Jason, Dave and I are doing a ton of testing now. The way we do it is comb the site and app for any bugs or problems and enter them on a to-do in our Basecamp area. As Jason and Dave sort them out, they just check off their to-dos.
I’m currently in Kenya, just outside Nairobi in the beautiful Rift Valley. (I was lucky enough to be invited to do some consulting on web strategy for an African wildlife conservation web site.)
It’s amazing how all I need is a web connection (in this case a satellite connection), and I can still to manage the building of Amigo. Let the work continue! Jason has just cranked out some more comps for the website. Here’s a sneak peak at the Buzz page (I’ve changed the strapline, obviously).
When we built DropSend, we learned that good project management can be the key between going way over schedule or delivering on time (and budget).
When it comes to project management, here’s the important stuff:
In order to manage all this, we swear by Basecamp, a great tool from 37signals. There’s a free version if you only want to manage one project, and then it moves up to $12/mo. (We’re on the $24/mo plan, so we can manage 15 different projects at a time.)
The reason why Basecamp is integral to the process of building this web app is because we have to manage three freelance teams (Jason - Designer, Dave - Developer, BitPusher - Server Team). Doing it all over email just gets too confusing. It’s great to know everything is in one place.
One of my favourite parts of Basecamp is the Milestones area. It really helps me understand where we’re at with the project. The screenshot above shows all our completed milestones. Late Milestones are red, and upcoming ones are yellow. Seeing a bunch of green ones (completed) really makes you feel great and top of things! (And of course, seeing red ones makes you panic!)
One thing we’ve learned is to reply to messages quickly. If your designer or your developer asks you a question (usually over Basecamp) then reply straight away. They may be working on the project in the evenings, or at the weekends (as they are freelance there’s no reason why they should work on it 9 - 5) so this may mean checking e-mail at the weekends. Whatever you do, to keep the work flowing, answering queries fast is the key.