Communications from DMN

Basecamp - December 11, 2006

	This is Communications from DMN for the week of December 11, 2006.
Aaron	I'm Aaron Davis.
Scott	And I'm Scott Nesbitt. Thanks for joining us.
Aaron	This week, we'll be talking about one of our favorite online collaboration tools and how we used it to work on a recent project. Scott and I pride ourselves on our ability to effectively telecommute on projects. One of the keys to our effectiveness is solid project management. It's not always easy, but the right tool makes all the difference. We regularly work with a number of great online tools, and one of them is a project management application called Basecamp developed by the company 37 Signals from Chicago.
Scott	Aaron and I work out of our home offices or at client sites. Often, each of us works on a different project. Sometimes, though, we need to collaborate. This was recently the case when we worked on a brochure for a small telecommunications software company. Because Aaron and I live in different parts of Toronto and work fairly long hours, it's difficult for us to have face-to-face meeting as often as we'd like to. And coordinating a project under these circumstances can be difficult. To ease this difficulty, Aaron and I spent some time investigating several project management applications. The problem is that none of the project management software we looked at met our needs -- it was generally too bulky and complex, or expensive. Our other option was to update and email a spreadsheet and set of word processor files. Having done that in that past, we knew it had the potential to cause the twin nightmares of maintaining multiple copies of the files and losing those files.
Aaron	In the end, Scott and I decided to use Basecamp. It was a good move. Basecamp enabled us to effectively divide the work between us and keep on track with our milestones and deadlines. Being a Web-based application, Basecamp enables us to view and update our project status wherever and whenever we want. Basecamp is easy to use. And it's helped us keep on track with several projects. Here's how we used it for when we tackled the brochure assignment that Scott mentioned a few moments ago. In Basecamp, we started off by creating a project. A project is just a special area in Basecamp that acts like a command and control centre. Everything to do with the project is a mouse click or two away. With that done, we then defined a set of "to-do" items -- mainly stating who was to tackle which part of the project, and the research that we needed to do. Then, we created several milestones, which are just deadlines. For example, we created milestones for an outline and a completed first draft. As the project progressed, we added new milestones -- such as deadlines for incorporating the client's suggestions and edits into the copy. The deadlines are important, especially since one of us is notorious for piling his plate a little too high. And the deadlines for his tasks often seem to overlap ...
Scott	OK, you got me there ... And Basecamp isn't shy about reminding you of your deadlines. When you log in, you get a list of upcoming deadlines. You can also set Basecamp up to harass you with emails. Instead of exchanging word processor files, Aaron and I banged out drafts using a feature of Basecamp called the Writeboard. Writeboard is a simple text entry system, sort of like a text editor crossed with a wiki. You can't do much formatting in a Writeboard, just some basic character formatting, lists, and tables. Writeboard does save previous versions of a document, though. This enables you to not only track your changes, but also roll back to previous versions if necessary. On top of that, you can add comments to a Writeboard doc. Which we did quite extensively. Once we were satisfied with a draft, we just copied it into a word processor file and emailed the document to the client.
Aaron	Scott and I kept in touch during the project by leaving messages in our Basecamp, via instant messenger and by doing regular Google Talk voice chats. We could have used Basecamp's built-in chat tool instead. It's not bad, and can keep a record of everything you type -- which is great if you're brainstorming and want to capture that information. It doesn't offer voice communications, though. We did, however, use the chat feature with a couple of subsequent projects. Overall, the project went smoothly and the client was happy. I don't think we would have been as organized if we hadn't used Basecamp. In fact, we liked Basecamp so much that we purchased a paid account. Basecamp has several monthly subscription, and they're reasonably priced -- free, $12, $24, $49, $99, and $149 a month. If you want more information on Basecamp, go to www.basecamphq.com.
Scott	Now it's time for our Pick of the Week. Each week we choose a book, Web site, document, or blog that we find interesting and useful. We hope that you will, too. This week's pick is the EServer Technical Communications Library.
Aaron	Located at tc.eserver.org, this site is a huge compendium of links articles, papers, Web sites, and blogs that contain information on writing, documentation, Web design, usability, and more. The library contains links to over 12,000 resources, written by a number of well-known and not-so-well-known folks in the field. Fresh links are posted each week. As you can expect, though, the quality of the material varies. Some of it is fantastic and some is mediocre. But you can't help but learn something new at this site. With the amount of information linked on the site, you'll find that sometimes you need to wade through a lot of content to find what you're looking for. For someone serious about technical communication, though, this site is a boon. When you get a chance, visit tc.eserver.org.
Scott	That's all we have for this edition of Communications from DMN. Join us next week when we discuss how to demonstrate the value of technical writing in your organization.
	Thanks for listening. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcasts drop us a line at podcast@dmncommunications.com. And don't forget to visit our Web site (www.dmncommunications.com) and our blog (www.dmncommunications.com/weblog). Have a good week.