Open discussions on specific topics selected by the Software Working Group and selected from the list of SWG Topics For Discussion.
Tuesday, April 19, 2022 - What developers need to know about project management moderated by Sandeep Satheesan
Slides: https://uofi.box.com/s/f9uv2zvz91gdiki5otn3twohn3f6txcv
Recording: https://uofi.box.com/s/wn90scjg10p17d0nfnnaclyvppnbh9zh
Attendees:
Sandeep Puthanveetil Satheesan
Discussion:
Project Managers often are unaware of the work that is done on projects and no programmers work on just one project.
Difficulties in time management - programmers need to set expectations with PM's so they know the amount of time needed to do work on the backend.
Planning in the context of academia
Quality Control
Funding Cycles in Academia
A skill set is needed in both PM and SD: effective context switching, effective communication, leadership, problem solving together, time management and risk management
Document what you do and share with PM's
Here are the workflows I had put together, if an example might be useful: https://opensource.ncsa.illinois.edu/confluence/display/NDS/JIRA+Workflows
Prioritization and delegation is vital
Deciding which of many tools we will choose to use: Asana, GitHub, JIRA, Micorsoft Projects, Trello, Wrike, ZenHub, Zoho Projects, Velocity
We need to be conservative in judging how much time is needed to dedicate to each project.
JIRA is a powerful tool, but can be overwhelming based on its features
Combine other software tools like Box or Google Drive
Another tool : Kanban (https://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanban/boards#:~:text=A%20kanban%20board%20is%20an,order%20in%20their%20daily%20work.).
For open-src especially breaking up tasks, by eg. Do-ocracy https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/understanding-open-source-governance-models
When you pick a tool to use, it's important that those using the tool are onboard with it and excited to use the tool.
What techniques to we use woth PM's on both large projects and small projects
Small projects tend to be developer led.
Adapt agile practices when team members are participating with different overlapping projects. or on simultaneous sprints.
Set up parameters with PM's with clear expectations of who is in charge of what.
Developers sometimes are PM's as well!
Set up basic automation in task management, teseting CI/CD, etc
Set up best practices at the beginning of the project.
As far as time management, we need to take into account the time to review as well.
This topic may be continued in the next round table on May 3, 2022.
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