Basecamp is one of the trending tools that you can use for task management and communications with various clients. It is a web-based project management tool that was launched in 2004 consisting of to-do lists, milestone (task) management, file sharing, and time tracking.

Each project in Basecamp contains all the information you may need for the project, and you can only include people who need to be involved in the project. Its purpose is to have all information about the project gathered in one place and to have access to the information clearly and simply for all who need to be informed.

What are the features of Basecamp that make it effective?

• A message Board:

A tool to create messages and provide necessary information to teams and clients. It allows you to create posts that you can add comments to and keep the conversation in one place.

The special and additional benefit of this feature is that it sends these messages as emails that can be replied to directly from within the email. This means you can use this channel to manage customer communications internally, and customers are free to decide whether they want to respond via Basecamp or email.

• A ‘Bonfire’:

This is instant messaging built into every project so you can chat with your team internally and your clients externally.

• A Task List:

A task manager for each project organized in a list system. It allows you to group different tasks according to their respective scope, for example, all design-related tasks, all product-related tasks, etc.

In each task, you can appoint an owner; the person responsible for performing the task, a manager who will be notified when the task is completed (you can add a completion date), and add a description or a note. Additionally, you can comment on the task itself to answer specific questions about it.

• A Timeline:

Allows you to view project dates, follow a specific display style, and link it to your calendar.

• Documents and Files:

Where you can organize all the files and documents related to your project.

All of these features work together to provide a comprehensive toolkit for project management on Basecamp. However, you may not need to use them in every project, or you may choose to use some of them elsewhere.

RELATED: How to Use Trello for Effective Project Management 

How do I use Basecamp for project management?

1. Invite clients to your projects while retaining control over the information that the client can view. You can create message boards for the team where they can pass across information relating to the client.

2. Create teams in a structured way, whether by departments or by teams within your business. This way, you segment the conversation so that ‘distractions’ from the activities of another team don’t disturb another team.

3. Utilize and manage the ‘Hey!’ section properly as it quickly fills up. This section organizes all your notifications in a defined way, giving you control over which notifications you want to receive.

4. Use an automatic check-in. If you want, you can ask periodic questions or check (with a certain frequency), for example, set a daily status.

5. Use the message board feature to manage internal customer communications and give customers the choice of responding either through Basecamp or through email.

RELATED: Using Click-Up for Effective Project Management 

Using Basecamp can help your business to have better task management due to its system of organizing tasks and projects. It will mostly be helpful to project-based businesses and other businesses which rely heavily on email communication.

SmartSMSSolutions can also help you in internal communications just like Basecamp. With SmartSMSSolutions, you can maintain email and SMS communications with your clients as well as your team members. This will improve the quality of your internal communications. Sign up to begin enjoying these services now!