Many of us have business projects to manage. Some are simple and many are complex. The use of project management software can make both types better and more likely to succeed.
In the 1980s and early 1990s I used the DOS application called 'TimeLine.' It was a very powerful and complete system that taught me a lot about planning and managing project with abundant tasks, resources, deliverables, and milestones. I managed a couple of hydroelectric dam relicensing projects using it and both projects came in on time -- or close to it -- and within budget. Since I defenestrated to linux in 1997 I've been looking for an equivalent replacement. Finally, I've found it. Non-professional project managers, which includes most of us, have used various Gantt chart drawing tools. I believe that all other environmental consultants use the Microsoft flavor. There are open source, linux/unices/etc. tools available. Two that are supported by SlackBuilds.org are GanttProject and TaskJuggler <http://www.taskjuggler.org/>. The former is a GUI-based Gantt chart creating tool. There's almost no documentation with it and I spent a couple of days fighting to get it to work for a complex, multi-year project I've just started. Not being happy with GanttProject I downloaded the Ruby 'gems' used to write TaskJuggler (which has been around since at least 2005, the date of a Linux Journal article about it.). I've spent the past couple of days learning it. TJ-3.6.0 is a command line tool (like PSTricks). Use your favorite editor to write the files needed to compile it (the compiler name is 'tj3'; there are other tools included with the tool.) There is a tutorial and detailed web pages. It's complicated but exceptionally powerful. There's also a low-volume mail list hosted on googlegroups.com. The output is a set of .html files, but other formats can be produced, too. So far I've defined the work product groups, tasks, resources, and estimated task durations. I've no cost data to use now, but it can be added when the construction stage of the project is the focus. Take a look at the web site if you're a software developer, system/network admin, consultant, or otherwise in projects that benefit from more than a To-Do list. Rich _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
