Gary,

This is very, very interesting. Thank you for sharing this with the list. Would it be possible for you to share screenshots of your Confluence views using the metadata-report macro? We use Confluence for the same purpose, but maintain an independent list of projects in its own table. This tends to break down, as Confluence (or any wiki) seems to be great for generating a list, but keeping it up to data and in sync with items as they evolve in status requires duplicate data entry (and therefore doesn't happen efficiently / at all). 

We have found the JIRA-Confluence link to be an excellent bridge between the two systems. For example, we track collections that need to be ingested to the repository as individual tickets in JIRA; we reflect this list in Confluence as a list. When JIRA tickets are updated, the list is automatically updated. It's very DRY, and helps keep people who don't use JIRA regularly out of JIRA--something everyone involved appreciates. 

- Tom

 | Tom Cramer
 | Chief Technology Strategist & Associate Director 
 | Digital Library Systems & Services
 | Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information Resources
 | Stanford University
 | [log in to unmask]

On Feb 23, 2012, at 9:02 AM, Gary Thompson wrote:

> At UCLA, we've been trying to get a better handle on project management, and have developed a set of practices using a suite of tools.
> 
> We begin projects with a One-Pager, a project proposal or description.  It includes description of the problem, proposed solution, scope, deliverables, risks, and fiscal impact.  The project manager and management sponsors are identified, along with other staff resources.
> 
> The One-Pager goes in Confluence (a wiki from Atlassian), where we keep our technical documentation.  We use the label feature and the metadata-report macro to provide numerous views of our projects according to status (pending, approved, complete, canceled), by team, by priority, and by fiscal year, and various combinations of those factors.
> 
> Once a project is approved, the project manager uses MS Project to develop the WBS/task list and schedule, and identify sequence and dependencies.  This tool works well for the project manager planning, and provides good Gannt charts, reports and views. Its main limitation is the amount of work needed to keep it current.
> 
> To make it easier to keep project plans up-to-date, we found the Ceptah Bridge (a plug-in for MS Project) and Jira, a task/ticket tracking product from Atlassian.  The Ceptah Bridge allows the project manager to generate Jira tickets from MS Project, and to update MS Project on demand as programmers update the tickets.
> 
> This might sound complex, but the division of labor works out nicely.  The project manager only needs to work in MS Project.  Programmers can update individual tasks in Jira without having to mess with MS Project.  Schedule problems are reflected in MS Project as a result of a programmer updating a Jira ticket.
> 
> Atlassian provides plug-in that link Confluence and Jira, but we have not yet explored that linkage.  We expect to find value in adding such links, but are still adjusting the the workflow described above.
> 
> I did not evaluate many PM products.  Because we had a large body of technical documentation in Confluence when started improving our PM practices, we looked for tools that would integrate well in that existing context.  Jira seemed like a reasonable component, and the MS Project and the Ceptah Bridge filled in the gaps to make the workflow easier.  Our practices are not yet complete, but we've made big progress over the past 18 months.
> 
> cheers,
> -- 
> -- Gary Thompson
> -- Web Services Development Supervisor
> -- UCLA Library Information Technology
> -- 
> 
> On 2/23/2012 7:32 AM, Patrick Berry wrote:
>> On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 7:04 PM, Brian McBride<[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>> 
>>> Question for all the code4lib developers out there:
>>> 
>>> --What project management software are you using?
>>> 
>>> 
>> We're getting into Asana.
>> 
>> 
>>> --What made you choose the system?
>>> 
>> Other departments had tried it and actually stuck with it, as opposed to
>> everything else they tried for two weeks and forgot about.
>> 
>> 
>>> --Has the system met all of your needs? If not, where does it fail?
>>> 
>> Pretty much.  I'm not sure this is a "fail", but it doesn't do management
>> charts.  It's more about getting it done than anything else.  If you've
>> ever read Getting Things Done, it will seem very familiar.
>> 
>> 
>>> --Overall opinions?
>>> 
>> Nice, fast, web-based, the pricing is good (free for up to 30 people)
>> 
>> 
>>> --What systems did you evaluate and decide not to recommend?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Any information would be great!
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> 
>>> Brian
>>> 
>>> Brian McBride
>>> Head of Application Development
>>> J. Willard Marriott Library
>>> 
>>> O: 801.585.7613
>>> F:  801.585.5549
>>> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>> 
> 
> -- 
> -- Gary Thompson
> -- Web Services Development Supervisor
> -- UCLA Library Information Technology
> -- 390 Powell
> -- voice: 310.206.5652
> --