Using RedmineFor Project Management at PromptCloud

Managing projects…

• We use ScrumBut as a project management tool to support Redmine

• Redmine is open-source and written in Ruby

• Redmine works on any machine that supports Ruby as long as it is connected to some database

• Getting started can be troublesome. Redmine is stubborn when it comes to compatibility with Ruby and its gems

Redmine Basics

• Scrum-based tools will invariably force Scrum on you

• Not following its word-by-word process, makes it quite useless

• Redmine is useful because it eliminates bureaucracies

• It works for your needs and is independent of team size, process or project types

• Redmine is self-sufficient in itself despite being open-source.

• With it you can create as many issues with task types of bug/feature/task and assign it to any member, input start and end dates, estimated time, give it a description, etc.

Redmine Basics (contd.)

• Track status via simple relevant updates

• Single page issue-history tracking

• All issues (and sub-issues) can belong to a project, which itself can be a sub-project to another higher level project in the hierarchy

• Support multiple users with definite access levels

• User functioning can be modified by addition to any task in a project either as “assignee” or as “watcher”

• Add files to a task + track percentage completion

• Intuitive text formatting within Redmine = any other wiki

Using Redmine @ PromptCloudActivities we use Redmine for

I. Planning

• Leverageing the “Target Version” component for our weekly planning is important practice

• We named a version as “pool” which holds all the anticipated tasks in the pipeline

• During the weekly planning meeting, tasks from “pool” get pulled into the in-progress version which runs for a week

• Two weeks might look more viable given standard sprint lengths

• Tasks are self-assigned for the week based on combined notion of roadmap

Fig A: Assigning each task* to a version

*existing already in pool or in creation

II. Tracking

• Redmine is a great tracking tool for bugs, feature updates or anything that can be easily missed or is critical to track

• Once a task / bug is created, it is a perfect reflection of what has been happening w.r.t. that task.

• Additional options to log time against each task available

• We use the checklist feature to create a list of items within a task

• No need to create sub-tasks!

• Watchers receive e-mail notifications as and when updates are made

Fig B: Our transitional flow for any task

New Assigned Resolved Closed

Fig C: Snapshot e-mail integration for updates

• All completed tasks are marked closed*

• Pending tasks are pushed into another version called “backlog”**

• Advantage: • General analysis of tasks performed

• Identify roadblocks faced

• Weekly discussions throw up improvement tactics as by-products

• It aids in evaluating our Redmine usage and changing internal processes

*Redmine displays the closed tasks with a strikethrough

**due date remains unchanged

II. Tracking (contd.)

Redmine Essentials Features that we use best to our advantage

Wiki

• Must-use in Redmine is the wiki

• We use it for all things A to Z – from meeting notes to highlights of strategy discussion and even as a structured training handbook for new members

• Our complete documentation of our technology stack sits there

Integration with Gerrit

• Git is our code repository

• Gerrit is used for reviews

• We have customized Redmine to work with Gerrit

• Here all code reviews related to a task get updated on Redmine via a simple task ID specification while committing our code

Support portal

• Same instance of Redmine is used as support portal

• Clients open tickets to assign jobs

• Tickets are copied for internal tracking. Updates are automatic!

• Every client operates via a uniquely accessible sub-project

• Team has access to all sub-projects

Task co-relation

• Simple yet powerful feature

• Easily relate a task to another to keep track

• Makes it easy to close loops and improve cycle

• Best used when developing a component and dependent tasks to accomplish exist

Fig D: Snapshot of task co-relation in Redmine

Redmine Deficiencies

• Redmine lacks the ability to create all tasks in one go• Creating one task per page is the limit

• Assigning parent task is a separate process

• Lack of complete task or milestones at same time is an inconvenience

Tip:

Avoid using sub-task feature because it creates a bit of complexity while tracking• Example: Close a sub-task without closing the parent task is not possible!

Redmine Deficiencies (contd.)

• Not a planning tool! • Redmine has never claimed its utility as a planning tool

• Relevant features hence absent

Tip:

Convince yourself with the workarounds

• Garbled tasks! • Failing regular updates, tasks end up as a big blob of irrelevance lists

Say yes to Redmine!

It only takes practice to keep Redmine updated and tweaking it to suit your needs

OPEN-SOURCE +

ZERO PRICE +

EFFORT +

TWEAK & CUSTOMIZE

= GREAT PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL

Have you brought Redmine in action in various other ways?

We are eager to hear.