futuretrack5

Putting the 'e' in Team - Campfire

Posted by Dave Rosen February 28, 2006

When 37signals announced Campfire I thought it was an interesting idea… but I didn’t think I’d find a use for it.

Futuretrack5 is myself, Stan & Dmitry. For 2 years, Stan & I have been working together. Initially we used IM daily. However when Dmitry joined us, we had 3 time zones. It was hard to schedule time when we were all online. With IM someone was left out. So to work as a group, we used Basecamp whenever possible.

Then last night Futuretrack5 got a staffroom.

I had used Campfire before. Hanging out on the Signal vs. Noise Live Chat is a great way to meet some interesting people.

To run some browser tests, I finally created my own account & posted a chat URL to Stan & Dmitry. With time zones on our side, we were soon chatting as a team. It became crystal clear just how revolutionary Campfire is.

Campfire put the ‘e’ in team. What email is to mail, campfire is to teams. We connected on a whole new level. The simplicity of Campfire is ideal for group chat. Unlike IM which tends to be one-on-one, Campfire is like well… sitting around a campfire! Rather than roasting marshmallows, we burned through getting work done on XHTMLized. We exchanged ideas, swapped stories & posted photos of ourselves (the way file sharing is implemented is incredible). Finally after 2 year I can put faces to Stan & Dmitry!

This morning my routine changed. Before Basecamp I logged onto Campfire. I could quickly catch up on what Stan & Dmitry discussed while I was asleep.

Now for internal projects, I’m going to turn to Campfire as the tool of choice. Each project will have it’s own room. Using chat as a basis for development leads to agile delivery. With Campfire our business is going to be more connected, productive & fun.

I can understand now how 37signals manage to live by their ‘get real’ philosophy. Campfire is the key ingredient to team collaboration & productivity.