Project Management Software/System you use

[gblake]

A general comment is that "Project Management" is not one single thing. It can mean all kinds of different things to different people.

There are some common project management themes because of the way the universe works (such as "you can't assemble parts you don't possess", or "you can't finish writing an article about your complete FTC season until the season ends"); but there are many different ways to handle the rest of whatever you decide "project management" is.

Pick a method that gives you the answers you will use to accomplish your current or next activity(s). In other words, pick a method that produces results that you will "consume" in some way.

Avoid methods, or products, that record/track/produce a lot of information that might look pretty, but that doesn't affect what you do from one day to the next.

A whiteboard and a stack of post-it notes can work much better than more complicated methods for many projects. On the other hand, I know some of the other methods/products mentioned here can also work very well. I have used some of them successfully.

Bottom Line: Let the type of project (the work to be done, and the types/locations of the workers) determine the method you use. Don't let the method determine how you will organize the project.

"Don't let the tail wag the dog."

Blake

[GreyingJay]

Originally Posted by gblake

Pick a method that gives you the answers you will use to accomplish your current or next activity(s). In other words, pick a method that produces results that you will "consume" in some way.

Avoid methods, or products, that record/track/produce a lot of information that might look pretty, but that doesn't affect what you do from one day to the next.

A whiteboard and a stack of post-it notes can work much better than more complicated methods for many projects.

These are some great points.

In an ideal world we would all be physically located in a similar space, with access to all the resources that we need. Then if we needed something we'd just go over and talk to the right people.

Some teams can literally do that, and so may not need as much tracking on a website or other software tool. You'll just annoy everyone if you introduce too much process.

Post-it notes on a wall are actually a great, low-tech way to keep track of tasks and their progress. Advocates of "agile" development methodologies actually promote literally doing this. Naturally 3M is all on board too:

http://www.post-it.com/3M/en_US/post...s/agile-scrum/

[*Rachelle*]

Originally Posted by Beaker

I would recommend Trello for a small team. Given, we aren't a small team, but we do use Trello to manage the Programming and Website teams, which are normally groups of maybe 10 to 15 people.

When using Trello I make a list for each project, then I make 2 general lists, "Open Tasks" and "Finished." I give each project a label and I also create a scale of difficulty with the labels so that people of different skill levels on my Programming team can choose to work on tasks that fit their skill.

Since we have increased our use of Trello recently, we feel more organized and it seems like we are getting a lot more done. It's rewarding to put cards on the finished list.

Thank you for the input! Right now I am using Excel and I color code different tasks to indicate importance, it automatically throws red on top and green on bottom. I also have a details column and places where I can put names, notes, and dates. I simply "strike through" the row when complete or hide it.

[remyhall]

Hey All,

This thread was passed on to me by Marshall Massengill of FRC Team 900.

My company Flow (getflow.com) is interested in sponsoring a robotics team with a free 1-year subscription for our project and task management software. Please me, remy@getflow.com if you are interested. We are looking to start with just one team, and will review all teams that make contact in the next two weeks.

Best of luck to you all!