How do I manage a small dev team with a large number of small projects
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I'm running a dev team of 4 (me included) that is in a somewhat unusual situation. We have a large number of active projects (~50). However the projects are generally fairly small, i.e. 3 weeks from start to finish. We use SVN for source control and currently store all notes, bugs etc in text files in a /doc directory of the svn project. To keep track of the projects and what we're all working on, we have a shared spreadsheet with Client, Project, Developer etc. All the projects are maintained, bug fixes and feature requests do come up, but we're coping at the moment. Our company is going through the transition from small business where everyone knows what everyone else is doing up to a medium enterprise where we need structure in order to know what is going on. Since I've been moved from lead developer to Manager (capital M important) the challenges I'm facing (management and technical) are: 1. Who is doing what and when will it be done? 2. Who is giving us work and how do I allocate it? 3. How do I keep track of billing the work to our clients? Dev time for new products is not chargeable because there is a license fee. Bug fixes are not chargeable, but feature requests are on either a Time and Materials or whatever I feel like. 4. Is there a bug tracking system that is *quick* to setup new projects in? Preferably one that I can link commits from subversion into. 5. I haven't looked at CruiseControl or the like, but is it quick and easy to setup a new project? I haven't been able to find anything on how to manage a team in these circumstances. Can anyone here help me blunder a little less disastrously and slightly more quickly through the management responsibilities that come up on a day to day basis.
We used EZ-Task at my last job. It's web-based.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001 -
I'm running a dev team of 4 (me included) that is in a somewhat unusual situation. We have a large number of active projects (~50). However the projects are generally fairly small, i.e. 3 weeks from start to finish. We use SVN for source control and currently store all notes, bugs etc in text files in a /doc directory of the svn project. To keep track of the projects and what we're all working on, we have a shared spreadsheet with Client, Project, Developer etc. All the projects are maintained, bug fixes and feature requests do come up, but we're coping at the moment. Our company is going through the transition from small business where everyone knows what everyone else is doing up to a medium enterprise where we need structure in order to know what is going on. Since I've been moved from lead developer to Manager (capital M important) the challenges I'm facing (management and technical) are: 1. Who is doing what and when will it be done? 2. Who is giving us work and how do I allocate it? 3. How do I keep track of billing the work to our clients? Dev time for new products is not chargeable because there is a license fee. Bug fixes are not chargeable, but feature requests are on either a Time and Materials or whatever I feel like. 4. Is there a bug tracking system that is *quick* to setup new projects in? Preferably one that I can link commits from subversion into. 5. I haven't looked at CruiseControl or the like, but is it quick and easy to setup a new project? I haven't been able to find anything on how to manage a team in these circumstances. Can anyone here help me blunder a little less disastrously and slightly more quickly through the management responsibilities that come up on a day to day basis.
Take a look at OnTime by Axosoft. It's a great tool for exactly what ypu're doing. Single user is free.
Everything makes sense in someone's mind
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Take a look at OnTime by Axosoft. It's a great tool for exactly what ypu're doing. Single user is free.
Everything makes sense in someone's mind
It's funny that you should mention it here. I checked it out and on their website, the first option in the drop down box for "How did you hear about AxoSoft?" is "CodeProject". But the name does seem familiar so I guess their have an advertisement deal with CP.
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I'm running a dev team of 4 (me included) that is in a somewhat unusual situation. We have a large number of active projects (~50). However the projects are generally fairly small, i.e. 3 weeks from start to finish. We use SVN for source control and currently store all notes, bugs etc in text files in a /doc directory of the svn project. To keep track of the projects and what we're all working on, we have a shared spreadsheet with Client, Project, Developer etc. All the projects are maintained, bug fixes and feature requests do come up, but we're coping at the moment. Our company is going through the transition from small business where everyone knows what everyone else is doing up to a medium enterprise where we need structure in order to know what is going on. Since I've been moved from lead developer to Manager (capital M important) the challenges I'm facing (management and technical) are: 1. Who is doing what and when will it be done? 2. Who is giving us work and how do I allocate it? 3. How do I keep track of billing the work to our clients? Dev time for new products is not chargeable because there is a license fee. Bug fixes are not chargeable, but feature requests are on either a Time and Materials or whatever I feel like. 4. Is there a bug tracking system that is *quick* to setup new projects in? Preferably one that I can link commits from subversion into. 5. I haven't looked at CruiseControl or the like, but is it quick and easy to setup a new project? I haven't been able to find anything on how to manage a team in these circumstances. Can anyone here help me blunder a little less disastrously and slightly more quickly through the management responsibilities that come up on a day to day basis.
Oh you only need TFS 2010 that's it
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Take a look at OnTime by Axosoft. It's a great tool for exactly what ypu're doing. Single user is free.
Everything makes sense in someone's mind
Yep, i second OnTime. Compare editions: http://www.axosoft.com/ontime/try_ontime_free[^] There is an limited feature Express Edition which is free as well as the single-user-free Professional Edition. If you are moving to medium enterprise though, a few hundred bucks shouldn't be a problem for the full version.
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Oh you only need TFS 2010 that's it
try www.SigmaProDraconis.com they say they can do it for about $150 but i couldnt set it up.
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I'm running a dev team of 4 (me included) that is in a somewhat unusual situation. We have a large number of active projects (~50). However the projects are generally fairly small, i.e. 3 weeks from start to finish. We use SVN for source control and currently store all notes, bugs etc in text files in a /doc directory of the svn project. To keep track of the projects and what we're all working on, we have a shared spreadsheet with Client, Project, Developer etc. All the projects are maintained, bug fixes and feature requests do come up, but we're coping at the moment. Our company is going through the transition from small business where everyone knows what everyone else is doing up to a medium enterprise where we need structure in order to know what is going on. Since I've been moved from lead developer to Manager (capital M important) the challenges I'm facing (management and technical) are: 1. Who is doing what and when will it be done? 2. Who is giving us work and how do I allocate it? 3. How do I keep track of billing the work to our clients? Dev time for new products is not chargeable because there is a license fee. Bug fixes are not chargeable, but feature requests are on either a Time and Materials or whatever I feel like. 4. Is there a bug tracking system that is *quick* to setup new projects in? Preferably one that I can link commits from subversion into. 5. I haven't looked at CruiseControl or the like, but is it quick and easy to setup a new project? I haven't been able to find anything on how to manage a team in these circumstances. Can anyone here help me blunder a little less disastrously and slightly more quickly through the management responsibilities that come up on a day to day basis.
Open source vTigerCRM + Add On Module for project management (lean and mean for small teams: project name, customer + operations/task list - assign to whomever, let them enter progress. Done Deal. Free, open source, change it if you need to. dotProject is awesome also but has almost too much for a team not wanting to get bogged in admin stuff to much. Works for us - 14 consultants strong, lots of projects, tasks, itty bitty ones, spread out (multiple folks participating) etc... If you need version control etc - take notice of the other posts - svn is decent.. but for the project management bits: accountability is our main thing "Who is doing what? Is it done yet?" are the main questions asked around here. --Jason
Know way too many languages... master of none!
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I'm running a dev team of 4 (me included) that is in a somewhat unusual situation. We have a large number of active projects (~50). However the projects are generally fairly small, i.e. 3 weeks from start to finish. We use SVN for source control and currently store all notes, bugs etc in text files in a /doc directory of the svn project. To keep track of the projects and what we're all working on, we have a shared spreadsheet with Client, Project, Developer etc. All the projects are maintained, bug fixes and feature requests do come up, but we're coping at the moment. Our company is going through the transition from small business where everyone knows what everyone else is doing up to a medium enterprise where we need structure in order to know what is going on. Since I've been moved from lead developer to Manager (capital M important) the challenges I'm facing (management and technical) are: 1. Who is doing what and when will it be done? 2. Who is giving us work and how do I allocate it? 3. How do I keep track of billing the work to our clients? Dev time for new products is not chargeable because there is a license fee. Bug fixes are not chargeable, but feature requests are on either a Time and Materials or whatever I feel like. 4. Is there a bug tracking system that is *quick* to setup new projects in? Preferably one that I can link commits from subversion into. 5. I haven't looked at CruiseControl or the like, but is it quick and easy to setup a new project? I haven't been able to find anything on how to manage a team in these circumstances. Can anyone here help me blunder a little less disastrously and slightly more quickly through the management responsibilities that come up on a day to day basis.
Dalek Dave gave you some good advice and probably more important than which software to use for testing, although that is critic to your development process. You situation sounds very similar to one I was in 5 or so years ago... I was also the owner of the business so had a vested interest in coming in on time, budget, etc, etc... Ask yourself how important you are to the development team and development process and more importantly can the team do without you and your skills. If you are critical to the development team and enjoy development then dont bother taking on all the project management yourself. Hire a specialised project manager who does this for a living and work closesly with him from a technical perspective. If this is not an option then you can remove yourself as part of the development team, in terms of billing, in your forecasts since managing projects and clients (especially clients) is a full time (and then some) job. If on the other hand you are happy to move into this type of role (which I did and went back 2 yrs later) then hire yourself another lead developer or hand over lead tech to someone in the team who can handle it and hire another developer (you can then deal with him to keep yourself in teh loop). By all means do not try and do both especially if you growing an moving into more projects. This can only lead to proejct failure or/and unhappy clients because you didnt make them feel wanted.. I guess I didnt answer some of your questions but if you hire a project manager who specilises in development projects he will be able to give you more information relevent to your situation since he will be able to analyse your current state.. Best of luck!!!
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I'd be surprised at anyone who uses TFS and actually pays for it. I bet the majority of people who use it have an MS partnership or some other deal where they get the software for free. Most of what it does is available in free tools - the main thing you get with TFS is better integration.
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I'm running a dev team of 4 (me included) that is in a somewhat unusual situation. We have a large number of active projects (~50). However the projects are generally fairly small, i.e. 3 weeks from start to finish. We use SVN for source control and currently store all notes, bugs etc in text files in a /doc directory of the svn project. To keep track of the projects and what we're all working on, we have a shared spreadsheet with Client, Project, Developer etc. All the projects are maintained, bug fixes and feature requests do come up, but we're coping at the moment. Our company is going through the transition from small business where everyone knows what everyone else is doing up to a medium enterprise where we need structure in order to know what is going on. Since I've been moved from lead developer to Manager (capital M important) the challenges I'm facing (management and technical) are: 1. Who is doing what and when will it be done? 2. Who is giving us work and how do I allocate it? 3. How do I keep track of billing the work to our clients? Dev time for new products is not chargeable because there is a license fee. Bug fixes are not chargeable, but feature requests are on either a Time and Materials or whatever I feel like. 4. Is there a bug tracking system that is *quick* to setup new projects in? Preferably one that I can link commits from subversion into. 5. I haven't looked at CruiseControl or the like, but is it quick and easy to setup a new project? I haven't been able to find anything on how to manage a team in these circumstances. Can anyone here help me blunder a little less disastrously and slightly more quickly through the management responsibilities that come up on a day to day basis.
Am in a similar postion, currently we are using this dotproject, covers 90% of our management requirements and is open source.
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I'm running a dev team of 4 (me included) that is in a somewhat unusual situation. We have a large number of active projects (~50). However the projects are generally fairly small, i.e. 3 weeks from start to finish. We use SVN for source control and currently store all notes, bugs etc in text files in a /doc directory of the svn project. To keep track of the projects and what we're all working on, we have a shared spreadsheet with Client, Project, Developer etc. All the projects are maintained, bug fixes and feature requests do come up, but we're coping at the moment. Our company is going through the transition from small business where everyone knows what everyone else is doing up to a medium enterprise where we need structure in order to know what is going on. Since I've been moved from lead developer to Manager (capital M important) the challenges I'm facing (management and technical) are: 1. Who is doing what and when will it be done? 2. Who is giving us work and how do I allocate it? 3. How do I keep track of billing the work to our clients? Dev time for new products is not chargeable because there is a license fee. Bug fixes are not chargeable, but feature requests are on either a Time and Materials or whatever I feel like. 4. Is there a bug tracking system that is *quick* to setup new projects in? Preferably one that I can link commits from subversion into. 5. I haven't looked at CruiseControl or the like, but is it quick and easy to setup a new project? I haven't been able to find anything on how to manage a team in these circumstances. Can anyone here help me blunder a little less disastrously and slightly more quickly through the management responsibilities that come up on a day to day basis.
hehe! i don`t know
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I'm running a dev team of 4 (me included) that is in a somewhat unusual situation. We have a large number of active projects (~50). However the projects are generally fairly small, i.e. 3 weeks from start to finish. We use SVN for source control and currently store all notes, bugs etc in text files in a /doc directory of the svn project. To keep track of the projects and what we're all working on, we have a shared spreadsheet with Client, Project, Developer etc. All the projects are maintained, bug fixes and feature requests do come up, but we're coping at the moment. Our company is going through the transition from small business where everyone knows what everyone else is doing up to a medium enterprise where we need structure in order to know what is going on. Since I've been moved from lead developer to Manager (capital M important) the challenges I'm facing (management and technical) are: 1. Who is doing what and when will it be done? 2. Who is giving us work and how do I allocate it? 3. How do I keep track of billing the work to our clients? Dev time for new products is not chargeable because there is a license fee. Bug fixes are not chargeable, but feature requests are on either a Time and Materials or whatever I feel like. 4. Is there a bug tracking system that is *quick* to setup new projects in? Preferably one that I can link commits from subversion into. 5. I haven't looked at CruiseControl or the like, but is it quick and easy to setup a new project? I haven't been able to find anything on how to manage a team in these circumstances. Can anyone here help me blunder a little less disastrously and slightly more quickly through the management responsibilities that come up on a day to day basis.
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I'm running a dev team of 4 (me included) that is in a somewhat unusual situation. We have a large number of active projects (~50). However the projects are generally fairly small, i.e. 3 weeks from start to finish. We use SVN for source control and currently store all notes, bugs etc in text files in a /doc directory of the svn project. To keep track of the projects and what we're all working on, we have a shared spreadsheet with Client, Project, Developer etc. All the projects are maintained, bug fixes and feature requests do come up, but we're coping at the moment. Our company is going through the transition from small business where everyone knows what everyone else is doing up to a medium enterprise where we need structure in order to know what is going on. Since I've been moved from lead developer to Manager (capital M important) the challenges I'm facing (management and technical) are: 1. Who is doing what and when will it be done? 2. Who is giving us work and how do I allocate it? 3. How do I keep track of billing the work to our clients? Dev time for new products is not chargeable because there is a license fee. Bug fixes are not chargeable, but feature requests are on either a Time and Materials or whatever I feel like. 4. Is there a bug tracking system that is *quick* to setup new projects in? Preferably one that I can link commits from subversion into. 5. I haven't looked at CruiseControl or the like, but is it quick and easy to setup a new project? I haven't been able to find anything on how to manage a team in these circumstances. Can anyone here help me blunder a little less disastrously and slightly more quickly through the management responsibilities that come up on a day to day basis.
http://www.redmine.org It's a true multi-user Project Management System, it integrates bug and task tracking, versioning and integration with code repository. It features time tracking, wiki project documentation, mailing, reporting, many plugins such as Requirements Management, Risk Management, Peer Code Review, etc.... oh, it's FOSS... I'm surprised nobody mentioned Redmine (so far)... Eric