Re: [Andromda-devel] Design and development process

[Carlos Cuenca]

Hi all, Matthias Bohlen wrote: Hello Martin, Monday, January 3, 2005, 12:41:54 AM, you wrote: [CB] I think we should place them in CVS in the documentation section with everything else, do them in the consistent xdoc format. Of course new features should be added to JIRA as well. MW> Proverbial problem this. First have to agree what the consistent format MW> is and a process to manage the changes. Yes to cvs. Personally I would MW> prefer using docbook/xml since this has tags to support documentation MW> and has maven support ... MW> http://maven-plugins.sourceforge.net/maven-sdocbook-plugin/ the design docs I have in mind are of temporary nature - they are more or less a discussion between us about how to break a large feature into smaller parts, assign the responsibilities to components and build a work breakdown structure for implementation. I want to keep the amount of time that we spend on these documents as low as possible. They will contain text, a few diagrams and some sample code. And they will have a chapter structure. That's it. Just sparkling water, not champagne! Later on, when implementation has started, these design documents will tend to become outdated and will be replaced by final docs at the end of the process. So, maybe XML is a little too much overhead for a "sparkling water" document that will become outdated, don't you think so? More than that: When doing design, I want to structure my thoughts by writing down words and images - authoring XML tags will distract me from design. Is there a simpler way to do it? MS Word, for example? At the end, we can extract chapters from the Word docs and put them into docbook/XML if we want to, or we just throw away the old Word docs, then, and write new and beautiful docbook/XML docs. I am agree that it should be something simple and flexible enought for  record all the changes. I had been browsing the Confluence Page and it looks O.K. for me, also because we can share with the rest of the world the ideas and comments. About the process for the changes: I'd like to let us be inspired by Extreme Programming (replace "feature" by "story" if you want): 1) Describe the feature in Jira. 2) Write a short document to spark the design discussion. 3) Meanwhile, finalize 3.0. 4) When 3.0 is final, create a branch for 3.0 maintenance and continue development for 4.0 on the main branch (HEAD). 5) Discuss the design and develop a work breakdown structure. Record them in the design docs, too and check them in each time. 6) Approve the design and the resulting work breakdown structure on the mailing list by mutual agreement. 7) Play the "planning game": Estimate the amount of effort for each feature and collect several features for a release that makes sense to the users. Set a name and target date for each release.        7.1 Assign task to active developers during those days. 8) Plan iterations, i.e. divide the release into several (four-week?) iterations and set the goals for each iteration: which feature(s) should be working at the end of which iteration. An iteration contains analysis, design, test, implementation and documentation and will end with working, tested, proven code. 9) Start iterating, measure progress and adjust the plan after each iteration.        10.1) Release Beta version of changes 10.2) Release the features you have reached in several iterations. Can you agree on this or would you prefer modifications? Carlos, Wouter, Chad? I introduced 7.1 because due to the lack of time that all we have, it could be useful to plan our time ... On 10.1, I think a plan for publishing should be stablish. I suggest the following schema: -nightly builds each day -Beta versions for development iterations above. ( four-weeks ) -RC versions for main versions releases until we are sure everything is Ok. Carlos Cheers... Matthias --- Matthias Bohlen "Beratung, die Projekte erfolgreich macht..." Internet: http://www.mbohlen.de/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Post: Luise-Albertz-Str. 25 D-53340 Meckenheim Tel: 0170 / 772 8545 Fax: 02225 / 945189 ------------------------------------------------------- The SF.Net email is sponsored by: Beat the post-holiday blues Get a FREE limited edition SourceForge.net t-shirt from ThinkGeek. It's fun and FREE -- well, almost....http://www.thinkgeek.com/sfshirt _______________________________________________ Andromda-devel mailing list Andromda-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/andromda-devel