Create a New Web to keep Project Management

Problem

Currently, all the individual efforts (some listed in LiveProjects, others in PersonalRoadmaps and others on topics scattered across Codev) are just "lost" in the flow of changes in Codev.

For example, a newcomer would not know that MartinCleaver is working on a rewrite of the registration process, CrawfordCurrie changed the rendering process in DEVELOP, WillNorris is working on a twiki installer, that I'm working on a TWikiSDK and TWikiShellContrib or who is working on the TWikiCodebaseSecurityAudit. Also, PeterThoeny did some nifty stuff for debugging plugins.... but few people know about it.

-- RafaelAlvarez - 28 Nov 2004

Proposal

• Create a new web for TWiki Project Management. Move there all the Releases topics, PersonalRoadmaps, LiveProjects, TWikiRoadMap, TWikiProjects and some gateway topics to relevant TopicClassification. This web would not containt ANY topic besides those informing what is happening in the TWikiProject.
• Change the web WebHome topic to show relevant information in the first screen (so users don't need to do a scrolldown to find important stuff)

-- RafaelAlvarez - 28 Nov 2004

Poll

Do you agree that having a separate web to manage the TWiki project will help to increase the visibility of the process?

Comments

I was going to support this, when I thought this web was going to be for project management, but with the addition of documentation topics, like roadmaps, I'm not so interested. I am still in the one discussion web , and multiple process webs (where a process web has tight database like workflows - prefferably with no text area).

So - I'd support a Tasks Web, containing all change requests (including bugs) (with topic names like Task9876). this would then allow us to define a set of queries that show us this sort of information. Otherwise - I thought the entire twiki.org site should only really be about what is happening to the TWikiProject (I can see its not) - maybe I'd grok it better if you explained what in Codev would not go there, and how it would not mistakenly be created there by someone. Infact, how would adding another freeform web reduce the confusion about where to post a topic, considering that users are often asked to move their enquirey in / out of the support web, depending on where in the process it is..

I wonder if what we don't need instead, is to spend a few days removing old topics to an archive web, and amalgamating duplicate topics (as there are lots of those) (keep in mind that codev is only 2500 topics) and some of those are athens discussions that don't have much relevance (except in the rare case that someone wants to know why a feature works that way...

-- SvenDowideit - 30 Nov 2004

Sven, I added your vote as a "2" because that's what it sounds like from your missive above.

If we had an active program manager, I'd really support this proposal; but we don't, we have a bunch of people who sometimes keep project data up to date, sometimes not. We have just invested significant effort into simplifying the process in Codev; I'd rather try working with that process a bit first, for example using gateway topics like LiveProjects topics to collate activities. I don't think a new web at this stage adds anything but confusion.

-- CrawfordCurrie - 30 Nov 2004

Sven, let me explain myself better. The idea of that web is to have a place that only has the information about:

1. What goes to each release
2. Projects that can't be related to a specific release (TWikiInstaller, TWikiSDK, ModPerlize)
3. Who is working on what

The implementation details of how this information will be put in place, are to be defined and I'll be happy with any mechanism that fulfills those three points above.

Codev should remain as the "Primordial Soup" for new ideas and FeatuerBrainstorming. A process could be stablished so once a FeatureBrainstorming becomes a FeatureUnderConstruction the spec (and only the spec) could be moved to a new topic in the Project web. This topic can be feed with the discussions in the original topic.

OTOH, the problem is not "where to post" but "where to look". On TWikiIRC I posted an example: If you look who is working on the TWikiInstaller, starting from the main page ( http://twiki.org ) you will find that the responsable is MichaelSparks because there is no visibility on the work of WillNorris.

-- RafaelAlvarez - 30 Nov 2004