[thelist] program management software?

[Ken Schaefer]

Project would be overkill for something like this, unless you need to manage
quite a few concurrent projects. Project handles things like resource
leveling where you may have a resource (e.g. a person, room, computer)
over-committed at particular points in time after you add all their different
commitments. So, you can then have Project analyse the critical path, and
move tasks around so that the resource is not overcommitted. Stuff like that
is part of heavy-duty PM tools.

You can use Visio for doing various flowcharts, UML, ER diagrams etc. If
these are web applications, I certainly wouldn't just have a flowchart. You
need more comprehensive documentation to prevent scope creep. You should have
flowcharts and use cases to start off with (or similar high level conceptual
docs), and then as you develop your classes, each and every interface with
their properties and methods should be documented. One thing you may also
wish to look at is Test Driven Development, which is one of the hot topics at
the moment. But that requires writing your tests before you write your code -
so yet more up-front documentation work.

Cheers
Ken

> -----Original Message-----
> From: thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org [mailto:thelist-
> bounces at lists.evolt.org] On Behalf Of Casey
> Sent: Tuesday, 4 October 2005 11:25 AM
> To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
> Subject: Re: [thelist] program management software?
> 
> 
> > I suppose Casey needs to list his requirements.
> 
> Right.  Good point.
> 
> For several years now I have been subcontracting as a designer and
> developer for a very small, one man shop.  The owner has recently
> expressed an interest in hiring a project manager.  Keep in mind that the
> projects we are talking about usually have a total of 3 or 4 people
> working on small projects and 6 or 7 on the larger ones, so they are by no
> means enterprise level. (Worked as a PeopleSoft developer for two years in
> a mammoth company of several hundred people in the IT department alone -
> we are not talking anywhere near that level). But, we do do a fair amount
> of web based application development, usually for small to medium
> companies with anywhere from 3 to 50 employees.
> 
> What I had in mind:
>   a.. Create and document the project's initial scope.
>   b.. Create a flow-chart that outlines the logic flow of the application.
>     a.. The idea here is to have the client sign-off on the flow chart to
> prevent scope creep
>     b.. This flow chart should also be such that it can be handed off to a
> developer who can create the application with little or no other
> guidelines
>   c.. Ability to break down the flowchart into specific tasks or objects
> and assign them to team members (workflow)
>   d.. Allow team members to document progress and others to view the
> documentation
>   e.. Develop bids
>   f.. Track hours
>   g.. Document management (nice, but not required)
>   h.. Help desk - create tickets, assign them to team members, document
> progress, etc.  (nice, but not required)
> I have a hunch that MS Project would be like killing a gnat with a canon,
> but I'm open to input.
> 
> Thanks.