I bit the bullet and signed up for Basecamp to better manage my work with Close Mondays. I didn’t even realize it, but I was sold on Jason Fried’s recent forward for a book:
People struggle to know where a project stands. People struggle to maintain accountability across teams. People struggle to know who’s working on what, and when those things will be done. People struggle with presenting a professional appearance with clients. People struggle to keep everything organized in one place so people know where things are. People struggle to communicate clearly so they don’t have to repeat themselves.
I didn’t need project management software, I needed all of the above.
I think the biggest thing is giving someone an assignment via the old way – emailing them, putting it in Slack, etc. That’s fine, but it’s hard to have a record of everything you asked. Or asked of one person. Or things you assigned that are due this week. Or next. And those things float in my head – is it done? Will it be done? Should I send an email about it to follow up? With Basecamp, I can answer all those questions with a few clicks.
I’ve used Todoist for years, but that was mostly just me. Now that things are getting busier, I needed to bring in some help, and managing all that was becoming stressful without a system in place. It took a few months, but I think I found a home with Basecamp.
