Ask 37signals: How does 37signals use its own products on a day-to-day basis? Mar 16 2009
11 comments Latest by JF
Scott Semple asks:
Like crack cocaine, we are using a little more of each of your products each day… Now I’m at the point where I have to pause and ask myself, “Is my next piece of communication best disseminated as an email or a comment on a milestone in Basecamp? An email or a note to staff in Backpack? An email or a note in Highrise? An email or a chat message?”
I’ve also just enabled the global RSS feeds for each of the above, so I’m starting to fantasize that in-app comments and reviewing RSS may reduce the email glut.
Anyway, I would certainly be keen to hear how 37signals uses their own products on a day-to-day, piece-by-piece basis. I suspect that other customers would be keen on reading that as well.
First off, there’s no “right” way to decide what goes where. We keep our products simple in part because it allows people to decide for themselves on a system that’s best for their needs.
One thing I know plenty of customers do is use Highrise as a sales funnel. Any pre-project communication goes there. Once they win the deal, they move communication with that person/company into a Basecamp project.
For us, that method wouldn’t really apply (no sales funnel). I’d say our process is an unstated approach that goes like this:
1) If it’s a comment revolving around an item that’s already posted somewhere, we’ll put it up as a comment to that item.
2) If not, does it relate to one (and only one) project in Basecamp? If so, we’ll generally place the communication within that project.
3) If still no, then we’ll decide between the other apps. If it’s an internal item, it goes in Backpack. If it’s an external conversation with someone outside the company, it goes in Highrise.
Some examples…
Our conversations about the book go in Basecamp:
That way we can share them with our book agent and publishing company easily. If there’s something we want to discuss internally about the book, we post it as a private item so only we can see it.
Backpack is a great home for things that don’t relate to an ongoing project:
When we communicate with someone outside the company, we put that email or note in Highrise. For example, we kept track of the communication with potential subjects for our video customer interviews in Highrise:
And actually, we use Campfire more than any other product. Not sure how we’d be in business without it. We detailed how we use Campfire in the “behind the scenes at 37signals” posts a while back.
In truth, there’s potential crossover for a lot of this, so it’s really up to you. Often, a Case could also be a Basecamp project. A Highrise Task could also be a Backpack To-Do. The correct answer is whichever one works for you.
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Over 1 million people use 37signals' simple web-based software to collaborate on projects, track contacts, and organize their business with an intranet.
11 comments so far
David Hoffman 16 Mar 09
This blog post should be the 37signals marketing page.
Since I started using 37s products I haven’t been able to quite figure out the difference between basecamp and backpack at a functional level and this totally clears it up.
Given that you design the products largely for yourselves (a good thing!) understanding how your team uses them brings a lot of clarity to how they can be most helpful on my own projects. Thanks!
Chris 16 Mar 09
There’s no doubt that these are all great tools, with different intended purposes. Having said that, I could really imagine that the process you listed above would sometimes lead to confusion: “Where exactly did I post/save/comment that piece of information last week?”
I guess it would take a consistency of usage before the potential confusion would no longer exist.
leethal 16 Mar 09
Still using good old subversion, eh?
Nathan Daniel Huening 16 Mar 09
@David Hoffman That seems pretty common, the “Basecamp/Backpack” product confusion. We use both at our firm (Highrise & Campfire, too) but it wasn’t until a friend explained that Basecamp is how you interface with clients and Backpack how you interface with each other that I finally got it.
Everything company-related that we had used to be a “project” in Basecamp, even though that didn’t make a lot of sense. When the 37S crew opened up multi-user support in Backpack, we migrated our intranet over there. Much simpler.
MI 16 Mar 09
leethal: Nope, that was a very old Campfire transcript for illustration purposes. We’ve been on Git for quite a while.
Tim 16 Mar 09
Can anyone read what the URL says in the Campfire screenshot.
looks like: http:// ?.basecamphq. ?:30000/
Alex 17 Mar 09
Good explanation, but it shows the biggest flaw, when using Basecamp ans Backpack together: Its really hard to keep track , what was said where. One Dashboard for all apps would be great help.
Chris 17 Mar 09
@tim: Looks like http://37signals.basecamphq.test:30000, I’m guessing its only accessible locally ;)
thismat 17 Mar 09
Nice examples, I always enjoy seeing how others use the products.
What I’m curious about, is do you find using backpack/basecamp/highrise takes away the need for paper lists and to a lesser extent, white boarding?
Cheers
Greg 17 Mar 09
I’m curious how you decide where to spend your time keeping up with messages, comments, updates, etc. when they are split up in the three apps. Does it depend on the project you are working on? Or, do you set aside a certain amount time everyday to stay caught up on everything?
JF 19 Mar 09
Greg: The apps come to you. Basecamp, Highrise, and Backpack have email/RSS notifications that let you know when new stuff happens. This way you don’t need to go anywhere – they come to you. Then, if you want to dig in further you can click the link in the email, for example, and go right to the screen in question.
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