task tracking

[Karsten Wade]

In conversation with Paul this morning on #fedora-docs, he reminded me
that whenever we have tried to manage Docs tasks with a wiki list or
table, it quickly turns in to bitrot.

It's easy to put up a quick task list on a wiki page, but it's never
sufficient, and it quickly turns to ignored dust until the next time
we need it.  Then it's quickly updated (usually too late to make a
difference), and we repeat the cycle.

I have some slim time I can give to Docs right now, and it looks to me
like task tracking is a good thing to focus on.  It would assist
project management, existing and new writers, and other teams relying
upon knowing when Docs' work is being done.[1]

Folks in Fedora have been using Trac for this, because it is a task tracking
tool primarily, and is pretty good for that.  For example:

https://fedorahosted.org/marketing-team/report/1

Any thoughts about this?

Would you all like me to take a shot at organizing all our tasks for
the F13 release in to categorized and milestone-marked items in Trac?

If so, I'll run it for this release as best as I am able, and will be
forcefully training the world so it can be less of a one-person item
next time.  That includes documenting _how_ to use Trac for task
management for this team, etc.

- Karsten

[1]
https://www.theopensourceway.org/wiki/How_to_loosely_organize_a_community...
-- 
name:  Karsten 'quaid' Wade, Sr. Community Gardener
team:                Red Hat Community Architecture 
uri:               http://TheOpenSourceWay.org/wiki
gpg:                                       AD0E0C41

[Paul W. Frields]

On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 10:18:40AM -0700, Karsten Wade wrote:
>  In conversation with Paul this morning on #fedora-docs, he reminded
> me
>  that whenever we have tried to manage Docs tasks with a wiki list or
>  table, it quickly turns in to bitrot.
>  
>  It's easy to put up a quick task list on a wiki page, but it's never
>  sufficient, and it quickly turns to ignored dust until the next time
>  we need it.  Then it's quickly updated (usually too late to make a
>  difference), and we repeat the cycle.
>  
>  I have some slim time I can give to Docs right now, and it looks to me
>  like task tracking is a good thing to focus on.  It would assist
>  project management, existing and new writers, and other teams relying
>  upon knowing when Docs' work is being done.[1]
>  
>  Folks in Fedora have been using Trac for this, because it is a task tracking
>  tool primarily, and is pretty good for that.  For example:
>  
>  https://fedorahosted.org/marketing-team/report/1
>  
>  Any thoughts about this?
>  
>  Would you all like me to take a shot at organizing all our tasks for
>  the F13 release in to categorized and milestone-marked items in Trac?
>  
>  If so, I'll run it for this release as best as I am able, and will be
>  forcefully training the world so it can be less of a one-person item
>  next time.  That includes documenting _how_ to use Trac for task
>  management for this team, etc.
>  
>  - Karsten
>  
>  [1]
> https://www.theopensourceway.org/wiki/How_to_loosely_organize_a_community...
I don't have any investment in Trac other than that I use it
successfully elsewhere (to manage Board business for instance).  Trac
is fast(er than Bugzilla), queries are relatively easy to build, and
the milestone stuff is easier to understand than BZ too.  BZ is great
for tracking real content bugs, and I'm not suggesting we replace
that.  Heck, if people think it's just a waste of time to try and do
anything other than email and looking at John's schedule, I won't push
back.  Here are a couple of problems it might help us solve:

* Makes your agenda for you -- using a keyword and a query, you've got
  your weekly agenda.  (I do this elsewhere.)

* Milestones make it easy to see the discrete tasks that need to be
  done and by when.  That would help us focus our meetings on the
  deliverables for a Fedora release when needed, so we won't miss
  deadlines.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
          Where open source multiplies: http://opensource.com

[Karsten Wade]

On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 07:31:44PM -0400, Paul W. Frields wrote:

>  back.  Here are a couple of problems it might help us solve: 
Heck, if people want to keep notes on paper about what they are doing,
they'll still get work done.

My focus is on enabling other, new or returning people at
participating.

Whatever makes a visible task list with _visible_holes_ is my main
goal in this thinking.  If a wiki list is going to bitrot, then
something else.

Central task tracking also means, if someone has to disappear or gets
eaten by a raptor, we can help support them and the project with a
visible list of assigned tasks.

And, yeah, I don't dig bugzilla as a task tool, but it's great for
content bugs.  Trac is where you take 1 bug and generate N individual
work items for individual people.  Doing that in bugzilla is highly
sub-optimal and not trivial.

- Karsten
-- 
name:  Karsten 'quaid' Wade, Sr. Community Gardener
team:                Red Hat Community Architecture 
uri:               http://TheOpenSourceWay.org/wiki
gpg:                                       AD0E0C41

[Jason Sizemore]

I agree with Nathan I am in the same boat as a new contributor.

Thanks

On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 10:51 AM, Nathan Thomas <
nathan.thomas(a)peacenik.co.uk&gt; wrote:

>   As a new contributor it would be very helpful to me to be able to
> see
>  upcoming jobs that need doing, so that whenever I have a couple of hours
>  spare I can just pick something up. As this is my first release cycle I find
>  John's schedule a little too general at times - it would be great to have a
>  more detailed list of subtasks.
>
>  Nathan
>
>  On 19/03/10 01:16, Karsten Wade wrote:
>
>  On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 07:31:44PM -0400, Paul W. Frields wrote:
>
>
>
>   back.  Here are a couple of problems it might help us solve:
>
>
>   Heck, if people want to keep notes on paper about what they are doing,
>  they'll still get work done.
>
>  My focus is on enabling other, new or returning people at
>  participating.
>
>  Whatever makes a visible task list with _visible_holes_ is my main
>  goal in this thinking.  If a wiki list is going to bitrot, then
>  something else.
>
>  Central task tracking also means, if someone has to disappear or gets
>  eaten by a raptor, we can help support them and the project with a
>  visible list of assigned tasks.
>
>  And, yeah, I don't dig bugzilla as a task tool, but it's great for
>  content bugs.  Trac is where you take 1 bug and generate N individual
>  work items for individual people.  Doing that in bugzilla is highly
>  sub-optimal and not trivial.
>
>  - Karsten
>
>
>
>  --
>  docs mailing list
>  docs(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
>  To unsubscribe:
>  https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/docs
>

[Eli]

Me too, I definitely agree. The other two have pretty much summed it
up. 

Eli

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Sizemore <sizemj2(a)gmail.com&gt;
Reply-to: For participants of the Documentation Project
<docs(a)lists.fedoraproject.org&gt;
To: For participants of the Documentation Project
<docs(a)lists.fedoraproject.org&gt;
Subject: Re: task tracking
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:57:50 -0400

I agree with Nathan I am in the same boat as a new contributor.


Thanks 

On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 10:51 AM, Nathan Thomas
<nathan.thomas(a)peacenik.co.uk&gt; wrote:
        As a new contributor it would be very helpful to me to be able
        to see upcoming jobs that need doing, so that whenever I have a
        couple of hours spare I can just pick something up. As this is
        my first release cycle I find John's schedule a little too
        general at times - it would be great to have a more detailed
        list of subtasks.
        
        Nathan
        
        On 19/03/10 01:16, Karsten Wade wrote: 
>  On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 07:31:44PM -0400, Paul W. Frields wrote:
>  
>    
>  > back.  Here are a couple of problems it might help us solve:
>  >     
>  Heck, if people want to keep notes on paper about what they are doing,
>  they'll still get work done.
>  
>  My focus is on enabling other, new or returning people at
>  participating.
>  
>  Whatever makes a visible task list with _visible_holes_ is my main
>  goal in this thinking.  If a wiki list is going to bitrot, then
>  something else.
>  
>  Central task tracking also means, if someone has to disappear or gets
>  eaten by a raptor, we can help support them and the project with a
>  visible list of assigned tasks.
>  
>  And, yeah, I don't dig bugzilla as a task tool, but it's great for
>  content bugs.  Trac is where you take 1 bug and generate N individual
>  work items for individual people.  Doing that in bugzilla is highly
>  sub-optimal and not trivial.
>  
>  - Karsten
>     
        
        --
        docs mailing list
        docs(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
        To unsubscribe:
        https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/docs


-- 
docs mailing list
docs(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
To unsubscribe: 
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/docs