REWORK

Endless Zoom meetings, being cut off from friends, the widespread cancellation of summer fun, ricocheting between boredom and anxiety—kids have it pretty rough! And it's no picnic for their parents, either. In this episode, businesses built on offering in-person enrichment for children talk about how they're adapting to reach families and stay resilient during this time.Show NotesNancy Mork's biography - 00:47Fussy Baby Network website | Facebook - 00:50Erikson Institute - 00:53Hatch Art Studio website | Instagram - 3:51Collage Workshop for Kids by Shannon Merenstein - 3:55Omowale Casselle on Twitter - 5:28Digital Adventures website - 5:32Bar Rucci's Art Bar Blog - 13:06Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art - 21:17Eric Carle's book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar (not The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar like Wailin says) - 21:21Collage Workshop for Kids on Bookshop.org - 21:29

Basecampers Nathan Anderson and Joan Stewart talk about their love of baking bread and how to get started if you're a newbie. As Joan says, you just have to believe.Show NotesThe New York Times chocolate chip cookie recipe, adapted from Jacques Torres  - 00:43Nathan Anderson on Twitter - 1:00Nathan attended Artisan Bread Camp, taught by Tom Edwards. Read a Washington Post story about the reporter's experience at the same session (Nathan is briefly mentioned in the article and is in one of the photos.) - 2:00Bon Appétit YouTube channel - 2:14Joan Stewart on Twitter - 2:17"Brad and Claire Make Sourdough Bread" - 2:35Claire Saffitz on Instagram - 2:39Bread magazine - 3:00Recipes for using sourdough starter discard - 5:05Edna Mode - 7:25

CEO Jason Fried and Head of Strategy Ryan Singer talk about the Shape Up approach to product development that we use at Basecamp. They discuss organizing work in six-week cycles, how to handle disagreement, and how so much of the process boils down to making trade-offs. You can also watch the full video of this Q&A session.Show NotesGoing Remote Q&A videos on YouTube - 00:57Basecamp's remote work resources - 1:00Jason Fried | Ryan Singer on Twitter - 1:09Hey, Basecamp's forthcoming email product - 1:23Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters - 2:17Q1: How do you go about planning something from scratch? What are the different milestones in the product-planning process? - 4:59An explainer of six-week cycles - 6:10An explainer of finding the epicenter from Getting Real, Basecamp's earlier book on product development - 11:50Q2: How do you decide how far to break down projects? Can you be so granular that you reach a point of diminishing returns? - 13:31Shape Up chapter on scopes - 16:10Q3: How do you decide which pitches to execute, and how often do you disagree? - 19:32Spikeball - 27:55Q4: How is potential value creation assessed in the betting process? - 27:58Q5: How do you alert someone about work that needs to be done by them? - 34:45Q6: How do you do a 6-week cycle for a whole new project? - 37:10Inverted pyramid - 38:36Q7: How do you pitch the Shape Up process to someone who’s not technical? - 39:28Q8: How do you train team members to learn the work process? - 42:28Q9: How do conversations with customers fit into the shaping and strategy? - 46:22Q10: What do you do about people who ignore the breadboarding and fat marker techniques? - 50:33Q11: Is there a utility in using software? - 54:49Q12: When approaching features like two-factor authentication or encryption, how do you balance what’s most secure with what’s most convenient for users? - 55:22Q12: How did you decide to work on Hey? What’s the bet and how did you structure the team separate from Basecamp? - 1:03:10Highrise - 1:03:26"Highrise is back with Basecamp" (Signal v. Noise ) - 1:07:22

Several of Basecamp's working parents talk about (not) getting things done with small children around, navigating responsibilities and feelings with partners, structuring the day, primal screaming, and more. You can also watch the full video replay of this Q&A session.Show NotesGoing Remote series on YouTube - 00:10Basecamp's Remote Resources page - 00:39Question 1: If you’re home with kids under three, how do you work while they’re craving your attention? - 4:00Going Remote episode about customer support - 6:25Art for Kids Hub on YouTube - 15:31Lunch Doodles with children's book author Mo Willems - 15:51LeVar Burton does #LeVarBurtonReadsLive on his Twitter feed - 15:55Question 2: How do you navigate tension between partners when one person bears more of the childcare responsibilities? - 19:22Question 3: What morning habits do you have to keep yourself aligned? - 23:33Basecamp on Twitter - 27:23

David Sax is the author of the new book The Soul of an Entrepreneur: Work and Life Beyond the Startup Myth. He comes on the show to debunk the Silicon Valley narrative that only a rarefied subset of people can succeed as founders, and shares examples from his book of business owners whose complex relationship with freedom, risk, and success offer a fuller picture of entrepreneurship.Read David's recent op-ed in the New York Times, "The Coronavirus Is Showing Us Which Entrepreneurs Matter."Show NotesDavid Sax's website | Twitter - 1:16The Soul of an Entrepreneur: Work and Life Beyond the Startup Myth - 1:21"At 21, Kylie Jenner Becomes The Youngest Self-Made Billionaire Ever" (Forbes) - 7:05A 2017 Daily Beast profile of Kris Jenner's mother - 7:21ESOPs - 17:16Article by Daniela Papi-Thornton in the Stanford Social Innovation Review about "heropreneurship" - 20:54Save the Deli by David Sax - 23:40The Revenge of Analog by David Sax - 23:52Maxim's May/June 2018 issue featuring Heidi Klum - 24:40The Soul of an Entrepreneur on Bookshop.org - 26:15

Going Remote is a series of bonus episodes where different Basecampers answer questions about how they do their work remotely. In this episode, Merissa Dawson and Chase Clemons answer questions about providing customer support, including how they talk to angry customers and how they onboard new team members. The full version of their Q&A, including a visual walkthrough of the support team's Basecamp account, can be found on YouTube.Show NotesDesign lead Jonas Downey's Going Remote episode - 00:18Basecamp's customer support team - 00:26Going Remote playlist on YouTube | Full version of Merissa and Chase's session  - 00:39Question 1: How do you talk to customers who are really angry or not nice? - 00:54Chase talks more about his experience managing a deli in this Rework episode - 2:41Question 2: Who hops on the calls with customers, someone from Support or from the Product team? - 4:26Question 3: It's tough right now. What's something you could tell a support specialist from around the world? - 6:18Question 4: Any tips or tricks for helping onboard new people in customer support, especially when remote? - 8:54More detail about the Support team's onboarding process is in this Rework episode - 9:42Basecamp on Twitter - 13:32

Fitness studios, like many other businesses, had to scramble to change over from in-person to virtual operations almost overnight. In this episode, three business owners in the fitness and wellness industry share their stories of how they've pivoted and how they're continuing to look after their communities' well-being during a difficult time.Note: After we wrapped editing on this episode, Haji Healing Salon launched two support groups that meet weekly with a clinical psychologist. If you're interested in signing up, click on "Healing Services" on Haji's website.Show NotesArts + Public Life residency program at the University of Chicago - 3:14Haji Healing Salon website | Instagram - 3:19"Haji Healing Salon Aims to be 'Oasis and Sanctuary' On Bustling 79th Street in Chatham" (Block Club Chicago) - 4:04Philly Dance Fitness website | Livestream - 7:22Take It Off Broadway - 8:43StreamingVideoProvider - 11:10Punchpass website - 14:21Punchpass webinar on getting classes online - 17:04Hot Yoga Burlington - 18:30"Zoom Rushes to Improve Privacy for Consumers Flooding Its Service" (New York Times) - 23:06

We're starting a new series of bonus episodes called Going Remote. We'll have different Basecampers answer questions about how they do their work remotely. In this first episode, design lead Jonas Downey talks about how he and his team collaborate with each other, give feedback, and communicate with their developer colleagues. These episodes are adapted from an ongoing series of livestreamed Q&As, which you can find in their entirety on Basecamp's YouTube channel.Show NotesVideo of Jonas' Q&A | YouTube playlist of all Q&As - 00:33Jonas Downey on Twitter - 00:39Question #1: I’m planning on doing design thinking sessions for groups. How should I channel the team aspect in a virtual call with 20 to 30 people? - 4:25Question #2: What tools do you use to replace whiteboarding and Post-It sessions? - 6:33Reflector app - 7:31Question #3: It seems like most communication you do runs through Basecamp. How do you communicate the intricacies of designs to engineers, and what’s your workflow? - 8:51Basecamp co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson's live walkthrough of the company's Basecamp account - 8:54Question #4: Do you use version control tools like Abstract? - 12:46Question #5: In the meeting-averse culture of Basecamp, how does design work get reviewed and approved? - 16:23Question #6: Do you use any design tools, or do you design in the browser? - 17:44Question #7: Is it required at Basecamp for a designer to know how to code? - 18:48Question #8: How many designers do you have at Basecamp? - 20:21Question #9: I'm interested in the dynamic between designers and product managers. Do you do project management yourself using tools like Jira or Trello? - 21:07Question #10: How do you balance between designer and manager roles? - 23:00Basecamp on Twitter - 25:35

We're back from hiatus! In this episode, we sit down with Quaker theologian and small business owner Wess Daniels, the author of the book Resisting Empire: The Book of Revelation as Resistance. He talks about the value of silence; reshaping systems of money and power; and building community during a time of struggle. Show NotesWess Daniels on Twitter | His blog, Gathering In Light - 1:19Resisting Empire: The Book of Revelation as Resistance (Barclay Press) - 1:27Friends Center at Guilford College - 2:11Fireweed Coffee Co - 2:29Wess's blog post on holding a family meeting - 4:10Poor People's Campaign - 15:48

We place a long-distance phone call to Antarctica to chat with Kathrin Mallot, an astrophysicist who works at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in the South Pole. In this episode, Kathrin talks about preparing for a work assignment in a super remote part of the world; practicing self-care during the punishing Antarctic winter; getting along with coworkers that you also live with in close quarters; frozen nose hairs, snacks, Internet access, and more! This episode was originally run in February 2019.Show NotesThe IceCube website - 00:46What is a neutrino? (Scientific American) - 1:13SNOLAB in Canada is an example of a neutrino observatory located in an old mine - 1:58Emsisoft - 2:48Skynet satellite (and the other Skynet) - 4:38Mt. Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano on the planet - 14:00The Thing (the 1982 version by John Carpenter) - 19:28The IceCube website has an entire section about living at the South Pole - 26:53The defibrillator scene in The Thing (Warning: VERY SCARY! And gross!) - 27:39The blood test scene in The Thing (Warning: ALSO VERY SCARY AND GROSS) - 27:50