QuickBase

QuickBase is one of the best software applications that I have ever used. (Disclaimer: it is built by one of the Intuit teams where I used to work. :)

QuickBase is a web database; it lets you organize and share information in a structured form. I have hundreds of QuickBases. :)

The designers of QuickBase realized that most "databases" are "small" (say, less than 10,000 records, in fact many less than 1,000 records) and decided that ease-of-use was more important than strict rules.

This means that QuickBase makes it very easy for you to change your mind about how your database is structured at any time, even after you have a bunch of stuff in there!

My biggest problem with QuickBases are that most humans over-estimate their ability to stay organized, and as such they always create new databases with way too many fields. They try to setup systems to track stuff because it is possible, instead of focusing on what is most usable. Such complicated QuickBases are almost never widely used, since others can not understand them.

My strongest suggestion to QuickBase users is to start simple-- create very simple database structures, and only after you (and others) are successful using it for a while, only then should you start to add a little more structure.

My QuickBase Conventions

1. Simplicity. Keep schemas simple. Simpler than you think you need. Really.
2. Terseness. Keep field names and values small, ideally one word, all lowercase, and short words are better than long words. The reason for this is to have flexibility in having many different views each of which should be easy to read. Longer field names cause wider columns and thus harder to fit more info into some views.
3. Prioritization. I like having a two-character multiple choice field which I usually call "Pri" with values P0, P1, P2 (default), P3, P9. Don't make this mistake of making everything high priority, or the same priority. :) I try to use P0 only when something is very urgent. I use P9 to indicate something which is on the list but which is very low priority, a task not to be worked on but to be listed so as to show that we didn't forget it.
4. Owners. Databases used for issue tracking should have owners. I like using unix login names to keep the owner field all lowercase and eight characters max. :) I don't like issues with multiple owners-- always assign one main owner/driver, and they can get the help of others as needed. You can use an owner of TBD when you want to list an issue but you are not yet sure of who will own it.

Example QuickBases

• Paul's feedback about QuickBase itself :)
• meet.f7.net is a list of places to meet
• Paul's list of some books
• The IVR Cheat Sheet is powered by this QuickBase.