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Avoiding Micromanagement with Basecamp

Written on September 16, 2015 – 2:24 pm | by Emily Taylor

Is Basecamp a useful tool for being an effective project manager? What makes an effective project manager?

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey writes:

There are basically two kinds of delegation: “gofer delegation” and “stewardship delegation.” Gofer delegation means “Go for this, go for that, do this, do that, and tell me when it’s done.” … Stewardship delegation is focused on results instead of methods. It gives people a choice of method and makes them responsible for results.

Gofer delegation is, essentially, micromanagement. The manager directs his team members with detailed and specific instructions and expects each member to report the progress back to him. Stewardship delegation, on the other hand, allows team members to feel empowered. It keeps the manager as the director of the team, but it places his role as more of an assistant than an overseer. The manager is there to help and support his team members when they need it. Covey goes on to explain that stewardship delegation requires five elements: guidelines, resources, accountability, consequences, and clear, up-front mutual understanding and commitment regarding the desired results. I imagine Covey would applaud Basecamp, as it accounts for all five of these elements

People don’t like to be micromanaged. At best, it’s annoying. At worst, it’s distracting and demotivating. Good managers create assignments and tasks with clear instructions and goals. They offer support when needed and can check on progress occasionally, but for the most part they allow the team members to be self-motivated and self-directed. Basecamp is ideal for this sort of management. For those who would be tempted to micromanage, it offers a detailed look into the progress being made on a project at any given moment. With this information being automatically and constantly accessible, managers can see which step each team member is currently working on without annoying them by requesting constant updates through emails. Through practiced use of Basecamp’s to-do lists, project managers can achieve Covey’s idea of effective delegation. The to-dos are specific to team members, covering the accountability aspect, and are given specific deadlines with other team members’ to-dos on standby pending their completion. The consequences are made much clearer than they would be with an email merely explaining the task with a deadline. Furthermore, Basecamp allows project managers to see if any team members are stalled on a particular task, and the interface is useful for attaching questions (“Want me to assign someone to help you with this part?”) or comments (“I found an online widget that might make this easier.”) directly onto the task. Through Basecamp, project managers can offer guidelines and resources without being overbearing. Finally, Basecamp gives everyone in the project a true sense of being part of a team. They can see the project’s progression from beginning to end as well as their vital part in its success. No longer would they feel like “just” an editor or “just” a translator, but a crucial part of something great. How’s that for empowering?

 

Of course, Basecamp has its disadvantages.

Mainly, for some, it may be too much information.

If you don’t ever find yourself tempted to micromanage – say, your management style is especially hands-off and you prefer to be kept on an “information diet” – the detailed updates might be distracting. Fortunately, you can adjust your settings to determine how much or how little of that actually reaches your inbox.

In conclusion, Basecamp is a unique tool that manages to simultaneously serve project managers who are information gluttons as well as those who prefer to stay on an information diet, and of course everyone in between. The interface is intuitive, allowing team members and clients to participate almost seamlessly, but some practice and trial-and-error are required to match the notification settings to your personal preferences. If used well, Basecamp can be a powerful tool to empower team members with free reign while also setting them up to succeed by providing Covey’s five key elements of effective delegation. Through Basecamp, managers can stay on top of the project and track its progress without falling into the trap of micromanaging. While it may not fit everyone’s style, as a project manager, you would be doing both yourself and your team a disservice by not trying it out.