Web-based Workflow

For a small web design company like us, words such as “collaboration” and “easy to use,” get our attention. That’s why web-based productivity tools tend to meet our needs better than their desktop counterparts. In particular, there are three web-based applications that we have integrated into our workflow with great success.

Basecamp project management

Least surprisingly of all, we use Basecamp—the project management application from 37signals. For us, the flow usually works something like this.

1. We get a new project, so we add it to basecamp.
2. We setup milestones for each deadline within the project.
3. We add the client (usually a team of 4 - 6 people), who then have access.
4. We post messages, usually with planning documents or design mockups that need to be discussed.
5. The client’s team then logs-on individually and posts comments.

The first three tasks deal with setup. For most of the duration of the project, posting messages with attached files and then receiving comments are the bulk of the process.

Using Basecamp has increased our credibility, made collaboration easier, and helped projects stay on track. It’s the web-based app that we’ve been using the longest, and we heartily recommend it.

Blinksale invoicing

For every project there must be a corresponding invoice. That’s where Blinksale steps in. Invoicing usually goes something like this:

1. We create a new invoice by selecting a client, entering line-item information, and setting a due date.
2. A branded invoice is then e-mailed to the client (the template can be customized with CSS).
3. Blinksale keeps track of due dates and indicates when an invoice is past due.
4. When we get a check in the mail, we report it to Blinksale and the corresponding invoice gets marked as paid.

While many of our invoices are for one-time projects, we also bill clients yearly for hosting subscriptions. Before Blinksale, this was a real hassle to keep up with. Now, we use Blinksale’s recurring invoices to keep track of and automatically bill our hosting clients.

The main caveat with Blinksale is that invoices are intended to be sent as e-mail. For some, this may come across as less professional than snail-mail invoicing. Another limitation is that when a client receives the e-mail invoice, he or she must click on a special link to send it to someone else, since using built-in forwarding breaks the HTML design. To combat this, Blinksale now allows its higher-paying customers to send invoices as PDF attachments.

Those issues notwithstanding, we still really like Blinksale’s interface. We tried out other invoicing apps, such as FreshBooks, and found that Blinksale definitely came out on top.

Harvest time tracking

While we use Basecamp and Blinksale very affectionately, our favorite tool of all is the time-tracking app Harvest. These are the basic elements:

• Tasks: Harvest allows you to create core tasks. For us, graphic design, programming, and CSS/HTML design are some of the more common ones.
• Projects: Whenever a new project comes in, we add it to Harvest and choose the tasks that will make up the project.
• People: Each person has a login. Harvest categorizes people as either employees or contractors.

Most of our time in Harvest is spent actually logging our individual timesheets. I choose a project, choose a task, and then Harvest starts a timer for that activity. The timers run at the server level, so I can close my browser and restart my computer; when I log back on to Harvest, the timer will still be running.

Harvest does a great job of reporting. We can easily track how much time we each spend on a given project or task. Harvest indicates the percentage of time spent on billable verses non-billable tasks, compares estimated time with actual time spent, and calculates costs based on hourly rates. You can also export data to Excel, which I recently did to create some end-of-year reports and graphs.

Being able to thoroughly track our time has given us deeper insight into our workflow, helping us use our time more wisely and bid more accurately on projects. Harvest has been the ideal time-tracking tool.

A better workflow

For us, these three web-based applications have enhanced our workflow by increasing collaboration, making common tasks easier to perform, and even transforming the most mundane of chores into… yes, fun.