Sustaining Continuous Digital Project Development with Team Project Management - TRY 2014

Information Technology Serviceshttp://its.library.utoronto.ca


Sustaining Continuous Digital Project Development with Team Project Management


Kelli BabcockGordon BelrayLisa GayhartBilal KhalidMarc Lalonde

Alumni Hall Room 100May 6, 2014 2 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.

Information Technology Serviceshttp://its.library.utoronto.caInformation Technology Services

http://its.library.utoronto.ca

About ITS

Who we are

ITS provides and maintains a wide array of projects and services in support of the library’s role in research, teaching, and learning mission of the University and it’s community, supporting scholarly research, users, and collections

Our services● digital projects● library catalogue and electronic resources● library web services● data centre and IT infrastructure● scholarly communications and open access

services● staff workstation support● administration



ITS Goals

● inspired by nimble organizations○ adapting to change, internally and externally○ agile workflows and iterative product development

● innovation and leadership● user focused● improving engagement● enhancing discoverability and access

○ accessibility○ analytics○ responsive design

Many projects: its.library.utoronto.ca/web-development-schedule

Project management - high priority

http://its.library.utoronto.ca/web-development-schedule



Staff in ITS



Project Management

Project Management Best Practices:● Goals designed at outset of project● Granular tasks clearly defined responsibilities● Milestones● Built in risk-assessment



Project Management & ITS

Project Management Best Practices:● Goals designed at outset of project● Granular tasks clearly defined responsibilities● Milestones● Built in risk-assessment

ITS Project Management:● Collaborative● Iterative● Desire for sustainability while creating team redundancy● Integrated project communications work-flow



ITS Projects



ITS Project Management Needs

ITS Project Management Needs

CollaborativeCollaboratives software: large team working on dynamic pages, not just one static project plan.

Iterative Ease of implementation: fast paced work-flow with many stages.

Desire for sustainability Ability to export templates quickly to other projects: large project work-load, don’t need to re-invent for each

Create team redundancy Ability to integrate with development work and track website issues: transferable tasks and document procedures/work-completed for future use.

Integrated project communications work-flow

Ability to share project documentation: both internal team & project collaborators; enable external collaborators to contribute to project based on documented work flow



ITS Project Management Tools

We use...



Project Management Tools

Issue tracking, ticketing, notifications Project management/planning (reuse templates)

Assign tasks Share project “spaces” and documentation on the web

Document issues Add Jira tickets

Flexible user permissions Transparency of project progress



Examples - template pages



Examples - collaboration



Examples - task management



Team Project Structure: Roles

Project ManagerProject planTask creation, in collaboration with teamProject managementFeedback to stakeholders

Information Designers

Wireframing/site structureThemingResponsive designAODA complience

Application Developers

Database creationData importWeb developmentDeployment

CommunicationsProject communications, user outreach and feedback, accessibility requirements, launch promotion, documentation, assessment

Systems SupportServer provisioning, security auditing, performance tuning, monitoring



Team Project Structure: Concurrent Tasks

1

Set up: ● server● project tasks● GIT repository

2

Development:● system

architecture● functionality● branding/theming● testing

3

Project Week Close:● feedback● wrap up● summary of

tasks completed



Development Tools

● Collaboration

● Efficiency

● Flexibility



Version Control

● AKA “VCS”, “SCM”, “Revision Control”...

● “Version control is a system that records changes to a file or set of files over time so that you can recall specific versions later”http://git-scm.com/book/en/Getting-Started-About-Version-Control

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Revision_controlled_project_visualization-2010-24-02.svg

http://git-scm.com/book/en/Getting-Started-About-Version-Control



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Revision_controlled_project_visualization-2010-24-02.svg



Git

● DVCS (“Distributed Version Control System”)

● Important concepts: repo, clone, commit, push, pull, branch, merge

● Plug: Learn git! http://try.github.io

http://try.github.io



Deployment Workflow

● Environments○ Individual, Development, [Testing],

Production● Deployment procedures

○ Merge individual work on Development server

○ Test, test, test○ Deploy on production server

● Minimize production server interaction



Accessibility & Responsive Design

AODA● January 1, 2014: WCAG 2.0 Level A● January 1, 2021: WCAG 2.0 Level AA● WAVE tool: http://wave.webaim.org/

Responsive Web Design● Mobile First● Required Reading: Responsive Web Design:

What It Is and How To Use It http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/01/12/guidelines-for-responsive-web-design/

http://wave.webaim.org/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/01/12/guidelines-for-responsive-web-design/







Drupal

● Popular Content Management Software

● Open Source, Popular, Active community

● Used extensively at UTL

● Single-site/multi-site variants

● Interesting challenge for git and site deployment



Projects

Get it!



On the Road Again



On the Road Again

● legacy sites in ColdFusion/MySQL● migrate data into individual databases

with same schema structure but ability to customize

● move sites into Drupal multi-site● divide the teamwork into 3 areas

Example of a multi-site conversion to Drupal requiring several project sprints over the course of several months.



On the Road Again

1

Create GIT repository & multi-site version control

2

Develop common functionality,

branding and Drupal base theme with customized sub

themes

3

Create import scripts to move data from legacy platform to

Drupal

Challenge: multi-site vs individual sites, version control, data migration and integration, develop RWD accessible common look and feel



On the Road Again

Develop an integrated web-based framework for querying historical itinerant theatre databases & displaying and sharing results in different formats across each database

REED JUBA American Popular Cinema in Canada

Canada West



On the Road Again



Get it!

● smaller project that had a tight deadline

● expiration of our License with Access Copyright

● old menu did not have permitted uses

● very user unfriendly● hosted on Serials Solutions - 24

hours request cycle for changes● need to integrate reference service

librarians feedback for improvement● indicate if article is peer reviewed



Get it!

1 Create GIT repository

for virtual machine development

2 Redesign based on

librarian requests and accessible / responsive

requirements

3

Create a locally hosted custom PHP application

● build custom menu, helper window & article finder● divide work into 3 development areas and 2 adjunct areas

1aSystem Admin setup virtual machine, dev

and deploy enviroment2a

Communication - JIRA- feedback



Get it!



Lessons Learned

● split model

● 2 weeks

● Tuesday kick off meeting essential

● ensure everyone is in the loop within the team (Thursday meetings), and also within

the department (dept meetings)

● observing the evolution of our preferred workflow

● everyone is both teacher and learner

● project planning takes a lot of time, but pays to be prepared

● added the web development schedule to ITS website to increase transparency


Thank You!Questions?

Sustaining Continuous Digital Project Development with Team Project Management - TRY 2014

Education

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