I am starting a new Ignition project called Perfect Project Manager. This will be an application that is used to help manage the development of projects. It is a project management tool.
This is an open source project using the MIT license. People and companies will be free to use and modify the project for their own uses including commercial uses. People and companies will also be free to join the development and contribute new things to the project.
Why Am I Doing This?
Perfect Abstractions needs a better project management tool. And I need a better way to train new Ignition developers. And I would like to be involved in an open Ignition community development effort. Here are the goals of the project:
- An Ignition project that is a project management tool for managing the development of projects. People and companies use it because it is useful.
- An on-going collaboration and community-based development of Perfect Project Manager to make it better.
- A training project that new Ignition developers can look at to see how to do things right and to provide Ignition work they can to do that is useful and that improves their skill, knowledge and prepares them for development on other projects.
How it Will Work
I setup an Ignition Gateway that is available over the Internet here http://ppm.perfectabstractions.com:8088. I created the "Perfect Project Manager" project in that Ignition Gateway. People who want to help develop the project can log in to the Ignition designer and develop the project there.
I created a document that lays out the initial functionality that Perfect Project Manager (PPM) should have. See it here: Initial Functionality for Perfect Project Manager (PPM). This document gets the project started by giving initial direction on what to implement.
I created a spreadsheet that shows who is working on what. Eventually we will replace the spreadsheet with PPM for managing the project. The spreadsheet is here: PPM Functionality To Implement. The spreadsheet will be updated when more people are working on more things.
I created a google group for discussion about the project. This group is for discussion of ideas for the project, for getting to know other members of the project and coordinating work on the project. The group is here: Perfect Project Manager Development.
How to Get Started
Generally here's how things can go:
- Join the Perfect Project Manager Development google group.
- Read the "Welcome message" in the google group and the documents linked to in that message. Spend a little time getting familiar with the project.
- Introduce yourself in the "Introduce Yourself" topic.
- I will setup a username and password in the Ignition Gateway so that you will be able to login to the Ignition designer and implement functionality. I will email you that information.
- Find out how you want to contribute to the project. If you want to implement a new feature then find out what you want to implement. If needed you can create a new topic in the google group to ask questions to get more data. You can also contact me.
- Create a new topic in the google group to propose what you want to do or what new features or change you would like to work on. Describe what it is and why it should be done.
- Wait for feedback from people and a response from me about it before working on it.
- Implement your proposal using the Ignition Gateway I provided for the project.
Because this is the start of a new project how things are done may change and the above suggested steps don't have to be followed rigidly. I appreciate any help and suggestions on how to run and organize this project to make things better and smoother.
The Perfect Abstractions Ignition Project Development Style Guide should be followed when developing the Perfect Project Manager. Suggestions for adding more to the style guide are appreciated.