Free Range

 

By Bridget Weingart

Learn how Free Range categorizes tasks and customizes workspaces to exceed client expectations

“BasicOps allows us to successfully execute complex projects in a manageable way.”

- Paul Hammond, Managing Director

Meet Free Range:

  • Industry: Design Services

  • Location: Boston, MA

  • Users: 20

  • Description: Innovation and storytelling company 

Based in Boston, Massachusetts and the Bay Area, California, Free Range helps companies creatively define their branding. The different departments at Free Range work together like a well-oiled machine; each team has a distinct workload that they must break down and categorize precisely. To coordinate tasks, Free Range needed a project management platform that was versatile, reliable, and adaptable to specific team needs. 

“We needed to be able to take a bigger project and define it into smaller batches of manageable chunks that we can execute at a granular level,” says Paul Hammond, Managing Director.

With customizable features and practical integrations, BasicOps ensures that each department at Free Range can confidently organize workloads and surpass client expectations. 

How did Free Range get started with BasicOps? 

Before landing on BasicOps, Free Range tried several other project management tools. First, they explored Smartsheet, but found it lacked the flexibility they needed in a project management system. “We were really restricted,” says Paul. “Smartsheet didn’t offer different views.”

Next Free Range briefly used Trello, but they quickly navigated to BasicOps, which better suited their needs. “A lot of the Trello features we used got rolled up into the premium services or require add-ons,” says Paul. “Once we started using BasicOps, we didn’t need Trello anymore.”  

The different views, organized task lists, and custom tags in BasicOps instantly satisfied their demands, ensuring that all teams could maximize efficiency. Due to the straightforward navigation in BasicOps, the Free Range departments seamlessly onboarded to the software and kickstarted their workflows. “It was easy to transition to BasicOps,” says Paul. “It’s pretty intuitive.”

What BasicOps features do they use the most?

  • JIRA Integration. The JIRA integration connects BasicOps to JIRA, which guarantees that both platforms stay in sync with each other. “When we post a task in BasicOps, it will create a ticket in Jira,” says Paul. “And when we update a ticket in JIRA, it’ll update the task in BasicOps.” The two-way communication between the platforms helps all team members stay on the same page and work with accurate, up-to-date information. 

  • Different task and project views. The departments at Free Range use different views to organize their workloads. For instance, project managers like Paul use the Timeline View to access high-level project summaries. On the other hand, the development team prefers using the Board View, which allows them “to create a scrum board and move things down the pipeline.” The copywriters and content entry teams favor the List View because it clearly outlines their tasks. “It’s nice that you can use different views depending on who you are and what you’re trying to see in the organization,” says Paul. Team members can switch to different layouts and project breakdowns with a few simple clicks.

  • Summary Feature. The summary feature allows team members to access a birds-eye overview of a project. Color-coded charts help teams quickly assess project progress, such as the number of tasks completed. “It’s nice to get a snapshot of the project status,” says Paul. This high-level view ensures project managers can confidently gauge the remaining workload. 

  • Custom Tags. Users can label their tasks with custom tags and create their own presets for filtering tasks. “You can add a new tag and give it a custom color and a custom name,” says Paul, who uses custom tags to categorize his tickets. “It’s a really useful functionality. I can create a tag for bugs, then filter for all bugs.”

How did they set up their BasicOps workspace? 

Free Range works to exceed client expectations and meet their every need. To promptly address client feedback, Free Range invites clients into their BasicOps workspace, where clients can report any issues they encounter. “Clients can come in, create a task, and we’ll collect their feedback,” explains Paul. “For anything they want to report, they can submit a ticket through BasicOps, and then we’ll assign that to our team members.” Client satisfaction is their priority, and they have a methodized system to guarantee it. 

Within their workspace, the teams at Free Range deconstruct larger projects into manageable tasks, which they can execute with precision. “If we have a task to design a section of a website, that will break down into smaller pieces, because website design varies by client,” says Paul. “There may be a requirement to design a form for a lead capture form, so we’ll create a task for that and assign it to a designer.”

Using BasicOps, every team at Free Range can organize their workload and customize their task categorization. The versatile project management platform is intuitive and straightforward, ensuring Free Range team members can effortlessly create custom tags, access different views, and integrate with their other tools. With BasicOps clearly defining their work, the Free Range crew can focus on meeting the needs of their clients. BasicOps is absolutely essential to their daily operations. 

 “Our design team, QA team, and content migration team all use BasicOps.”

- Paul Hammond, Managing Director

Bridget Weingart