You’ve seen the Star Wars scene. Luke Skywalker chasing after storm troopers in his X-Wing fighter. Blasting them into bright, star-like bits that whiz past his ship in the aftermath of the enemy’s demise. That’s what details look like to me. Bright bits of “no-matter” that I should pay attention to, but can’t quite home in on. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the importance of details. I am just a big-picture kind of gal. I see and understand the world in its unabridged form. From there, I deconstuct at leisure. My uncut approach is at times problematic. It’s a problem when writing code, with data-entry and, well, with project management. When I consider all the little pieces that go into a project, my eyes glaze over, and I drift off to a more pleasant, intact place. Fortunately, the world consists of those who love details. Such fine individuals created Basecamp.
Basecamp is a project management tool for the detail-challenged.The creators organized the information with an inverted pyramid in mind. Each project begins in all its big-picture glory. The opening page greets the project manager with a clean, easy-to-scan screen. Only the most important elements are visible: recent discussions between members, to-do list, files list, and text documents list. The developers even included a Latest Project Updates link. This allows the PM to scroll through just the current happenings (slick!). From the main page, the administrator may dive down, layer by layer, to the grittiest little spec of a specific.
I love Basecamp. Project management intimidates me because I know I miss details. And, let’s face it, the devil truly is in the details. Basecamp de-clutters those pesky particulars. It tames them. Making them manageable for the aggregate-leaning mind.
