The Business: Project Tracking

In the second installment of this series for 2007, I would like to talk about another ‘problem’ I have run into since getting a higher volume of clients; keeping track of projects. If you do not stay organized and on top of what you have to do for each client, you will ultimately fail as a business. That’s why you need to set up something that works for you. The system I am about to describe is something I find works very nicely for me.

Backpack is a well-developed web interface by 37 Signals that allows you to keep pages and within those pages notes, tasks, files, and Writeboards (a collaborative tool, also by 37 Signals). Also included in Backpack are reminders and the calendar(if you pay for it). When I get a new project, I create a new page, put in general info about the site, notes on ideas and brainstorming, all of the tasks, etc. I have also been toying with the idea of buying the Basic account, which would include the calendar, file and image storing and a lot more reminders. And at $5/month, I can’t go wrong. By having a calendar and reminders ‘in house’ so to speak, I would be able to keep track of all deadlines, billing, and other important dates.

So far, Backpack has been working out great for me- I just bring it up in a web browser where ever I am and get to work. And when I do collaborative work on a project, the writeboards are perfect. If I were to build something to help keep track of projects, it would be Backpack.