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KMP Interactive Marketing & Technology built bcToolkit, a tool to generate reports using the Basecamp API.
We love basecamp and it has helped us enormously but we occasionally needed to get an overview of time reports and project status. We started to build a tool to generate these reports using the Basecamp API and now a few months down the line we thought that other people might find them useful too.
Want to test it out? Sign up at bcToolkit.
This weekend we pushed a new view in Basecamp called the List view. You'll find this new view in the messages section.
List view makes scanning multiple message titles a lot easier (one of the top requests we've had). It also does a great job of showing you which messages are seeing a lot of comment activity (another top request).
* New messages or messages with new comments are marked green.
* Messages/comments you've already viewed are marked grey.
* The number of comments per message are listed at the front of each row.
* The last commenter (if any) is listed in the right column.
* Messages with file attachments have a paperclip icon after the subject.
* Private messages are marked with the red private flag.
The Standard view, which was the only view until we released List view, remains the default. You can toggle between the views at will. Basecamp will remember which view you last looked at and keep you in that view until you switch to the other view. This is a per-user setting.
We hope you like it as much as we do!
The Backpack Pages add-on allows you to click a button in Firefox to reveal all your Backpack pages in a pulldown menu. Select a page and you'll go right to it in Backpack. It's sort of like the My Pages screen in Backpack, but it's always with you -- even when you aren't logged into Backpack.
This is really handy for collecting little bits of data as you browse the web. It's especially great for research projects where you find a bunch of stuff all over the place. Just "publish" it to Backpack with the add-on and you'll never lose it.
Project Recon is a widget for Windows XP that gives you convenient access to your Basecamp projects and time. It sits in the system tray and allows you to keep track of hours without taking your mind off the project at hand or opening a browser.
Some features (text from the Project Recon site):
Enter start and stop times and have your hours calculated for you. Auto-complete makes it even faster.
There's no need to watch the clock. Project Recon can record your start and end times for you.
Before sending your hours to Basecamp, Project Recon allows you to review and modify them - or just click "Send Time".
To learn more, take the tour at the Project Recon site.
The May 28 subscriber edition of TIME magazine is out with a full page story on 37signals. The issue has Al Gore's profile on the cover. The piece is called "Small is Essential."
Unconventional organization is proving to be one of 37signals' biggest assets. The company creates programs that facilitate teamwork, and it ends up relying on the very same tools it builds. "We are growing in the same way a lot of our customers are, so we build products that we need to run our own business," Fried says. "We just build stuff we want to use. If we need it, they need it."
Simplicity is one of 37signals' guiding principles, in programming as well as management. For most technical issues that arise, simple work-arounds will address 95% of the need with 10% of the effort that would be required to cover everything. For example, when designing Writeboard, for collaborative writing, the team wanted to let people track how much a document had changed over time. They pored over Ph.D. theses and complex algorithms. Instead, ace programmer David Hansson worked out a "cheat": software to track the number of characters in each document. The evolving total could be conveyed visually using dots of different sizes. With that clever solution, 37signals reduced what could have been a months-long programming project to a day's work.
The full piece in the print mag also includes a nice photo of the entire team. Special thanks to Jeremy Caplan for penning the piece.
Screenshots and written testimonials can only convey so much. So we went out and filmed some of our customers talking about why they love Basecamp and the positive impact it's had on their businesses.
The first three video profiles:
It was really great to meet these Basecamp fans in person and hear their eloquent descriptions of how Basecamp helps them get projects done.
Stay tuned for more of these videos in the future.
(These videos were shot and edited excellently by our friends at Coudal Partners.)
Backpack is a natural fit with Getting Things Done. Here are some idea starters for how to bring the two together to improve efficiency.
In Backpack: New GTD Implementation Ideas, Patrick Rhone discusses how he sets up Backpack pages to work with GTD.
Inbox (Home Page) - True to the spirit of GTD, the "home page" in Backpack has been re-titled "Inbox" and basically acts as a digital Inbox. There is one list on this page. One big dumping ground for any action item or project that pops into the head. Just what the name implies. Because it is on the home page it is easy to get to quickly (also, as Daniel pointed out when I ran it past him, easy to get to and dump things from a mobile device - those euros love their mobiles) and that is what you want for an Inbox. Very GTD. When time allows (daily review), two minute or less items are knocked off right away (per The David) and any projects are migrated to and fleshed out on the @Projects page or it’s own separate page (more on that in a bit).
@Projects - This page exists how I use it right now, with a separate list for each project, but with an added but important modification. I have added a topmost list titled Next Actions. N/As are then moved from the projects below to the NA list at the top via Backpack’s ajaxy drag and droppiness. This way, I go to that page and see right away the next actions for all of the projects on the page.
Individual Project Pages - Now I should take a moment here to clarify what the projects are on the @Projects page. That page is for smaller one-to-five step projects as to do anything else would make the page too confusing and long. Projects that are larger than that (my wedding for example) I actually break out into their own separate page as they may have multiple lists and sub projects. Another advantage to this approach is that you can use the other features of backpack like notes, attaching documents, etc. for things that are specific to that project. With that being said, I still make a next action list the first list on the top so I can see right away what I need to do. I have an example project page here: Sweetime Project.
@Someday - Like any good GTDer, you need a space to defer and to dream. The someday/maybe list is where you do that. Scan this as part of your weekly review.
"What's the next action," a weblog about Getting Things Done, discusses Backpack and GTD.
More after the jump.
Continue reading "Ideas for Getting Things Done with Backpack" »
Our Windows users of Campfire have longed for a Pyro-like app of their own. Unfortunately for them, Pyro is Mac only.
However, now they can check out Flare. It's like Pyro, but it's for Windows. When new messages, pastes, files or users arrive, Flare will notify you with a semi-transparent message preview. And if you miss the preview, don't worry - Flare's icon will glow orange until you next view the window.
Some key features:
Flare works on Windows XP Home, Pro, Server 2003 and Vista.
One of our favorite Campfire features is real-time code sharing.
When you paste PHP, Ruby, Python, HTML, CSS, Javascript, or other programming code into the chat area, Campfire will retain the formatting and display it to everyone in the room. 
It's one of the best ways we've found to share code samples and solve coding-related issues in real-time.
For example, if you can't figure out why some HTML code isn't working, just paste it into the room and your co-workers can look it over and leave their comments in real-time. Sometimes the longer you stare at something the harder it is for you to spot the problem. Sharing the code in Campfire is a great way to quickly get fresh eyes on it.
