How We Manage Programming Projects in Basecamp

Programmers are trained in consistency and coherence. They're key properties of writing good code. But sometimes chasing those properties outside the code just don't offset the cost of doing so. Managing projects, be they code or otherwise, is mostly about communication. Making decisions about how things should work, doing the trade-offs to ship within the time allotted. That's the kind of work that benefits from narratives, selective highlighting, and human context far more than it does from some procedural idea of Tying It All Together.

How can we organize the programming work, if everything isn't tied together? The simple answer is: don't. You don't need to string every todo to every commit. Micromanaging that level of detail has the appeal of superficial neatness, but without much if any payoff in additional ease or insight in practical terms