A call for organization - everyone can help! :: Archived

Andreas · Last edited by Andreas on Thu Sep 22, 2005 2:40 pm; edited 6 times in total

DJMaze is hopefully getting a job soon, something I wish him all the best of luck with, but this has some repercussions for us here in the Dragonfly Community.

I know we have alot of talented coders, themers and talents out there, people who can help this entire project move forward. Therefore I suggest a call to organize ourselves.

At the moment I visualize Groups with their own Forums and CVS where projects can be worked on, discussed and released. A group needs a Group Manager who can help people work together, co-ordinate work and inform the community of upcoming projects and releases from the Group.

>> Does this sound like it could work, organize-wise?

Right now I think we can appoint some general areas which need Groups:

CPG-BB Team Leader: Rayvenhaus
Focus: bugfixes and integrating Subforums and Multiforums and getting these to work correctly with the Core

Coppermine Team Leader: none yet
Focus: integrating the administration into the General Admin area, cleaning up how it works in themes and general bugfixes and cleanup

Downloads PRO Team Leader: Trevor
Focus: In development.

Dragonfly CORE Team Leader: none yet
Focus: bugfixes, security-updates and boosting performance

Documentation - Team Leader: MrPotatoes.
Focus: writing guidelines for how to write a module, template modules, create themes, comment your files

Some Modules are needed by alot of sites and therefore I suggest making the following freely written modules "official" and have them worked on by outside sources (or internal, doesn't matter):

CPGNuCalendar Team Leader: Khenn
Information: Khenn is currently seeking coders with experience in PHP and SQL to help him develop CPGNuCalendar.

mKnow Team Leader: Mark
Information: Mark has created one of the best Knowledge Base modules ever seen and can be used for general content, Reviews, Articles and more - in addition he has offered to make the module entirely dedicated to Dragonfly only, making it an exclusive should the Staff decide to make it the official Knowledge Base module.

Blogs Team Leader: Ians if he agrees
Information: Ians has done some efficient cleaning of the code, bugfixes and added powerful administration tools for everyday users. You can find it at mysnowsports.com/main_...loads.html where it is available for download

MrPotatoes

i think we could use additional groups

the thing with this is that you need everyone to follow a strict coding standard that DJ Maze has come up with

DJ Maze

Akamu and I will setup all lines and rules which we have dedicated our time and work on.
It doesn't mean my contributions end, but trevor already knows what my ideas will.

For now will keep myself a bit aside and see what you all will accomplish, good luck.

Andreas

Excellent - so we can expect some coding guidelines from DJ and Akamu and probably some help at times (as I read it). Do we have any volunteers for this project?

robertall

I disagree with everything this thread has said so far. Things take time, and you are trying to push it too hard.

WebSiteGuru · 1000+ Posts Club Offline Joined: Jun 09, 2005 Posts: 2318

I do agree with MrPotatos. We do need more, or at least expand them a little bit more.

Andreas

Robertall: Things might take time, but structure and a roadmap are essentials for actually getting things done. This is an Open Source project and part of the general "culture" around this kind of thing is the communal ability to help and do something. Without roadmaps, organization and structure we loose all our ability to work together and utilize the collective knowledge.

Mystic: Nah, can't read a thing.

Mystic

Andreas wrote:

Mystic: Nah, can't read a thing.

In a nutshell, at one point this reorganization was requested, agreed upon by the staff. I volunteered to become the Project Manager, was voted in, then the devs decided they didn't want to go in that direction. Sad

robertall

Andreas wrote:

Robertall: Things might take time, but structure and a roadmap are essentials for actually getting things done. This is an Open Source project and part of the general "culture" around this kind of thing is the communal ability to help and do something. Without roadmaps, organization and structure we loose all our ability to work together and utilize the collective knowledge.

I do not organize my work, i just do it when i have time, homework 10PM, and least important things first. Laughing

I agree with you, an open source needs some organization, but not too much. At the moment is ok.

Andreas

Mystic: Well this time around it atleast seems to me that DJMaze has given us his blessing to organize and I bet that the foundations are different now. You are welcome to volunteer for a Team with us or suggest a new Team if the need is there.

WebSiteGuru · 1000+ Posts Club Offline Joined: Jun 09, 2005 Posts: 2318

So as long as it is all for the best of the project, why not.

LoonyLuke

I think a proper managment team/individual is needed. I am about to submit code new forums code for the devs to view then hopefully add to the core. I would like to be in the CPG-BB team/group if possible and would be happy to help with other things also.

Luke

P.S: Good Luck, DJ

MrPotatoes

ok here it goes. i've been on quite a few projects with people with designing games (school) or at work where i'm currently un-mployed. awesome

1. if you don't preplan prepare to fail. that's it. don't {expletive removed} with this and it doesn't matter. you are thru
2. if there is no open and clear leader don't expect {expletive removed} to get done. just stop thinking. this is especially true for people that aren't friends. if you are friends and can actually work without a clear leader
3. if you are working for a client you cannot keep them in the dark. this means people that you are working for. if a publisher hears you say that you are almost done and yet you are lying they will be {expletive removed} off when they find out that what you have done is eat doughnuts and coffee all day

i've been a project manager to several productive and successful projects and few dismal ones. and i follow all the rules that i've attained in school and from other jobs. any by the way, if i were writing for a job i'd have spell check. so you can't hold this against me

a proper leader and an auxillary leader. DJ MAZE is your main leader. Akumu or Pheniox could be your second. the main is at work, your aux needs to know what to do and how to spread out work to the people below. now the leader cannot be an ass, especially to people that are working for free and out of thier spare time. scheduales should be alot more lax but they need to be there. if someone cannot do it then

they
don't
do
it

you cannot rely on everyone. so that's a given.

also, going along with the fact that people need to know what is going on i think there should be a blog or something to tell on a daily basis what you have completed and how far you are to actually getting something done. this is a side note for EVERYONE not just the main guys

the leader also needs to stay organised. know when something is supposed to finish, when something starts and where everyone is. this is most useful if the log kept by the people that actually do the coding don't have thier logs up for public view. this way at minimum the Project Lead can tell the client (us) on a weekly basis what is getting done, what needs to get done and when it might get done. understand?

then there are the people that volenteer to do work. put up a disclaimer that if you can't code then don't bother. if you don't have the time, please don't bother. no excuses. it's a strict volenteer no screw around basis. it's open sourse so it's not like it's gonna kill you to let them look at your code.

there is a very specific way ot writing your code for DragonFly. the way that variables are set, where, how they are started, how they are named. this is all important. comments if there are any, the main comment block up top. how is that supposed to work? how do your functions perform and what are they supposed to look like? what is the minimum speed that it should be set to? rather i should say it as how slow can your function or module or block be at absolute maximum. that also needs to be set

there absolutely needs to be people that are get off on writing documentation. people that fi they could would sexually molest thier documents on thier monitors. i guess i could be one of them but yea. they also gots to know what they are writing about, they need to know code and they need to be able to simplyfly things. that is technical writing. you cannot have a project and not know what the hell is going on. these people have a task and they get it done. simple as that. so screwing around and it just gets DONE

then there are the bug fixers. see in a regular an well organized group or company (i hate management FYI) there are the beta testers and bug fixers. the actual coders don't usually fix thier own code. unless it's real bad. i mean to the fact where {expletive removed} is crashing so bad that Jesus comes out the ground and says 'dude, what the {expletive removed}. sotp that {expletive removed}'. there are usually another set og hackers called bug fixers. they fix bugs that the beta testers find. beta testers are awesome. they are given a set of instructs to test. it's very complicated and not very fun. they look at what they have, they have to do certain things that are written down to break that very code in which they are given. if they find something, they send it on back to the bug fixers. remember, the bug fixers better have direct contact with the head guy NOT the coders. the head guy actually tells the coders later and to watch for dumb {expletive removed}.

your beta testers could also be other people as well. not just staff

lastly you have your PR people. if you did something like this i would suggest people that have good talking skills and don't get {expletive removed} off too easy over dumb stupid {expletive removed}. two people that i wouldn't suggest is Pheniox or NIMINI. they know what they are talking about, but man. there are less harsh ways of saying things lmao. anger management guys ;). the PR people are basically the people that tell the rest of us when something is to be done and what it's supposed to be. you could even take it as far as they are your marketing group. that would be cool lmao

remember, the lead guy sets all the standards, handles all the work and passes it all around. the other groups should never have direct contact with anyone else. they are theier own cells working alone and only talk to the lead guy. the lead guy passes {expletive removed} around and spreads the work evenly depeding on the project or whatever everyone is working together for in conjunction.

this is the way that it's supposed to look. all the nodes are actually pretty close to each other, just just never actually communicate.

no, i didn't add the PR guy....

with all these in place, WITH the code standards, the nodes seperated and working, and the blogs or some kind of way of telling the clients how things are going and i think it can all go very well. the only 2 factors that will make or break it is the dedication of the people working. half assed and it's no use.

thank you
Mr. Potatoes out Very Happy

MrPotatoes

by the way i'm willing to help out documenting. it's something that i actually like to do. i don't mind writing as you can see. that was in all about 20 min of work and it's still pretty consise. makes sence

hell, make me lead documentor. i'll take that position lmao

robertall

MrPotatoes wrote:

ok here it goes. i've been on quite a few projects with people with designing games (school) or at work where i'm currently un-mployed. awesome

Get a job.

Quote::

1. if you don't preplan prepare to fail. that's it. don't oops with this and it doesn't matter. you are thru
2. if there is no open and clear leader don't expect crap to get done. just stop thinking. this is especially true for people that aren't friends. if you are friends and can actually work without a clear leader
3. if you are working for a client you cannot keep them in the dark. this means people that you are working for. if a publisher hears you say that you are almost done and yet you are lying they will be {expletive removed} off when they find out that what you have done is eat doughnuts and coffee all day

I disagree, i have done this 1 client, but they were asking too much too soon. I do not organize, i just do it when i have the time, which is not much at the moment, and i do not know, but i think this site is ok at the moment as it is.

Quote::

i've been a project manager to several productive and successful projects and few dismal ones. and i follow all the rules that i've attained in school and from other jobs. any by the way, if i were writing for a job i'd have spell check. so you can't hold this against me

My organizeation has never ever effected my work, so i personally see what the problem again, i have done loads of projects, and only has failed, and that was the one with the old pcwebtalk.com, and i tryed to move server with around 20 mods installed and the SQL stopped working...

Quote::

a proper leader and an auxillary leader. DJ MAZE is your main leader. Akumu or Pheniox could be your second. the main is at work, your aux needs to know what to do and how to spread out work to the people below. now the leader cannot be an ass, especially to people that are working for free and out of thier spare time. scheduales should be alot more lax but they need to be there. if someone cannot do it then

I agree, i do not work hard converting phpBB mods to work on the forums of CPG-bb, and the admin does not do anything about the software afterwards. I think that if this is the case, we need an admin, and soon.

Quote::

they
don't
do
it

you cannot rely on everyone. so that's a given.

I have relyed on others before when i was too busy, and it worked, but sometimes to does not work, but i think it may work here because there are loads of members of staff.

Quote::

also, going along with the fact that people need to know what is going on i think there should be a blog or something to tell on a daily basis what you have completed and how far you are to actually getting something done. this is a side note for EVERYONE not just the main guys

I can give an example, i have no idea what the current version is, i think it is 9.0.6.0, but i may be wrong, and this is because the news page is not updated with core updates, and i feel that something does need to be done about this ASAP, because it is very confusing and annoying.

Quote::

the leader also needs to stay organised. know when something is supposed to finish, when something starts and where everyone is. this is most useful if the log kept by the people that actually do the coding don't have thier logs up for public view. this way at minimum the Project Lead can tell the client (us) on a weekly basis what is getting done, what needs to get done and when it might get done. understand?

The leader is organized, the site isn't...

Quote::

then there are the people that volenteer to do work. put up a disclaimer that if you can't code then don't bother. if you don't have the time, please don't bother. no excuses. it's a strict volenteer no screw around basis. it's open sourse so it's not like it's gonna kill you to let them look at your code.

I wonder why people bother with open source software sometimes, it is hackable sometimes, i stopped using phpBB for a while because people were telling me it was very bad software, and even my brother said that, and he has been working around python based things for around 10 years, and works for plone.org.

Quote::

there is a very specific way ot writing your code for DragonFly. the way that variables are set, where, how they are started, how they are named. this is all important. comments if there are any, the main comment block up top. how is that supposed to work? how do your functions perform and what are they supposed to look like? what is the minimum speed that it should be set to? rather i should say it as how slow can your function or module or block be at absolute maximum. that also needs to be set

there absolutely needs to be people that are get off on writing documentation. people that fi they could would sexually molest thier documents on thier monitors. i guess i could be one of them but yea. they also gots to know what they are writing about, they need to know code and they need to be able to simplyfly things. that is technical writing. you cannot have a project and not know what the hell is going on. these people have a task and they get it done. simple as that. so screwing around and it just gets DONE

I will stop now, half of the things you have backed up, but the other half are incorrect, and i disagree with you, the admin of this project is very busy, and if you are not happy with that, then do not bother conplaining, they do it for free, and you are now taking advantage of other people.

Quote::

then there are the bug fixers. see in a regular an well organized group or company (i hate management FYI) there are the beta testers and bug fixers. the actual coders don't usually fix thier own code. unless it's real bad. i mean to the fact where crap is crashing so bad that Jesus comes out the ground and says 'dude, what the oops. sotp that crap'. there are usually another set og hackers called bug fixers. they fix bugs that the beta testers find. beta testers are awesome. they are given a set of instructs to test. it's very complicated and not very fun. they look at what they have, they have to do certain things that are written down to break that very code in which they are given. if they find something, they send it on back to the bug fixers. remember, the bug fixers better have direct contact with the head guy NOT the coders. the head guy actually tells the coders later and to watch for dumb crap.

your beta testers could also be other people as well. not just staff

lastly you have your PR people. if you did something like this i would suggest people that have good talking skills and don't get {expletive removed} off too easy over dumb stupid crap. two people that i wouldn't suggest is Pheniox or NIMINI. they know what they are talking about, but man. there are less harsh ways of saying things lmao. anger management guys ;). the PR people are basically the people that tell the rest of us when something is to be done and what it's supposed to be. you could even take it as far as they are your marketing group. that would be cool lmao

remember, the lead guy sets all the standards, handles all the work and passes it all around. the other groups should never have direct contact with anyone else. they are theier own cells working alone and only talk to the lead guy. the lead guy passes crap around and spreads the work evenly depeding on the project or whatever everyone is working together for in conjunction.

this is the way that it's supposed to look. all the nodes are actually pretty close to each other, just just never actually communicate.

no, i didn't add the PR guy....

with all these in place, WITH the code standards, the nodes seperated and working, and the blogs or some kind of way of telling the clients how things are going and i think it can all go very well. the only 2 factors that will make or break it is the dedication of the people working. half assed and it's no use.

thank you
Mr. Potatoes out Very Happy