Re: Categories Tasks and Assignments.

On Fri, 2002-06-14 at 01:18, Mike wrote:
> Firstly here's a greeting to all of you, this is my first post and I will 
> be attempting to offer some man-power to this project.

Welcome!

> So on to my thoughts..
> 
> Task-groups and project breakdown: From what I've seen and accumulated (i 
> may be wrong) there is currently no real organization to the project 
> besides everyone adding to whatever they can. I propose breaking down the 
> project into a few main categories which may be
>       - OpenCD.org content (programs that will be included in the first 
> distribution)
>       - Text/Documentations (all text needed for a successful distribution 
> -self explanatory)
>       - CD's UI (installer app, technologies involved etc..)
>       - Project organization/management
> These are probably the main most important, others which are somewhat 
> included in these are the public site and so on..
> There should be an assigned project head for each of these, whose tasks 
> will be keeping track of developers, work done, etc. as well as defining 
> and splitting the tasks among the developers.

Yes, this approach seems to work well for many other projects.  We had
the idea for setting up a project committee with 7 or 9 members that
would make the final decisions on various issues.  I posted a request
for candidates for this group, but did not get may replies.  Now I see
that this should be of no surprise, since the structure of it was not
very clear. I think the model that you propose might be more
appropriate.

I took a look at how the OpenOffice project is organized:

http://projects.openoffice.org/index.html?JServSessionIdservlets=2hhokkiq42

The above is a  page, containing the various sub-projects, which each
has one or two coordinators. Each sub-project has its own page
containing general information, status, member list. etc.  Obviously our
list of sub-projects will be shorter than at OpenOffice. 

Ok, so lets try to set up a structure.  First, let's define the various
tasks (my categories vary slightly from yours), and then we can find
people for the job:

Sub-Projects:
-------------

1.  Software content.  This involves managing the process which leads to
the selection of software for the CD, including compiling test results.

2.  Software improvements and documentation - Some of the programs that
we have tested recently look very promising, but have some serious
shortcomings that need to be fixed before they can be included.  The
most common thing is documentation and a smooth installer.  In the case
of Mozilla, it's a question of re-branding.  This group would work on
improving these areas, and also work with the external project
developers to suggest changes and bug fixes that would be required to
qualify for inclusion.  

3.  CD installer - 
  A. Technical issues - Actually making an installer
  B. Graphics, eyecandy and general installer GUI design
  C. CD Documentation(text) - Program descriptions and Install help

4.  Public site development - This includes designing a friendly website
for our end-users, with help/discussion groups for each program on the
CD, various OSS documentation and links.  History and News about the
project, and information about where you can get a CD, for those who
come across the site before the disk.  This effort should be closely
coordinated with the CD GUI development (3.B.), so that we get a similar
look and feel.

5.  Project organization 
  A.  Development coordination and Developer site webmastering - this
includes setting up and maintaining the .org site and the SourceForge
site, including a project overview similar to that found at the link
above. 
  B.  Strategic planning - forward looking plans, including writing
strategic documents in the form of articles.  Contacting media and other
projects.


I have on purpose left out certain topics like marketing/distribution,
etc. in order not to stretch ourselves too far.   There isn't really
much to do in these areas before the CD is done, and by that time many
others will have time freed up to participate in this.


Coordinators 
------------

I suggest we go about filling the above slots in a rather informal way,
where people can suggest themselves or others.  If one job is in high
demand or requires very much, we should allow for two coordinators. 

So, let me just start by making some suggestions:  
(this list is incomplete, so if you feel left out, just add yourself :)

	Imran is already 'The keeper of the list', and is an obvious choice for
coordinating pt. 1. 
	Toby has set up the SourceForge account, including this mailing list
and has done a majority of the design and setup work on the .org site
and so he has first choice on 5.A.  
	Will Martin (Selanit) will work on improved documentation for Celestia
and has done a large amount of testing, and should consider coordinating
#2.  
	Jon Saltzman is currently hacking away at a CD based installer.  J
Aaron Farr and Brant Langer Gurganus have been looking at  the Mozilla
code.  One or more of these might want to take on 3.A.
	Mike Booth might himself consider 3.B. or 4.  Another good candidate
for #4 is Michael Hawkes (lafnlab), who has set up this site:
http://www.gottahavacuppamocha.com , which I think is rather nice, and
which could be the starting point for the development of the public
site. 

Finally, I will put myself forward for #5.B.

I've left several posts open, so I hope people will step forward o r
make recommendations, either in the form of names or structure changes.

Ok, thats my 2 cents on the topic.

-  Henrik


-- 

Henrik Nilsen Omma             Theoretical Physics, Oxford
35 Frenchay Road               1 Keble Road
Oxford OX2 6TG                 Oxford OX1 3NP
[email protected]          [email protected]








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