Basecamp Best Practices

Basecamp is our project + task management system. Every major repeatable workflow can be launched and managed from inside of Basecamp. We should always launch and manage our tasks using Basecamp. This provides us several benefits as a team:

It allows us to easily manage tasks across projects and prevent key tasks from following through the cracks.
It allows us to collaborate as a team on complex projects, including makereadies, which involves several team members handling different parts of the proces.
It allows other team members to view the status of your tasks, and allows you to view the status of other team members' tasks, which inform how you may proceed with your action items.
It allows us to easily redistribute tasks to other team members if someone gets too busy.

Below are some best practices for using Basecamp.

Projects Setup

Always create one Basecamp project per active property.
Keep relaunching task lists within the project rather than creating multiple projects for the same property.
Once a property is fully leased and tenants have moved in, archive the project to remove it from our active workload.

Project Titles & Statuses

Update Basecamp project titles regularly so the whole team knows the current status. Use the following conventions:

(ACTIVE) – when a listing is live on MLS with no other action items.
(Tenant Move-In {{DATE}}) – once an application is approved and move-in is scheduled. Insert the lease start date.
(Owner Onboarding) – when onboarding a new owner but not yet listed.
(New Property, Existing Owner) – when onboarding a new property for an existing owner, not yet listed.

Understanding Task List Template 'Descriptions'

The Task List Template 'Descriptions' will help you understand when and how a particular list is used. For example, they will tell you the exact situations in which you'll want to launch these lists, helpful reminders on when NOT to launch the list (and if you need to use a different list instead), and other helpful notes.

if you go to the 'To-Do List Templates' page and then look at a task list template, the description is just under the task list title and has helpful information on when and how the list is used.

Launching Task List Templates into a Project

We use task list templates to save time and keep processes consistent across all properties.

To launch a template into a project:

Open the property’s Basecamp project.

Go to the To-dos section.

Click +New List

Choose Pick from a template.

Select the correct template from the list (e.g., “Lease Generation + Tenant Move-in”).

The tasks will populate automatically inside the project.

Viewing the Task List Templates Page

You can also see all templates in one place:

From the Basecamp home screen, click View Templates

Click on To-do List Templates..

Here you’ll find every template, along with its description. The description explains when to use it, and when not to.

Using the “Notes” Section of Tasks

Many of our tasks include important details in the Notes section.

We often store wiki links, templates, and helpful information here.
Always check the Notes before starting a task, you might find step-by-step instructions or the exact template you need.

Looping in Teammates with @Mentions

If you need to bring someone into a task:

Type @{{USER}} in either the Notes or the Comments section.
They’ll get notified and can jump in right away.
Use this anytime you need clarification, input, or support.

Due Dates

Every task must have a due date.
If you’re unsure, place your best guess for completion.
Some tasks depend on others, match due dates to those tasks if needed.
Tasks should never remain “Past Due.”
At the end of each workday, spend a couple of minutes updating due dates if you couldn’t finish a task.

Completing Tasks

Check off tasks immediately once completed.
This lets teammates know the current status and ensures they can move forward with their tasks if they’re waiting on yours.

Processing Applications

Below are some best practices as it relates to processing applications.

Launch a separate task list for each applicant or applicant group.
If there are multiple applicants, create multiple lists.
If an applicant is denied, delete their task list.

Assignments

The “Your Assignments” section on the Basecamp homepage shows everything assigned to you across all projects.

This is a great tool to prioritize your day.
Always check this section first thing in the morning.

General / One-Off / Recurring Tasks

We use a dedicated project for tasks not tied to a specific property, such as:

One-off projects
Team-wide tasks
Recurring reminders (e.g., “Send weekly showing report to PM”)

If you're working on a one-off task, please always add it to this project so you can track the progress on it. This project is a catch-all for miscellaneous items.

If it's helpful, you can drop helpful information and links into the 'Notes' section of any task. You can likewise also @ other team members in the notes if you need to communicate on a task.

Setting Up Recurring Tasks

If you have a task that needs to occur over and over, please set up a recurring task. Here's how to do that!

Create a new to-do inside the General/Recurring Tasks project.
Set the due date.
Click “Repeat” and choose how often the task should recur (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.).
Assign the task.

Asking for Support

Workloads can sometimes get unbalanced, that’s normal. If you’re behind:

Reach out to a teammate who knows your responsibilities.
Share the project name + specific tasks you need help with.
Ask if they have time to reassign those tasks to themselves.
Always return the favor when you can!

The power of Basecamp is that anyone can easily jump in to help without confusion.

Requesting Updates

Basecamp and the Task List Templates are tools! If you think the tool could be better, please let us know! The goal is that we continuously update and improve these lists over time. Any feedback you can provide on how the tools can support you better is welcome and appreciated.

Anytime you have a suggestion (i.e. changing who owns a task, changing when the task occurs, adding new tasks, deleting unnecessary tasks or combining tasks, adding wikis or templates, or anything at all), please write up a short proposal and send it to whoever is involved with the process. It's totally fine if you don't have a fully-fleshed out concept yet and it's totally fine if there's still questions to be resolved; that will occur during collaboration. Please do your best to resolve all potential questions when possible, but it's better to throw out an imperfect idea sooner vs. spending forever trying to have a perfect concept in place.