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To use a Hill Chart in Basecamp, open a to-do list’s options menu (•••) and choose “Track this on the Hill Chart.” The list then appears as a dot on the project’s To-dos chart. When the people doing the work have a meaningful update, choose Update and drag the dot to show their current view of the work.
What a Hill Chart shows
A Hill Chart helps a team show whether a scope of work is still being figured out or is ready for execution. On the uphill side, the team is resolving unknowns and working out an approach. At the top, the important unknowns are considered resolved; the work is not necessarily finished. On the downhill side, the approach is understood and the remaining work is primarily execution. A dot farther down the right side indicates more of that execution has been completed.
The dot’s position is a judgment by the people closest to the work, not a computer-calculated completion percentage. Basecamp’s Hill Charts documentation puts it this way: “Note how that the status is human generated, not computer generated.” Treat the chart as a visual aid for discussing uncertainty, movement, and remaining execution—not as a numeric estimate or a delivery-date predictor.
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- Create a to-do list for a coherent scope. Choose a piece of work that can progress, be integrated, and be finished independently. Name it so the team can readily recognize what it covers.
- Enable chart tracking. Open that list’s options menu (•••) and select “Track this on the Hill Chart.” Repeat for each scope the team wants to track.
- Place or update the dots. Open the project’s To-dos section, choose Update, and drag each dot to the position the people doing that work believe best represents its current state.
- Add context when useful. Include commentary or an annotation if the new position needs explanation, then save the update.
Keep individual tasks in the to-do items. Use the chart for the larger scopes those tasks belong to, rather than turning every task into a separate dot.
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How to choose and adjust scopes
Use one tracked list per independently trackable scope. A list that mixes work at different stages can produce a dot that is hard to place: for example, delivery tasks may be well understood while design work in the same list still has open questions. Split such a list into clearer scopes so each dot tells a more useful story.
If a dot has not moved, use that as a prompt for discussion rather than assuming the team has made no progress. Ask whether the work is genuinely stuck, whether an important question remains unresolved, or whether the list bundles solved and unsolved parts that should be separated.
How to discuss the chart
- For an uphill scope: Ask what is still unknown and what decision or investigation would clarify the approach.
- Near the top: Discuss whether the important unknowns have been resolved; do not treat the position as proof that the scope is complete.
- For a downhill scope: Focus on execution and what remains to finish.
- Across updates: Compare which scopes moved and which stayed still, then focus the conversation on the relevant unknown, sequencing choice, or remaining work.
How to review previous updates
Hill Chart updates are saved in the project’s history and can include commentary. Review the timestamps and snapshots to see how positions changed over time and to understand the context recorded with an update. Comparing snapshots can help the team identify a scope that has moved, one that has stayed still, or one whose position calls for a closer conversation.
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