So here is the problem – I’m forgetful. This means if I think of something that I should put on my Basecamp to-do lists when I’m not actually at a computer, I have to rememeber it, which I can’t do. Or write it down on a piece of paper, which I’ll loose. Today is a case in point – I know I had three things to add to my list, but I can’t remember what they are. Well, unless Basecamp has a Blackberry front end (and for that matter someone wants to buy me a Blackberry) I guess I’m going to have to solve that little problem by myself…
More Basecamp feature requests
First off, I’d love to be able to move to-do list items between to-do lists. I’m using some to-do lists to manage a series of tasks fto be done by a certain date, but due to changing priorities I need to be able to move an item out somewhere else.
Secondly, it would be nice to get a higher level view of the milestones from the project’s milestone tab – you get a view limited to the next two weeks, however if you view all project milestones from your dashboard you get a three month view.
Anyway, back to ticking boxes…
magpiebrain 
2 Responses to “Living by Basecamp, day five”
The of the mantras of the 37signals guys are *_Less Software_* and *_Saying No_* to minor features. I’m sure they thought of having the ability to move todo list items between lists, but that would have added more complexity to their design, going against their KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) approach. Not having the ability to move items between lists forces you to organize the type of lists better, and makes sure you to put items in the right list the first time. It enables you to identify lists that may be redundant or too similar to others. Having to delete a todo item and re-create it in another list is punishment for getting it wrong in the first place 🙂 I view the simplicity (or lack of features?) of Basecamp/Tada List as its best feature. It forces you to think ahead, so you might actually get better at predicting dates and estimating the time it takes to complete a certain task.
I agree with most of what you’re saying Shane – it can certainly be argued the way I’m using Basecamp differs from it’s original purpose. I can live will the features mentioned here, but some things I’d like to see (for example percentage completion against milestones) don’t add more features, it just displays the existing information in a better way. Some of the other change requests I sent through can be found in my “earlier post(Thoughts on Basecamp features)”:http://www.magpiebrain.com/archives/2005/03/17/todo