy, but turned out not to be necessary. The over-engineered, over-designed, over-hired, over-litigated, the over-spent, over-promised, over-deliberated. Overkill is the policy that was written but never enacted. The technology that was purchased that was never used. The seven steps that could be handled in two. The nine people in a meeting made for three. The business equivalent of the 12 bedroom house for a family of four. The cooks when you don't even have a kitchen. Overkill is using five different products to run a single project. Overkill is an seven-stage interview process that exhausts everyone involved. Overkill is acting like a company 100x your size. Overkill is buying what they bought but that you don't need. Overkill is paying thousands for something worth hundreds. Overkill is hoping that losing more will turn into a win. In , there's nothing we've tried to avoid more at 37signals than overkill. In the things we do, in the way we work, in the things we buy, in the things we use. And, especially, in the products we make for our ourselves and our customers. Basecamp and HEY are built to do what they need to do, in the most straightforward, elegant, and enjoyable way, and nothing more. So you can avoid overkill too. is an opportunity to find just right. To toss that policy that's in the way. To slim down the stack. To sharpen things up. To eliminate the work that doesn't need to be done. To polish the scratched glass so you can see through again. Amass what you need, but ignore even more. Kill overkill. Thanks for reading, and for giving Basecamp a try . You can always contact me directly if you have any questions at . I look forward to hearing from you. founder & CEO


Basecamp: Leaving Isn't For Everyone We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine They promised the cloud would be cheaper, faster, and easier. For us, the savings never materialized and the team never shrunk. After using clouds from both Amazon and Google extensively over , we finally had enough of the outrageous bills and the ever-increasing complexity. So in , we pulled , HEY , and five other heritage apps out of AWS and onto our own hardware - without adding any new staff. The bottomline: Leaving the cloud will save us ~$10 million over . That's a reduction in our infrastructure costs of between half and two-thirds. Our cloud exit in full detail Why we're leaving the cloud Five values guiding our cloud exit The hardware we need for our cloud exit has arrived exit pays off in performance too We have left the cloud The Big Cloud FAQ We stand to save $7m over from our cloud exit Our cloud exit has already yielded $1m/year in savings It's to miss our exit Our cloud-exit savings will now top ten million over Introducing 1.0 2: Thou need not PaaS Our switch to is complete Keeping the lights on while leaving the cloud De-cloud and de-k8s - bringing our apps back home Servers can last a long time Don't be fooled by serverless The only thing worse than cloud pricing is the enterprisey alternatives Sovereign clouds Our cloud exit made headlines The Register: Save $7 million on cloud by spending $600k on servers, says 37signals' : Basecamp decided to leave the cloud after spending $3.2 million in TechCrunch: Could machine learning refresh the cloud debate? Data Centre Dynamics: 37signals expects to save $7m over after moving off of the cloud Network World: Cloud vs on-prem: SaaS vendor 37signals bails out of the public cloud Banerjee: Leaving the Cloud IT Web: Why cloud isn't always the answer


Basecamp: Before & After We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine We asked our customers what it was like before they used Basecamp and how it's improved after switching. Wow, what a difference! Our customers tried everything before switching to Basecamp; email, spreadsheets, Google Docs, Asana, Trello, , , , phone calls and texts, stickies on a wall, whiteboards, meeting after meeting, etc. Slack made both me and my laptop cry with how it took over my working life. , CoverageBook I felt disorganized. Pieces of paper everywhere. I was constantly making new lists, losing old ones, crossing off items and adding new ones. I was forever worried things were slipping and not getting done. My brain was tired. , It was a disorganized mess with a splash of chaotic disaster. way too many tools that led to more balls getting dropped that work actually getting done. Once we tried to implement a project management system on top of the tools my team was about ready to slam their monitors against the post-it note covered whiteboard. , For the City Network I felt like I was floating in space. And, so were my projects. And, so were my people. I couldn't get a true handle on anything. , There were a lot of holes in our communication which led to projects being lost in the shuffle and/or not done on time. Tracking down communications and documenting tasks was nearly impossible. , Mastermind Media and Consulting Group Inundated with emails - easy to lose track as people would contact via various mediums and conversations can get lost in the back and forth. , The Breakfast Club My company used Trello before a department switched over to Basecamp. Trello was a nightmare in my opinion. It was difficult to understand and flow when conducting or even being part of a project. , NBT Bank We had a hard time keeping clients on track with their to-do items - projects frequently fell behind both because of missed communication but also because there wasn't anything reminding clients of their responsibilities and the tasks they had to complete. Amber Hinds, Road Warrior Creative Before basecamp it felt like sitting in a wind tunnel with projects, emails, and questions flying at you. Of course, not having any idea what may be coming next. Every team member was working alone; during catch up meetings that became very clear. , World Elite Asana did not have very good analytics and, despite being designed by a few former Facebook employees, was not very user-friendly. Honestly, it has way too much stuff going on. , , impossible, difficult, overwhelming. It was honestly a hot mess. I would lose track of deadlines left and right and they would creep up on me at . My boss would ask me a question about a past project and I would struggle to hunt down my notes regarding it (because they were all in email). As hard as we tried to stay organized we had a hard time managing our projects and work flow. When dealing with design projects for over 90 practice sites it was like getting lost in a giant corn maze. , ProHealth Physicians Endless creation and updating of lists, endless beating up already busy staff to keep lists up to date. Endless deadlines missed or client expectations let down due to simple logistical hinderance. , Munday & Cramer It was just task after task in . we completed a ton of tasks, but in the end, the project still felt incomplete. Trying to figure out what was missing by scrolling an infinite chat room was a fun way to reinvent the treasure hunt, but not a so nice way to manage a project. , Bishop Games It felt like I had a million balls juggling… not sure which one would drop, but very aware that it would. There was too many emails and attachments with different versions of projects. , Severn School Things changed for the better once they switched. 9 out of 10 Basecamp customers report having a better handle on their business, 8 out of 10 say their teams are more self-sufficient, and 6 out of 10 have fewer meetings. Simply put, we get more work done, quicker, and better. Productivity is up. Errors are down. Clients are happier. , Moore Communications Group Execution of projects. Instead of drowning in an endless chain of emails, there is clear, and easy accountability meaning tasks actually get done! , LATE Nation & I no longer have to wonder whether I've asked for something to be done or whether it has in fact been done. Every member of my team is more accountable than we were before . , We are consistently meeting deadlines because all the facts, files and comments are in one place. And everyone is accountable for their contribution to the project. Very user friendly. , <PERSON> We now have vastly improved task assignment, follow-up and accountability as well as greatly enhanced internal communications. We have stopped using email for internal communications almost entirely. , Sarwani Systems For the first time in a long time our team is truly collaborating, and everyone is moving in the same direction, with the same goals. It's truly remarkable how quickly things have changed in . , WP Site Care Having a single location for messages, files, to-dos and timeline has kept everyone on the same page. , Autotrader I say things once instead of many times to many people. , s, , The Bed and Barrel at As the business owner, I feel more connected and aware of what is going on in the office when I'm away. It's easy to see what needs to be done with deadlines and who is responsible for the task. , Law Offices of Since we've been using , our communication is drastically better and deadlines are met without drama. , Full Sail University We have actually accomplished things that have been waiting forever to get done. , LLC Everyone's on the same page. Many of our people are not very organized naturally, so basecamp is a godsend. , APEX Our company has grown immensely in organization and efficiency. We have everything organized according to clients, projects, employees, etc. resulting in clear and concise communication amongst employees and with clients. , Health Economic Advisors Inc. Different time-zones are no longer an insurmountable obstacle. <PERSON>, Because the platform we used previously was so cumbersome and time-intensive to maintain, we used to have a person dedicated almost exclusively to managing the marketing production workflow for our three brands. Now I spend a month setting things up, and the process manages itself. , One Click I've tried a million things with clients. I work really closely with them, and finding something clients will use to collaborate with me is difficult. My clients just "get" Basecamp, right away, and use it all the time. They like that they can use it via email. They also love that it has everything they need in one area. It's fantastic. , Wildfire Studios We don't have to dig through a million emails anymore. , Six , I ran my freelance web development business basically from a spreadsheet, then I moved to Basecamp and my life is so much less stressful. Basecamp has increased my happiness exponentially. , Sad Robot Software All our team communications were spread over email and random google docs. Basecamp helps us all stay in sync in one place. , Intelligent Change Communication and time management has become more of a strong suit for us. , Eastern Controls Inc. Information is flowing like water. A lot more transparency. Everyone is on the same page and knows the same information at the same point in time. No more secrets, closed doors, and blindspots. , Penn State Office of Emergency Management The interaction between all our teams increased by 70%! Our entire team is volunteer, and Basecamp allowed us to avoid meetings, which made me a hero! , NOLA Church People can catch up on a project, regardless of when they joined the team. , 1000heads We are organized and free to get things done. We used to wonder what everyone was doing. Now we move forward gracefully. , rounds became saner. Now the team can share their thoughts in a single thread, instead of multiple emails. , IBFD No need for standup meetings. , We gained control and could work with more projects without getting more stressed out! , It has eliminated the need for a lot of extra communication and reduced a lot of miscommunication between my team members. , Clark Partners Realty Group A better sense of shared responsibility and accountability for our team success. , <PERSON> Theatre Society Less problems, down time, questions from the group. Once implemented, everyone knows where to obtain the information without asking for it every single time. They know basecamp has everything relevant to their day-to-day. can be forgotten, nothing gets lost, and everyone knows what the other is doing. , Superhelden-Training GbR Basecamp was the only tool that I did not need to explain how to use to my team. It saved a lot of time for me. , Redfrost Design & Development Project-based communication is finally starting to go into one place (Basecamp!). It's no longer split between email, Google Hangouts, and in-person chats. , eps Communications As the small business owner, it has allowed me to have the confidence to not have a brick and mortar office. , We generate zero emails. Action items never get lost in the shuffle anymore. New ideas and projects actually get off the ground now. , MPI Atlantic Canada Chapter


Basecamp: See where projects really stand with Hill Charts We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine A Basecamp exclusive way to track progress. For we've used Basecamp To-dos to track our own work here at Basecamp. But for bigger projects with dozens or hundreds of tasks, you need a way to see the bigger picture . Is the project going to be done on time? Are people stuck? To solve this problem, we built an entirely new idea into Basecamp To-dos . It's a 10000-foot view of projects that answers the hard questions about where things really stand. Introducing the Hill Chart: The idea: work is like a hill Every piece of work has two phases. First there's an uphill phase where you figure out your approach. You have a basic idea about the task, but you haven't figured out what the solution is going to look like or how to solve all the unknowns. Eventually you reach a point where there aren't any more unsolved problems. That's like standing at the top of the hill . You can see clearly all the way down the other side. Then the downhill phase is just about execution. A Hill Chart from a real project All of our development projects are made of a set of To-do Lists. We create a To-do List for each piece of work that we can make progress on independently. Now to track progress, we turn on Hill Chart tracking for each list. This will reveal a Hill Chart on the top of the To-dos screen with a dot for the list we're tracking. After adding a few more lists, we click Update on the Hill Chart and drag the dots for those lists into position. Now anybody who checks on the project can see the status of these three lists. Two of them are over the hill - full of certainty, with just execution left. One is still on the uphill slope, which means there are unsolved problems or open questions. Note how that the status is human generated, not computer generated. This reflects a real person's feeling of the work at this moment. And because the status is attached to lists instead of individual To-dos, we get a big picture view of all the work. Checking in on progress over time Every time someone updates the Hill Chart, a new snapshot is saved to the project's history. This gives managers a ton of context about what's moving on the project and what isn't without peppering the team with questions. Updates can be annotated with commentary, and you can even comment on or Boost someone else's Hill Chart update. This enables a new level of fast, asynchronous communication about high-level progress on projects. More well-defined work Sometimes trying to position a list on the Hill Chart helps you to better structure the work. On a recent project we were building a feature to notify people when an Event was rescheduled. That dot sat there for without moving. Why weren't we making progress? After a short talk with the team, we realized that it was unclear where to place the dot because part of the work was figured out and part wasn't. The back-end work was solved, but there was some design work that we hadn't figured out. So where should the dot go? In a case like this, the hill is telling us to break up the list. We renamed the original list to "Notification: Delivery" and moved it over the hill to show where it really stood. Then we created two separate lists to track the front-end work that was still uphill. Redefining the To-do Lists made it easier to see what was actually going on in the project and what needed to be done next. Unknown to known, and known to done Since we adopted the Hill Chart internally at Basecamp, our teams have been communicating about progress at a level never before possible . Our intuition is the same, but now we have a way to immediately show each other where things stand. And because of the Hill Chart history, we don't need to call meetings to catch up on a project's status. It's no longer a challenge to see what's in motion and what's stuck. We can have quick, substantial conversations asynchronously about where to focus next or how to break up a problem. Try the Hill Chart on your next project. To use it, navigate to any To-do List and choose "Track this on " from the Options menu (•••) in the top-right corner.


Basecamp: JUST LET ME DO MY JOB We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine JUST LET ME DO MY JOB. When we released over , we needed a better way to manage projects and progress as a team. , chat, spreadsheets, calls, scattered documents, information here, there, and everywhere just wasn't cutting it. Since then, we've seen a lot of competitors begin to make similar products, but with too many confusing features to add to the chaos of packed meeting calendars and overflowing inboxes. We created the JUST LET ME DO MY JOB campaign to remind the world that there's a better way to get things done and that It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work . Our campaign launched with 98 billboards, signs and posters in - a city filled with a lot of people commuting to a lot of meetings about a lot of emails. We then launched a set of TV spots nationwide. With all of the devices and tools we now have, work should be getting easier, right? The Future Mail Dance Party Chief Meetings Officer Watch how two of us created, wrote, location scouted, casted, directed, produced, acted in, and edited four Basecamp TV spots using with only two meetings and a couple emails. No agencies or production companies. JUST LET ME DO MY JOB was nominated as one of the 5 best Brand Strategies out of 14000 entries around the world! covered the campaign during Super Bowl week. An Editor's Pick is no easy feat, especially when we're up against star-studded multimillion dollar productions. JUST LET ME DO MY JOB appears online, in podcasts and on social media. We also began partnerships with our friends at and Unsplash . To highlight how bosses have become one the biggest distractions in many modern workplaces, we launched the Send Your Boss to Hell Sweepstakes , giving one lucky winner the chance to to tell their boss to "Go to Hell" - literally - on a / getaway for two to , to tour the town known as Hell. While their boss is out of the office, our winner had the much needed opportunity to catch up on all the work that actually gets done when they're not constantly interrupted by calendar tetris and zoom gloom.


Basecamp: Basecamp Integrations We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine Get more out of with these 3rd party tools! Are you a developer? Integrate your product with . Use standards-based drivers to connect to Basecamp data in any tool, including Excel, Tableau, Power BI, and more! Supercharge your Basecamp account with Can-Do mini-apps. Easily create Zoom meetings, mass archive, create to-dos and cards in bulk, and more! Share your team's Basecamp activity in and Google Hangouts Chat. The Ultimate App for integration and automation. Seamlessly connect your favorite apps, automate tasks with ease, and create custom applications without coding. Manage and update your Basecamp to-dos from your or Wunderlist. Build Features into Basecamp based on your processes, data, and AI. Streamline team and customer workflows in a whole new way. View and manage Basecamp to-dos without leaving your Microsoft Outlook client. Easily integrate Basecamp data with 50+ sources, including files, databases, or cloud applications. The fast way to build internal tools. Pull in data from your own database and API, and build a tool to create new Basecamp to-dos from it. SureTriggers is a web-based automation tool that allows users to connect and automate processes between different online services, applications and WordPress plugins. Automatically get Evernote & OneNote checklists and tasks in . Run remote retrospectives with your teams, and create action items as Basecamp todos. Create forms that submit directly to your Basecamp to-do lists or card tables. Auto-assign and auto-set due dates on your Basecamp to-dos. Build your perfect workflow across tools and teams. Sync Basecamp to-do lists with Jira, Zendesk, HubSpot, Trello, Asana, , GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. Automate your work day and connect Basecamp to 750+ business apps. Stay productive by connecting Basecamp with 650+ apps like , Slack, Zendesk and more. Continuous feedback based employee evaluation system & project profitability reporting suite. Modern HR and leave management system with iBeacon attendance tracking. The easiest way to manage employees, track vacation, sick, and paid time off. The only truly free time tracker and timesheet app for teams. Add timers to your to-dos. Time tracking and estimating inside your to-dos. Highly flexible reporting opportunities. Track time without leaving Basecamp and let Harvest turn your time into insights. Time tracker, sprint and to-do synchronization for seamless collaboration. Fast & friendly time tracking for all your Basecamp projects. Time tracking for teams using : smoothest integration, best user experience, sane pricing, total privacy & security. Straightforward time tracking for Basecamp. Add timers to your to-dos. The leading automatic time tracking tool that offers user-level privacy by design. Track time easily inside Basecamp. Keep track of your work and boost your productivity. Effortless time tracking inside with live sync across all devices. Enjoy clear reporting within fixed pricing for any team size. Visual time tracking for creative agencies. Done. Right. Track time effortlessly with Button integration for Chrome and Firefox - the simplest time tracker to help you get things done. With TrackingTime for Basecamp get automatic timesheets and in-depth time analytics. Centralize and automatize the project reporting of your software development company. Enhanced reporting & exporting capabilities for your to-dos. Power grid and export Excel are available. Track data about Basecamp usage through dashboards, gauges and reports, alongside other integrations, including Harvest and Dropbox. 100% cloud-based business intelligence and data warehousing platform. Connect, manage & visualize all your and business data in a single place. DNS Check enables you to easily monitor, share, and troubleshoot DNS records. Earned Value Management (industry standard project cost management) for Basecamp. Review metrics auto generated from and time tracking software. Beautiful dashboards and custom reports to keep your Basecamp projects on track. Track expiration dates and renewals and have them create Basecamp todo's automatically on expiration. Ganttify enables you to easily create gantt charts from your Basecamp projects. All your business metrics in one dashboard. View usage reporting, and manage contract renewals for all of the SaaS vendors in your organization. Track & share your Basecamp KPIs in real-time with the Numerics dashboard app for your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch. Repeating to-dos directly in . Everything you need to plan a website. Build, collaborate and share professional sitemaps, diagrams, design mockups and content plans. Automatically assign a unique number to each to-do in . Allows for quickly referencing and searching for to-dos. Adds labels to your to-dos and Kanban boards with customizable workflows, priorities and filters, all within Basecamp's UI. Get , automated backups of your Basecamp account. Collect and handle website feedback and bug reports as Basecamp to-do's Use Honeybadger to get Campfire alerts about application errors, missing cron jobs, and downtime in your quest to be DevOps champions. Receive detailed bug reports from your mobile app directly to Basecamp to-dos with Instabug. Collect website feedback and bug reports directly into your Basecamp project. Gather feedback, identify bugs and collect ideas from your visitors with our simple feedback button. 10-free trial. Visualize your team's work as it flows through your process mirrored in . Discover and deliver successful outcomes the Lean, Agile, Scrum and Kanban way. Easily run insightful retrospectives and team health checks with your agile teams, and publish your action items as Basecamp tasks in your to-do's. A test management tool that creates to-dos whenever a test fails, allowing you to use as an issue tracker. Give users the right tools to collaborate and provide valuable feedback for you to manage. Get feedback and bug reports sent to your Basecamp projects. Collect user feedback and detailed bug reports with screenshots right into your Basecamp project. Claritee enables professionals to easily ideate, plan and collaborate on digital projects and assets. Ziflow automates file processing tasks and processes that you'd prefer to give to a robot. Monitor the status of your Basecamp projects in 's powerful Customer Success Manage Platform. Leading privacy management platform. Map personal data and automate DSRs to build trust and eliminate risk. Link your Basecamp cards to your Deskpro tickets to streamline communication with users by making them easy to view and update. Create Basecamp discussions and to-dos from customer feedback. Send automatic notifications of your customer communications from Enchant's omnichannel shared inboxes to your Campfire rooms. Convert emails into to-dos, assign to-dos, mark as done in when resolved in EvantoDesk (and vice-versa) and fire automations in EvantoDesk and more. Client portal for agencies and service providers. Manage all customer communication from a single place. Send automatic notifications of your customer queries to Basecamp chats. Convert help desk support tickets into Basecamp to-dos. Automated way to migrate your project management system data. Integrate team chat (Slack, MS Teams) with customer's tools (WhatsApp, SMS), and auto-send chat transcripts to Basecamp Projects, streamlining your workflow. Turn customer support emails into Basecamp discussions and to-dos. Proposal software that enables you to create Basecamp projects from signed proposals and automatically attach the signed proposal as a PDF directly within your Basecamp projects. Generate projects from accepted proposals and more. Import all your contacts and automatically generate a Basecamp project from a won proposal. Apideck helps developers build native integrations faster through one API. OAuth that just works! Ease the OAuth integration of Basecamp API and interact with its API in your web and mobile applications. Unified and proxy APIs for ticketing. Use Truto to build native integrations faster. Make Your Apps Chat & Dance Together with 6000+ Apps! "Extremely user friendly" "Truly amazing!" "A godsend for our org" "Simple, quick, powerful" "So glad I found Basecamp" "The perfect solution" "Really great" "Outstanding" "Best app for teams" "Awesome service" "Gets better and better" "Great collaboration tool" "Great software" "Gold standard PM app" "Brilliant solution" "Clean and easy to use" "Fantastic app" "Organized and on point" "Extremely user friendly" "Truly amazing!" "A godsend for our org" "Simple, quick, powerful" "So glad I found Basecamp" "The perfect solution" "Really great" "Outstanding" "Best app for teams" "Awesome service" "Gets better and better" "Great collaboration tool" "Great software" "Gold standard PM app" "Brilliant solution" "Clean and easy to use" "Fantastic app" "Organized and on point"


Basecamp: Basecamp is for everyone We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine We're working hard to make sure Basecamp is accessible to anyone who'd like to use it and in step with the latest web guidelines. Our approach to accessibility and accessible design isn't a one-time checkbox, it's a commitment to making sure everything we ship works well for all of our customers . Here's how we do it. We consider accessibility early and often. Every new feature is designed with accessibility in mind, and we aim to meet WCAG 2.1 level AA guidelines . We work directly with customers. These interviews help us validate our work and continuously improve the user experience. We scan new features for compliance. For this step, we use a browser extension like axe to make sure our desktop and mobile layouts meet the requirements. We check for visible focus indicators , so it's always clear which element on a page is focused. We make sure headings are sequential , so they provide an accurate overview of the structure of each page. We check color contrast with the aim of passing WCAG 2.1 level AA . We hide decorative elements from assistive technology. Elements that are repetitive or purely decorative create excess verbosity for users of accessible tech. We provide a "skip to main content" link at the top of each page so people can quickly bypass repetitive navigation links. We test that everything works with keyboard navigation , making sure that a mouse isn't required to perform any action throughout the app. We run automated accessibility checks as part of our system testing suite. Whenever a system test visits a page or clicks something on it, axe-core automatically scans the page to help guard against regressions. We regularly audit our apps to understand where accessibility can be improved. Get in touch if you'd like a copy of the most recent review. Suggested screen reader setup For the best experience, we recommend using the desktop app along with your preferred screen reader. On iOS , we recommend using VoiceOver with the Basecamp iOS app . On Android , we recommend using Talkback with the Basecamp Android app . Questions? Concerns? Reach out to us at .


Basecamp: Get more out of your Basecamp experience We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine You're invited to the community: the place where long-time users and folks new to the platform exchange ideas about improving the way they work. Meet people just like you You'll learn from small teams helping each other stay on top of projects, new businesses showing how they bring calm to a growing team, and even non-profit groups like teachers using Basecamp to coordinate projects between staff and parents. They get to know one another through check-ins about what they did and even updates about their pets. We host live video AMAs with members of the 37signals team, post spotlights of community members to hear the stories behind why and how they use , and hang out at the Watercooler to banter, brainstorm, and dish about recent updates. Get in on the conversation Since community members are often the first to know about updates and deployments, their feedback about how the features work is important to us. Your experiences make an impact on the products we create . The occasional bonus…? Community members sometimes find exclusive sneak peeks of features we're working on before they're released to the general public . 🤫 Ready to join? Head to this link , answer a few short questions, and we'll send you an invitation to join the community account. We hope you and your team find it a fun and useful place to hang out!


Basecamp: Basecamp discounts for teachers, students, and non-profits We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine We offer free accounts for teachers and students, and discounted accounts for non-profits. For education (K-12 or University) Are you a teacher or student at a K-12 school or University? Do you agree to use this Basecamp account only for classroom work? If you answered yes to both, you qualify. To claim your discount: Step 1: Sign up for . Step 2 (for teachers): Right after you sign up, email us from your school account with the name of your school, the class you teach, and proof you're a teacher. We'll apply the discount after we verify everything. Step 2 (for students): Right after you sign up, email us from your school account with the name of your school, what you're studying, and when you expect to graduate. We'll apply the discount after we verify everything. For non-profits Are you part of a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization? Do you agree to use this Basecamp account only for non-profit work? If you answered yes to both, you qualify. To claim your discount: Step 1: Sign up for . Step 2: Email us a copy of your 501(c)(3) paperwork right after you sign up. We'll apply the discount once we verify your status. Details, details We can only discount one account. If you need to support multiple groups, one account will give you everything you need to support them. If you've been paying for , we can't refund or discount payments made before your discount started. We reserve the right to end the discount program due to chronic abuse of the free accounts or other circumstances. If we do, anyone who is already participating will continue to have their discounts applied. We just won't offer up new free or discounted accounts.


Basecamp: The 37signals Guide to Internal Communication We'd like to use cookies to help understand if our ads are working or not. No Yes, that's fine The how, where, why, and when we communicate. Long form asynchronous? Real-time chat? In-person? Video? Verbal? Written? Via email? In Basecamp? How do we keep everyone in the loop without everyone getting tangled in everyone else's business? It's all in here. Rules of thumb, and general philosophy Below you'll find a collection of general principles we try to keep in mind at 37signals when communicating with teammates, within departments, across the company, and with the public. They aren't requirements, but they serve to create boundaries and shared practices to draw upon when we do the one thing that affects everything else we do: communicate. You can not not communicate. Not discussing the elephant in the room is communicating. Few things are as important to study, practice, and perfect as clear communication. Real-time sometimes, asynchronous most of the time. Internal communication based on long-form writing, rather than a verbal tradition of meetings, speaking, and chatting, leads to a welcomed reduction in meetings, video conferences, calls, or other real-time opportunities to interrupt and be interrupted. Give meaningful discussions a meaningful amount of time to develop and unfold. Rushing to judgement, or demanding immediate responses, only serves to increase the odds of poor decision making. Meetings are the last resort, not the first option. Writing solidifies, chat dissolves. Substantial decisions start and end with an exchange of complete thoughts, not one-line-at-a-time jousts. If it's important, critical, or fundamental, write it up, don't chat it down. Speaking only helps who's in the room, writing helps everyone. This includes people who couldn't make it, or future employees who join . If your words can be perceived in different ways, they'll be understood in the way which does the most harm. Never expect or require someone to get back to you immediately unless it's a true emergency. The expectation of immediate response is toxic. If you have to repeat yourself, you weren't clear enough the first time. However, if you're talking about something brand new, you may have to repeat yourself for before you're heard. Pick your repeats wisely. Poor communication creates more work. Companies don't have communication problems, they have miscommunication problems. The smaller the company, group, or team, the fewer opportunities for miscommunication. Five people in a room for isn't a meeting, it's a meeting. Be mindful of the tradeoffs. Be proactive about "wait, what?" questions by providing factual context and spatial context. Factual are the things people also need to know. Spatial is where the communication happens (for example, if it's about a specific to-do, discuss it right under the to-do, not somewhere else). Communication shouldn't require schedule synchronization. Calendars have nothing to do with communication. Writing, rather than speaking or meeting, is independent of schedule and far more direct. "Now" is often the wrong time to say what just popped into your head. It's better to let it filter it through the sieve of time. What's left is the part worth saying. Ask yourself if others will feel compelled to rush their response if you rush your approach. has a way of convincing you what you've done is good, but has a way of telling you the truth. If you aren't sure, sleep on it before saying it. If you want an answer, you have to ask a question. People typically have a lot to say, but they'll volunteer little. Automatic questions on a regular schedule help people practice sharing, writing, and communicating. Occasionally pick random words, sentences, or paragraphs and hit delete. Did it matter? Urgency is overrated, ASAP is poison. If something's going to be difficult to hear or share, invite questions at the end. Ending without the invitation will lead to public silence but private conjecture. This is where rumors breed. Where you put something, and what you call it, matters. When titling something, lead with the most important information. Keep in mind that many technical systems truncate long text or titles. Write at the right time. Sharing something at may keep someone at work longer. You may have some spare time on a to write something, but putting it out there on may pull people back into work on the weekends. Early communication may be buried by other things. There may not be a perfect time, but there's certainly a wrong time. Keep that in mind when you hit send. Great news delivered on the heels of bad news makes both bits worse. The bad news feels like it's being buried, the good news feels like it's being injected to change the mood. Be honest with each by giving them adequate space. Time is on your side, rushing makes conversations worse. Communication is lossy, especially verbal communication. Every hearsay hop adds static and chips at fidelity. Whenever possible, communicate directly with those you're addressing rather than passing the message through intermediaries. Ask if things are clear. Ask what you left out. Ask if there was anything someone was expecting that you didn't cover. Address the gaps before they widen with time. Consider where you put things. The right communication in the wrong place might as well not exist at all. When someone relies on search to find something it's often because it wasn't where they expected something to be. Communication often interrupts, so good communication is often about saying the right thing at the right time in the right way with the fewest side effects. Communicating day-to-day This section includes specific examples of how we apply our philosophy day-to-day across the company. Since communication often interrupts, valuing each other's time and attention is a critical consideration. Keeping people in the loop is important, but asking them to follow along with everything is a distraction. That's why we follow reliable, predictable methods to share the right kind of information at the right time in the right place. Basic toolset 98% of our internal communication happens inside . That means all company-wide discussions, social chatter, project-related work, sharing of ideas, internal debates, automatic check-ins, status updates, policy updates, and all official decisions and announcements all happen in . A single centralized tool keeps everything together and creates a single source of truth for everyone across the company. We don't use email internally (we do externally), we don't use separate chat tools like Slack or Teams, and we rarely have in-person meetings. We do use Zoom for the occasional video conference people. And we occasionally discuss a pull request in GitHub. Automatic : "What did you work on ?" Every workday at , (the product) automatically asks every employee "What did you work on ?" Whatever people write up is shared with everyone in the company. Everyone's responses are displayed on a single page, grouped by date, so anyone who's curious about what's happening across the company can simply read from top to bottom. And if you have a question about anything, you can comment on anyone's "what did you work on ?" check-in to keep the conversation in context. This routine is about loose accountability and strong reflection. Writing up what you did every day is a great way to think back about what you accomplished and how you spent your time. Some people just jot down a few bullets. Others write multi-paragraph stories to share - and document - the thinking behind their work. There are no requirements here. We just ask everyone to write in their own style. Automatic : "What will you be working on ?" Every , Basecamp automatically asks everyone "What will you be working on ?" This is a chance for everyone to lay out the big picture of . It's not about regurgitating individual tasks, or diving headlong into the minutia of . It's generally just your 10000 foot view of . The big picture items, the general themes. It sets your mind up for the work ahead, and, collectively, it gives everyone a good sense of what's happening across the company . Automatic occasionally: "Social questions" , or once a month, Basecamp will automatically ask everyone a social-style question. "What books are you reading?" Or "Try anything new lately?" Or "Anything inspire you lately?" Or "Seen any great design recently?" Or "What did you do ?" These entirely optional questions are meant to shake loose some stuff that you'd love to share with everyone else, but you hadn't had an opportunity to do so. This kind of internal communication helps grease the social gears. This is especially useful for remote teams, like ours. When we know each other a little better, we work a little better together. ← Reflect : Heartbeats Heartbeats summarize the last ~6-weeks of work for a given team, department, or individual (if that person is a department of one). They're written by the lead of the group, and they're meant for everyone in the company to read. They summarize the big picture accomplishments, they detail the little things that mattered, and they generally highlight the importance of the work. They'll also shine a light on challenges and difficulties along the way. They're a good reminder that it's not all sunshine all the time. On balance, Heartbeats are wonderful to write, fun to read, and they help everyone - including those not directly involved with the work - reflect on jobs well done and progress well made. → Project : Kickoffs Kickoffs are essentially the opposites of Heartbeats. Rather than reflect, they project. They're all about what the team plans on taking on over . Projects, initiatives, revamps, whatever it might be, if it's on the slate, it gets summarized in the Kickoff. While Kickoffs detail specific work for a specific group, they're also meant for full-company consumption. Like Heartbeats, they're written by the team lead. Kickoffs are broad in scope, so they don't cover all the details in the work ahead - the teams doing the work are the ones that wade into those weeds. We don't want to overwhelm everyone with details that don't matter. If anyone's curious about something included in a Kickoff, they're free to post a comment and ask a question. Whenever relevant: Announcements Occasionally we update an internal policy. Something about vacation time, or a new benefit, or reiterating that <DATE_TIME> means <DATE_TIME>. When we have something to announce company-wide, we don't send an email. is decentralized and there's no permanent record in a permanent place everyone can see. Instead, we post it either to the 37signals HQ message board or as a comment on an existing policy document stored in . This means everyone sees the same thing, everyone hears the same thing, and everyone knows the same thing - including future employees who are yet to join. We now have a shared truth. Day-to-day project work: In context Effective communication requires context. Saying the right thing in the wrong place, or without proper detail, leads to double work and messages being missed. That's why we spin up a separate project for every project we work on. Everything related to that project is communicated inside that project. All the tasks, all the discussions, all the documents, all the debates, and all the decisions happen inside those walls. Everyone who needs access, has access. Every Basecamp project is a capsule of everything someone needs to know about that work project. Further, we take spatial context seriously. If we're discussing a specific task, we discuss it in the comment section below the task itself. If we're talking about a specific document, we discuss it in the comments attached to the document. Communications stay attached to the thing we're discussing. This provides the full story in one reliable place. The alternative is terrible - communication detached from the original source material, discussions all over the place, fragmented conversations missing entire chunks of time and detail, etc. Basecamp's "everything is commentable" feature is what makes this possible for us.