UTS Motorsports is a team of engineering students that, in their own time, design, build and market a formula style race car to compete in the annual Formula SAE run by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Below, team member Nick Newland explains how they use Basecamp to manage the team.
This project requires a significant commitment which team members must balance between their studies, work and social activities. Prior to implementing Basecamp, this was managed by emails and less than effective discussion boards.
Midway through 2008 one of our team members set up a Basecamp account for the team. While it took a little while to move our communications across to a new system it was a great success. The ease of use meant that team members that are already short of time can quickly and effectively communicate with the team and check progress. By the end of 2008 Basecamp was our main communication and organisation tool. the use of todo lists allowed team members that were unable to meet on a regular basis see what each other was up to and how their section was progressing.
During 2009 the team begun to make use of more aspect of Basecamp setting up milestones and writeboards to keep the team organised. This allowed a group of people with vastly different timetables to work independently yet move towards a common goal helping 2009 to be UTS Motorsports' most successful event ever.
In the end of 2009 the team advertised for new members and those that were successful were integrated through a separate "New Team Members" project. This allowed them to be contacted as a group whilst getting them used to using our communication tool. As they progressed they were given more access so as not to overwhelm people before they get started.
2010 is set to be an even better year for the team and our use of Basecamp has evolved further so that each subsection of the car is run as its own project allowing each sub team to communicate and keep track of progress more closely. Files are shared online using version control and team meeting agendas are set using a writeboard. The common reply to many questions is now "check it on Basecamp".
Our most recent development is a "Panic Board" (below) which uses the Basecamp APIs to constantly show upcoming deadlines and milestones on a monitor in our workshop. This allows team members to see upcoming dates at a glance and serves as a constant reminder of our time frame. Basecamp has facilitated effective communication and been instrumental in the development and management of the team.
