Firstly, great products. I use Basecamp everyday as well, but we are also dependant on "Time", although I side with the philosophical argument that the "Time" feature is essentially useless. I would want to get rid of it, too. Here's why: project managers like to think it's a way of predicting the next project timeframe. It's a giant fallacy. In no way, shape or form, does Time keeping give you any sense of what to expect, so for that reason - I applaud removing it. However, Mr. Project Manager isn't happy. And when he's not happy, I can't use your new Basecamp. Once that sets in as a consciousness and we feel 'Classic', someone is going to start hunting for an alternative. Based on this thread, I'd wager someone is currently tying all of your features + Time together and imposing the "You don't have to be 'Classic' any more!" marketing ploy.
> If we had tried to reimplement every single Basecamp Classic feature in Basecamp Next before we launched, it would have taken a very long time.
As a software developer, I understand this. But I also understand that giving the user the power to migrate projects one-by-one, managing 2 codebases and offering support for 2 products is also a very large undertaking. I feel like adding Time and Private messages would have taken less time and perhaps only pissed people off momentarily when you flipped the switch, like when Facebook and YouTube users protest and then eventually shut up.
By over-engineering this process, I feel like you've opened yourselves up to competitors because now you're that company that is trying to satisfy everyone.
[T]he "Time" feature is essentially useless…[P]roject managers like to think it's a way of predicting the next project timeframe.
There's more to time management than just prediction. When I was working for a company doing client work, we used Basecamp to keep track of how long we spent on each project so we could bill appropriately.
> If we had tried to reimplement every single Basecamp Classic feature in Basecamp Next before we launched, it would have taken a very long time.
As a software developer, I understand this. But I also understand that giving the user the power to migrate projects one-by-one, managing 2 codebases and offering support for 2 products is also a very large undertaking. I feel like adding Time and Private messages would have taken less time and perhaps only pissed people off momentarily when you flipped the switch, like when Facebook and YouTube users protest and then eventually shut up.
By over-engineering this process, I feel like you've opened yourselves up to competitors because now you're that company that is trying to satisfy everyone.