Automatic check-ins is one of my favorite features in the new Basecamp 3. We have a bunch of them. Some social, like What are you reading? or What did you do this weekend?, others practical, like What will you be working on this week?
The magic of these check-ins is two-fold. First, it almost completes nixes the need for those awful status meetings. Second, it allows everyone to keep a diary of their thoughts, interests, and work.
Before Basecamp, I worked at a few other tech companies where I went to an office and worked with colleagues in-person. I knew most of those coworkers far less well than I do the ones I work remotely with at Basecamp. And these check-ins (and our manual hodpodge before making it a feature in Basecamp) are a key reason.
I also really enjoy the check-ins as a personal practice to review my week and how I end up spending my time. As well as having an opportunity to explain that work, those challenges, to the rest of the team at Basecamp. We’re 51 people now at Basecamp, and there are plenty of people working here that I don’t get to talk to every week. But I kinda feel like I do to some extent via these updates.
Anyway, here’s a taste of the last three days of my answers to that What did you work on today? question. This was a week blessed with a lot of technical work, including a new recyclable cache key approach for Rails 5.2, and some work on The Calm Company.
