Project management software review: Basecamp

When your team starts to grow beyond the number of employees you can count on one hand, it becomes harder and yet, at the same time, more important to coordinate deadlines and tasks between everyone so that everything gets done in a proper and timely manner. And, like most things these days, coordination comes easier with the right software. Today we’re going to look at one program that works for team coordination, called Basecamp. Basecamp has been around for a while – 2004, to be exact – but it’s still a very popular piece of software for project management.

Basecamp lets you set up projects, to-do lists, and to-dos. To-dos are individual tasks with checkboxes that can be crossed off when they’re done. Tasks can be assigned to a specific person and given a due date, but anyone who’s invited to the project can see its progress, add comments, and upload files. Basically, it’s a way to coordinate all the people, tasks, discussions, and files related to a particular project into one place, while granting visibility to everyone who needs it.

Basecamp is more of a coordination tool than a reporting tool – if you’re looking to generate productivity reports, you might be better served somewhere else. It’s built for the people working through the tasks and their immediate project coordinators, and not necessarily the people who need an org-chart level view.

You can try Basecamp for free. If you like it, their smallest subscription is $20.00 a month, which limits you to 10 open projects, but you can add an unlimited number of people.

By Sharon Campbell