We’ve written previously about how Basecamp was a dream-come-true discovery for our agency when we were looking for a project management solution. A year later, we still love it and use it daily. In fact, I would say it’s become even more valuable to us as we have added on new team members and new clients.
We’ve also learned a few Basecamp tips and tricks that have made our experience even better. Whether you are a Basecamp newbie or have been using it for ages, check out the tips below to see if they can help you manage projects even more efficiently.
4 Basecamp Tips and Tricks
Note: If you’ve never used Basecamp or you’re just getting started, read our introduction to Basecamp post first.
1. Provide your clients with a tutorial
Do you use Basecamp to manage projects with multiple clients or accounts? Even though the site is super intuitive and user-friendly, we’ve found some of our clients to be a bit hesitant about using it initially. Often, it’s just because they are so used to doing everything via email. (And of course, reducing email clutter is one of the main reasons our agency uses and loves Basecamp.)
So how can you help clients overcome the learning curve and become quickly comfortable with Basecamp? Easy! Just send them Basecamp’s short video tutorial called “An Intro for Clients” (genius, right?). In just 93 seconds, it shows the basics: posting and replying to discussion threads, file sharing, notifying certain members of the team and replying to a thread via email. Learning curve, flattened.
2. Add to discussion by replying via email
Email notifications from Basecamp are great – you can see the latest conversations or new files that have been added to a project and then delete the email forever, knowing that the information is still safely stored in Basecamp next time you need to reference it. Even better, you can reply to Basecamp discussion threads right in your email, without having to log in to Basecamp! Just hit ‘reply’ in your email and type your response above the designated line – your response will automatically appear in the Basecamp discussion.
3. Loop someone into a discussion
Say you have a team member or person within your client’s organization who isn’t normally involved in your project, but you want to send them an update or receive their feedback on a particular item. Just click the “Loop-in someone who isn’t on the project” link when you’re adding a new comment, and type in the person’s email address. They’ll receive an email with that entire discussion thread, but they won’t see any of the other information contained in the project. They can reply to the email and you’ll see their reply right in the thread in Basecamp.
4. Get caught up
Wondering what happened while you were away on vacation or buried in other projects? There are super simple tools in Basecamp for getting up to speed on recent activity. You can use the “Catch Up” link in the upper right corner of any project to view everything that happened on a particular day – what files and to-dos were added and what discussions were commented on.
To see what happened on different days, just click the arrows at the top left and right of the Catch Up page.
We hope this information is helpful to all you fellow Basecamp-lovers out there. Want to see more Basecamp tips and tricks? Check out Basecamp’s very useful help videos and their handy Cheat Sheet full of shortcuts and time-saving tricks.
What tool should we cover next in our Toolkit Tuesday series? Let us know in the comments or give us a shout on Twitter!
