Bubble Up
with Michelle HarjaniA close look at how we develop features at 37signals. Designer Michelle Harjani walks Shaun through the entire process of making the Bubble Up Feature in HEY.
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, HEYBasecamp Behind the Scenes
HEY, Is This App Accessible?
with Michael Berger and Scott Ballard-RidleyHow Basecamp’s Michael Berger approached accessibility during the development of HEY, including collaborating with a blind Basecamp user on accessible features that ultimately improved the experience for everyone.
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, HEYGreening Basecamp
with Jane Yang and Elizabeth GrammBasecamp recently set out to do a carbon accounting, looking at the company’s emissions, as well as meaningful ways to offset and mitigate those impacts. Jane Yang and Elizabeth Gramm, the two Basecampers who took on this daunting and nuanced project, come on the show to discuss not just the work...
Basecamp Behind the ScenesSend A Little Delight
with Merissa DawsonComfort and joy were in short supply this year, but we’re doing our best to end 2020 on a cozy note. Merissa of Basecamp support talks about surprising customers with gifts throughout the year, whether it’s to thank them for their fandom or apologize for a disappointing experience. Then Wailin...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Customer SupportSupport and Console-ation
with Jim Mackenzie, Jamis Buck, Tony Giang, Sylvia Chong, Jabari Allen, and Willow MolineIn the last several years, a group of Basecamp customer support representatives has developed an expertise around “on-call support,” or tackling some of the thornier technical issues that require diving into the code base of our applications. This team of self-taught specialists grew out of...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Customer SupportSomething's Broken
with Jeremy Daer and Troy TomanBasecamp recently suffered three outages in a week. Programming lead Jeremy Daer and director of operations Troy Toman come on the show to discuss their approach to customer communication around these kinds of incidents. They talk about public accountability, mental health, and why the human side of...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Running a Calm CompanyThe (Social) Distance
with Jason FriedBasecamp is a remote company, so we’re less disrupted by the current pandemic than many other businesses, but we’re still taking steps to keep folks safe. Jason Fried talks about canceling the company’s April meetup and closing the Chicago office. REWORK will be taking a few weeks off so we can get...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Remote WorkYou Never Forget George Pappageorge
with Jason FriedBasecamp CEO Jason Fried is back in the studio with an update on the company’s Chicago headquarters. Basecamp will be leaving its office this summer after a 10-year run, and Jason is looking at a number of options—including a space that will bring him full circle with one of his original 37signals...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Remote WorkBasecamp: This Time it's Personal
with Jason Fried and David Heinemeier HanssonBasecamp has a long history of experimenting with “freemium” models and recently launched its most generous free plan yet: Basecamp Personal. Co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson talk about the debate and data analysis that went into the launch, what makes this a little scary, and...
Basecamp Behind the ScenesSpending in the Clouds
with Blake StoddardBasecamp has cut back its reliance on Amazon and Google, but there’s one area where it’s tough to find alternatives to Big Tech: cloud services. Even so, there are ways to cut spending on this $3 million annual expense while keeping the company’s apps running smoothly. In this episode, Blake...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Big TechA Hosty Retreat
with Lex Friedman and Justin JacksonBasecamp has taken a clear stance against tracking on the web, so when we learned that our podcast hosting provider had introduced listener-targeted advertising, we decided to decamp to a different company. On today’s episode, Wailin talks to Lex Friedman, chief revenue officer of REWORK’s old...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, PrivacyFarewell, Happy Camper
with Jason Fried and Adam StoddardBasecamp has a new website and a new logo. If this is the first you’re hearing about it, it’s because CEO Jason Fried opted out of the big rebranding announcement that many companies undertake. On this episode, Jason and marketing designer Adam Stoddard talk about what prompted the new look and the...
Basecamp Behind the ScenesThe Google Ads Shakedown
with Jason FriedOn Tuesday, Basecamp CEO Jason Fried tweeted about some shady business involving Google Ads and search results. The tweet got a lot of attention, so we brought Jason on the show to talk about what got him so riled up over Google. No punches were pulled in the making of this episode!
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Big TechHire When it Hurts
with Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, Andrea LaRowe, Kristin Aardsma, and Jeremy DaerBasecamp is known for hiring infrequently, but it’s in the midst of adding five new employees to its roster—including the company’s first-ever director of marketing. Over 4,000 applications have come in for the open positions. In this episode, we go deep into how we knew it was time to hire, why we...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Running a Calm CompanySix Hours of Phone Calls
with Jason Fried and Adam StoddardIn this episode, Basecamp marketing designer Adam Stoddard joins Jason Fried to talk about a marathon session of interviewing Search Engine Optimization consultants. Hear why they squeezed all the interviews into a six-hour block and what it’s like to shop for something you don’t really know...
Basecamp Behind the ScenesOFFICE SPACE
with Jason FriedWe’re introducing a new segment called Last Week with Jason Fried, where Basecamp’s CEO talks about a task or concern that recently fell on his plate. In this inaugural episode, Jason talks about how the end of the company’s lease on its Chicago office leaves him with a big decision on how to design...
Basecamp Behind the ScenesDid You Order the Code Red?
with Jim Mackenzie and Jeremy Daer“Passwords just aren’t cutting it online. It’s getting worse. We all feel it.” This is what Jeremy from Basecamp’s Security, Infrastructure, and Performance team wrote in a February blog post after dealing with a mass-login attack. Intruders with huge lists of login credentials—obtained in previous...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Running a Calm CompanyReblog
with Jason Fried and Adam StoddardThe folks at Basecamp have been blogging since 1999, when Jason Fried would write by the light of a fire fueled by David Heinemeier Hansson’s savage indictments of the tech industry. A lot has changed since then (with the exception of DHH’s feelings about Silicon Valley). Basecamp’s blog, Signal v....
Basecamp Behind the ScenesBig Integer
with David Heinemeier Hansson, Taylor Weibley, Kristin Aardsma, and Jeremy DaerOn Thursday, November 8, Basecamp 3 went down for almost five hours. It was the worst outage to hit the company in a decade and a stress test of Basecamp’s practices around internal communication, customer support, and calm work. Today’s episode goes inside the company on November 8 to see how the...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Running a Calm CompanySometimes It's Crazy At Work
with Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Adam StoddardIn October, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson released their new book, It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work. The book featured their writing, as well as cover art and interior illustrations from a couple designers at Basecamp. The launch initially seemed like a great success—but then things...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Running a Calm CompanyUpdate: Please Don't Like This
with Jason FriedJason Fried talks about designing an alternative to Basecamp’s Applause feature that is subtle yet expressive, and distinct from the kinds of reactions and feedback mechanisms used on social media platforms. (If you missed our previous episode on the debate over the Applause feature, go back and...
Basecamp Behind the ScenesPlease Don't Like This
with David Heinemeier Hansson, Kevin Bazzana, and Tara MannAt Basecamp, we’re in the midst of a debate over an Applause feature that was designed to improve communication but might be stoking unwanted anxiety. In this episode, CTO David Heinemeier Hansson and iOS designer Tara Mann present different sides of the Applause debate and explore the ways behavior...
Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Greatest Hits