We work on Basecamp, in small teams, shaping up every six weeks, and practicing clear communication.
We use Basecamp (an all-in-one project management platform) to develop our projects, communicate, and operate the company.
You can do big things with small teams, but it’s hard to do small things with big teams. And small is often plenty. That’s the power of small — you do what needs to be done rather than overdoing it.
Shape Up is a development framework employing a unique product development approach with six-week cycles. During these cycles, teams work on projects with fixed timelines and flexible scopes, allowing for better focus and resource management.
If a project isn’t completed within the six weeks, it’s considered a failure, and teams move on, maintaining a work-life balance without over hours.
Few things are as important to study, practice, and perfect as clear communication. Poor communication creates more work and we embrace these principles to avoid that:
Real-time sometimes, asynchronous most of the time.
Internal communication based on long-form writing, rather than a verbal tradition of meetings, speaking, and chatting, leads to a welcomed reduction in meetings, video conferences, calls, or other real-time opportunities to interrupt and be interrupted.
Give meaningful discussions a meaningful amount of time to develop and unfold. Rushing to judgement, or demanding immediate responses, only serves to increase the odds of poor decision making.
Meetings are the last resort, not the first option. Five people in a room for an hour isn’t a one hour meeting, it’s a five hour meeting. How often was it worth that? Could you have just written it up instead? Be mindful of the costs and tradeoffs.
Writing solidifies, chat dissolves. Substantial decisions start and end with an exchange of complete thoughts, not one-line-at-a-time jousts. If it’s important, critical, or fundamental, write it up, don’t chat it down.
Speaking only helps who’s in the room, writing helps everyone. This includes people who couldn’t make it, or future employees who join years from now.
Never expect or require someone to get back to you immediately unless it’s a true emergency. The expectation of immediate response is toxic.
Urgency is overrated, ASAP is poison.
If something’s going to be difficult to hear or share, invite questions at the end. Ending without the invitation will lead to public silence but private conjecture. This is where rumors breed.
The end of the day has a way of convincing you what you’ve done is good, but the next morning has a way of telling you the truth. If you aren’t sure, sleep on it before saying it.
Please visit https://basecamp.com/guides/how-we-communicate for reference or further study.