Information organization
Tuesday, 18. March 2008, 10:30:29
I have a trick question for you:
How do you organize information about a software project?
This time, I'm asking because I don't have a definite answer, and I'd like to find out some opinions.
I can think of a few things to start on.
First of all, who is interested in the information? Business people, developers, administrators, the deployment team, the maintenance team? Ideally, there is different information for the different roles, and it should be presented differently. Business people only care about the plan and the project status, but quality information on the project is interesting as well. Developers need in-depth knowledge of all technical stuff in the project: the build process, the requirements, the general architecture, the role of each library/executable/service, data structure etc. Administrators need to know how to get information about a live system, and how to manage it. The deployment team needs to know how the deployment takes place, what issues may appear and how to solve them.
Second of all, how is the information presented? One way is with documents (word, pdf, open office - pick your format). Another way is on a wiki. Other ways include presentations, videos, podcasts etc., usually reserved for people who have to be appeased. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages: documents become difficult to manage, wikis have a loose organization, and the others are more difficult to maintain.
In the end, what everyone wants is a system where:
So, does anybody have ideas on how to manage information related to a software project?
Personal advertisement: I am PassionIT and I help teams develop high quality software. I train, I help improving and I work hands-on, depending on the needs. Contact me if you need help. Alexandru Bolboaca-Diaconu
How do you organize information about a software project?
This time, I'm asking because I don't have a definite answer, and I'd like to find out some opinions.
I can think of a few things to start on.
First of all, who is interested in the information? Business people, developers, administrators, the deployment team, the maintenance team? Ideally, there is different information for the different roles, and it should be presented differently. Business people only care about the plan and the project status, but quality information on the project is interesting as well. Developers need in-depth knowledge of all technical stuff in the project: the build process, the requirements, the general architecture, the role of each library/executable/service, data structure etc. Administrators need to know how to get information about a live system, and how to manage it. The deployment team needs to know how the deployment takes place, what issues may appear and how to solve them.
Second of all, how is the information presented? One way is with documents (word, pdf, open office - pick your format). Another way is on a wiki. Other ways include presentations, videos, podcasts etc., usually reserved for people who have to be appeased. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages: documents become difficult to manage, wikis have a loose organization, and the others are more difficult to maintain.
In the end, what everyone wants is a system where:
- all important information is laid down
- all important information is easy to find
- the system is easy to maintain
- information is presented in the appropriate way
So, does anybody have ideas on how to manage information related to a software project?
Personal advertisement: I am PassionIT and I help teams develop high quality software. I train, I help improving and I work hands-on, depending on the needs. Contact me if you need help. Alexandru Bolboaca-Diaconu
