Hey all,

Just noticed this website via a blog today, and thought it may be of interest:

http://www.xpstorystudio.com

The website has an introduction listed which states:

"XP StoryStudio is a free project-management portal for systems being
developed using Agile methodologies - specifically XP. It has been
developed internally by a team of enterprise developers at Egg Plc
who've worked on Agile projects in real-world environments for several
years. This is the homepage for XP StoryStudio, where you can find out
further details about its development, and download it"

And the listed features:

"Whilst the features available in XP StoryStudio are being added to
all the time, its core functionality is as follows:

Multiple project "portal" approach
Role based security, with the option to enable anonymous usage
Resource <-> task allocation to give visibility of developer utilisation
Skinning support, to allow branding to corporate guidelines
Graphing of project progress - story and story point burndown, story
accumulation, development rate across iterations
Projections of project duration, effort required, etc."

I found it via the following blog:
http://weblogs.asp.net/jsgreenwood/archive/2005/01/04/346024.aspx


--

William

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Melbourne XP Enthusiasts Meeting

Date: Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM EST (GMT+11:00)

Melbourne XP Enthusiasts Meeting. Location TBA

Hey all,

Just noticed this website via a blog today, and thought it may be of interest:

http://www.xpstorystudio.com

The website has an introduction listed which states:

"XP StoryStudio is a free project-management portal for systems being
developed using Agile methodologies - specifically XP. It has been
developed internally by a team of enterprise developers at Egg Plc
who've worked on Agile projects in real-world environments for several
years. This is the homepage for XP StoryStudio, where you can find out
further details about its development, and download it"

And the listed features:

"Whilst the features available in XP StoryStudio are being added to
all the time, its core functionality is as follows:

Multiple project "portal" approach
Role based security, with the option to enable anonymous usage
Resource <-> task allocation to give visibility of developer utilisation
Skinning support, to allow branding to corporate guidelines
Graphing of project progress - story and story point burndown, story
accumulation, development rate across iterations
Projections of project duration, effort required, etc."

I found it via the following blog:
http://weblogs.asp.net/jsgreenwood/archive/2005/01/04/346024.aspx


--

William


To read messages online visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts

At the last meeting it was voted that although some people were
available to attend the meeting noone had anything to present. As a
result the meeting on the 11 Jan is canceled. The next meeting will be
on Feb 8th.

The topics of discussion will be "More on Mock Objects (Why, and How)
-- by me", and I believe Steve Hayes was going to give a short talk
too. (I have forgotten the topic, so steve if you remember drop us a
message.)

--
Cheers

Nigel Thorne
www.nigelthorne.com

Actually, not. Our moderator is on vacation, and I don't seem to be able
to delete the event, but the next meeting isn't until *February*

melbourne_XP_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com wrote:

>
> We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.
>
> Melbourne XP Enthusiasts Meeting
>
> Date: Tuesday, January 11, 2005
> Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM EST (GMT+11:00)
>
> Melbourne XP Enthusiasts Meeting. Location TBA
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> To read messages online visit:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Yahoo! Groups Links*
>
>     * To visit your group on the web, go to:
>       http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
>
>     * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>       melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>      
<mailto:melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe\
>
>
>     * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
>       Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.
>
>

Oops, apologies for previous message. Reminder to self - never reply to
messages in date order...

I was planning an exercise that would take most of a meeting, but I'm
very happy to defer. Here's my alternative proposal - send me XP
questions that you would like addressed (to me, not the list), and on
the night we'll use iteration planning with the audience as customer to
determine what questions get answered.

Steve

Nigel Thorne wrote:

> At the last meeting it was voted that although some people were
> available to attend the meeting noone had anything to present. As a
> result the meeting on the 11 Jan is canceled. The next meeting will be
> on Feb 8th.
>
> The topics of discussion will be "More on Mock Objects (Why, and How)
> -- by me", and I believe Steve Hayes was going to give a short talk
> too. (I have forgotten the topic, so steve if you remember drop us a
> message.)
>
> --
> Cheers
>
> Nigel Thorne
> www.nigelthorne.com
>
>
> To read messages online visit:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Yahoo! Groups Links*
>
>     * To visit your group on the web, go to:
>       http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
>
>     * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>       melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>      
<mailto:melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe\
>
>
>     * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
>       Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.
>
>

I seem to recall someone discussing a tool which will generate test
documentation from xUnit tests.  Does anyone have any idea what I
might be thinking of?

Thanks,

Jared

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Melbourne XP Enthusiasts Meeting

Date: Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM EST (GMT+11:00)

Melbourne XP Enthusiasts Meeting. Location TBA

Jared Quinert wrote:

>  I seem to recall someone discussing a tool which will generate test
>  documentation from xUnit tests. Does anyone have any idea what I
>  might be thinking of?

Wasn't AgileDox [1], was it?

[1] http://agiledox.sourceforge.net/

--
cheers, MikeW

> >  I seem to recall someone discussing a tool which will generate test
> >  documentation from xUnit tests. Does anyone have any idea what I
> >  might be thinking of?
>
> Wasn't AgileDox [1], was it?
>
> [1] http://agiledox.sourceforge.net/

That looks like it may be the one, although I'm after the .NET version (which
appears to be called NTestDox).

http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/seichert/archive/2003/10/17/2706.aspx
http://www.emxtechnologies.com/ntestdox

Thanks for the pointer!  Have you used it?

Jared

Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies.
http://au.movies.yahoo.com

The following melbourne_XP_enthusiasts poll is now closed.  Here are the
final results:


POLL QUESTION: Do you want an RSS feed at the price of
allowing non-members to read the groups
posts?

CHOICES AND RESULTS
- Yes, 15 votes, 68.18%
- No, 2 votes, 9.09%
- Don't care but I just like voting for things, 5 votes, 22.73%



For more information about this group, please visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts

For help with Yahoo! Groups, please visit
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/

Did anything ever come of the plan to produce a periodical?

David C.

My wife is working on the editing at the moment. We're still trying to
get it out by the end of this month. If someone can babysit my 1yo, that
would help ;-)

David Clarke wrote:

>
> Did anything ever come of the plan to produce a periodical?
>
> David C.
>
>
>
>
> To read messages online visit:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Yahoo! Groups Links*
>
>     * To visit your group on the web, go to:
>       http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
>
>     * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>       melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>      
<mailto:melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe\
>
>
>     * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
>       Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.
>
>

Due to an overwhelming vote of 68% or something, the archive is now
public. This also means you can subscribe to MXPEG as an RSS feed.

http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/rss

Hi Peter.



We're just about to take a look at XPlanner so if you have any advice that
would be great.



Admittedly our small team is more attempting to be Agile rather than fully
XP but considering the rest of the company, well, we're almost aliens.  :)



Greg.





   _____

From: Peter Aitken [mailto:peteraitkenjava@...]
Sent: Tuesday, 4 January 2005 9:06 PM
To: melbourne_XP_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com;
melbourne_xp_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MXPEG] Agile Planning Tool



Hi William,



I just had a look for XP StoryStudio but couldn't access the site.



Just thought I'd mention that I've been using XPlanner quite successfully
for a while. ( http://xplanner.org/ ) Sounds very similar to XP StoryStudio
in terms of the charts it produces.



I'll dump the list of features below.



The thing I really like about XPlanner is being able to sign up for tasks
off the web server...and with the IntelliJ integration, kick off the stop
clock to keep track of actual time spent on tasks.



Hope this helps.

Peter



PS: Here's the blurb.

*  Simple planning model

*  Virtual note cards

*  Support for recording and tracking projects, iterations, user stories,
and tasks.

*  Smart continuation of unfinished stories (unfinished tasks copied, copied
stories are crosslinked).

*  Distributed integration token (with email notification)

*  Online time tracking and time sheet generation at individual/team level

*  Metrics generation (team velocity, individual hours, ...)

*  Charts for iteration velocity, Scrum burn down
<http://www.controlchaos.com/about/burndown.php> , distribution of task
types, dispositions, and more..

*  Ability to attach notes to stories and tasks (with attachments).

*  Iteration estimate accuracy view

*  Page showing task and story status for individual developers and
customers.

*  Export of project and iteration information to XML, MPX (MS Project),
PDF, and iCal formats.

*  TWiki <http://www.twiki.org/> -style text formatting support with support
external tool integration and extensible wiki word
<http://xplanner.org/customization.html#wikiadapters>  linking.

*  Integrated, extensible
<http://xplanner.org/customization.html#customauth>  authentication supports
multiple projects with project-specific authorization.

*  SOAP <http://xplanner.org/soap.html>  interfaces for advanced XPlanner
integration and extension.

*  Language support for English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian
Portuguese, Danish, Russian, Chinese <http://xplanner.org/faq.html#chinese>
, and Japanese <http://xplanner.org/faq.html#japanese> ..

William Luu <will.luu@...> wrote:

Hey all,

Just noticed this website via a blog today, and thought it may be of
interest:

http://www.xpstorystudio.com <http://www.xpstorystudio.com/>

The website has an introduction listed which states:

"XP StoryStudio is a free project-management portal for systems being
developed using Agile methodologies - specifically XP. It has been
developed internally by a team of enterprise developers at Egg Plc
who've worked on Agile projects in real-world environments for several
years. This is the homepage for XP StoryStudio, where you can find out
further details about its development, and download it"

And the listed features:

"Whilst the features available in XP StoryStudio are being added to
all the time, its core functionality is as follows:

Multiple project "portal" approach
Role based securi ty, with the option to enable anonymous usage
Resource <-> task allocation to give visibility of developer utilisation
Skinning support, to allow branding to corporate guidelines
Graphing of project progress - story and story point burndown, story
accumulation, development rate across iterations
Projections of project duration, effort required, etc."

I found it via the following blog:
http://weblogs.asp.net/jsgreenwood/archive/2005/01/04/346024.aspx


--

William


To read messages online visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts

   _____

  <http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=21626/*http:/uk.messenger.yahoo.com> ALL-NEW
Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun!

To read messages online visit:
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ribe>

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<http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>  Terms of Service.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

My honest advice - if you're a small team, just trying XP, use cards
first - stick them on the wall, colour code them, move them around, tear
them up. Only after you've decided this doesn't work for you, and you
know why, should you look at a tool.

Greg Irvine wrote:

> Hi Peter.
>
>
>
> We're just about to take a look at XPlanner so if you have any advice that
> would be great.
>
>
>
> Admittedly our small team is more attempting to be Agile rather than fully
> XP but considering the rest of the company, well, we're almost aliens.  :)
>
>
>
> Greg.
>
>
>
>
>
>   _____
>
> From: Peter Aitken [mailto:peteraitkenjava@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, 4 January 2005 9:06 PM
> To: melbourne_XP_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com;
> melbourne_xp_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [MXPEG] Agile Planning Tool
>
>
>
> Hi William,
>
>
>
> I just had a look for XP StoryStudio but couldn't access the site.
>
>
>
> Just thought I'd mention that I've been using XPlanner quite successfully
> for a while. ( http://xplanner.org/ ) Sounds very similar to XP
> StoryStudio
> in terms of the charts it produces.
>
>
>
> I'll dump the list of features below.
>
>
>
> The thing I really like about XPlanner is being able to sign up for tasks
> off the web server...and with the IntelliJ integration, kick off the stop
> clock to keep track of actual time spent on tasks.
>
>
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> PS: Here's the blurb.
>
> *  Simple planning model
>
> *  Virtual note cards
>
> *  Support for recording and tracking projects, iterations, user stories,
> and tasks.
>
> *  Smart continuation of unfinished stories (unfinished tasks copied,
> copied
> stories are crosslinked).
>
> *  Distributed integration token (with email notification)
>
> *  Online time tracking and time sheet generation at individual/team
> level
>
> *  Metrics generation (team velocity, individual hours, ...)
>
> *  Charts for iteration velocity, Scrum burn down
> <http://www.controlchaos.com/about/burndown.php> , distribution of task
> types, dispositions, and more..
>
> *  Ability to attach notes to stories and tasks (with attachments).
>
> *  Iteration estimate accuracy view
>
> *  Page showing task and story status for individual developers and
> customers.
>
> *  Export of project and iteration information to XML, MPX (MS Project),
> PDF, and iCal formats.
>
> *  TWiki <http://www.twiki.org/> -style text formatting support with
> support
> external tool integration and extensible wiki word
> <http://xplanner.org/customization.html#wikiadapters>  linking.
>
> *  Integrated, extensible
> <http://xplanner.org/customization.html#customauth>  authentication
> supports
> multiple projects with project-specific authorization.
>
> *  SOAP <http://xplanner.org/soap.html>  interfaces for advanced XPlanner
> integration and extension.
>
> *  Language support for English, Spanish, French, German, Italian,
> Brazilian
> Portuguese, Danish, Russian, Chinese
> <http://xplanner.org/faq.html#chinese>
> , and Japanese <http://xplanner.org/faq.html#japanese> ..
>
> William Luu <will.luu@...> wrote:
>
> Hey all,
>
> Just noticed this website via a blog today, and thought it may be of
> interest:
>
> http://www.xpstorystudio.com <http://www.xpstorystudio.com/>
>
> The website has an introduction listed which states:
>
> "XP StoryStudio is a free project-management portal for systems being
> developed using Agile methodologies - specifically XP. It has been
> developed internally by a team of enterprise developers at Egg Plc
> who've worked on Agile projects in real-world environments for several
> years. This is the homepage for XP StoryStudio, where you can find out
> further details about its development, and download it"
>
> And the listed features:
>
> "Whilst the features available in XP StoryStudio are being added to
> all the time, its core functionality is as follows:
>
> Multiple project "portal" approach
> Role based securi ty, with the option to enable anonymous usage
> Resource <-> task allocation to give visibility of developer utilisation
> Skinning support, to allow branding to corporate guidelines
> Graphing of project progress - story and story point burndown, story
> accumulation, development rate across iterations
> Projections of project duration, effort required, etc."
>
> I found it via the following blog:
> http://weblogs.asp.net/jsgreenwood/archive/2005/01/04/346024.aspx
>
>
> --
>
> William
>
>
> To read messages online visit:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
>
>   _____
>
> <http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=21626/*http:/uk.messenger.yahoo.com> ALL-NEW
> Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun!
>
> To read messages online visit:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
>
>
>
>
>   _____
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> *      To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
>
> *      To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubsc
> ribe>
>
> *      Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo!
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>  Terms of Service.
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> To read messages online visit:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Yahoo! Groups Links*
>
>     * To visit your group on the web, go to:
>       http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
>
>     * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>       melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>      
<mailto:melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe\
>
>
>     * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
>       Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.
>
>

I wish it were so easy.  We have a sizable requirement base (and this is
just the GUI side of our Air Traffic Control System).  I think we'd need the
side of the Rialto just to place our story cards out.  ;)



We're generally trying to show our waterfall method and documentation
obsessed company that there's other, equally safe/acceptable, ways to
produce software.  Short iteration planning, developer tests (JUnit),
continuous integration, pair programming.  People are coming around, but
there's a way to go.  We're going to try and focus more on velocity
calculations now so we can more accurately plan the next couple of years'
work to finish the product.  As you can expect we work with fixed price
contracts so this means as accurate as possible quoting.



I agree about entering the agile world without using tools, but also due to
the CMMI obsession here, metrics gathering is a priority so if we can
evaluate a tool's usefulness and metric gathering ability as we go then all
the better.



Greg.



ps. Of course our requirement base is broken down to much more manageable
pieces and the planning (will) involve more specific selection on functional
priority etc so the number of display stories is much smaller, so maybe we
just need the new QV instead. :)





   _____

From: Steve Hayes [mailto:steveh@...]
Sent: Wednesday, 12 January 2005 4:05 PM
To: melbourne_XP_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MXPEG] Agile Planning Tool



My honest advice - if you're a small team, just trying XP, use cards
first - stick them on the wall, colour code them, move them around, tear
them up. Only after you've decided this doesn't work for you, and you
know why, should you look at a tool.

Greg Irvine wrote:

> Hi Peter.
>
>
>
> We're just about to take a look at XPlanner so if you have any advice that
> would be great.
>
>
>
> Admittedly our small team is more attempting to be Agile rather than fully
> XP but considering the rest of the company, well, we're almost aliens.  :)
>
>
>
> Greg.
>
>
>
>
>
>   _____
>
> From: Peter Aitken [mailto:peteraitkenjava@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, 4 January 2005 9:06 PM
> To: melbourne_XP_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com;
> melbourne_xp_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [MXPEG] Agile Planning Tool
>
>
>
> Hi William,
>
>
>
> I just had a look for XP StoryStudio but couldn't access the site.
>
>
>
> Just thought I'd mention that I've been using XPlanner quite successfully
> for a while. ( http://xplanner.org/ ) Sounds very similar to XP
> StoryStudio
> in terms of the charts it produces.
>
>
>
> I'll dump the list of features below.
>
>
>
> The thing I really like about XPlanner is being able to sign up for tasks
> off the web server...and with the IntelliJ integration, kick off the stop
> clock to keep track of actual time spent on tasks.
>
>
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> PS: Here's the blurb.
>
> *  Simple planning model
>
> *  Virtual note cards
>
> *  Support for recording and tracking projects, iterations, user stories,
> and tasks.
>
> *  Smart continuation of unfinished stories (unfinished tasks copied,
> copied
> stories are crosslinked).
>
> *  Distributed integration token (with email notification)
>
> *  Online time tracking and time sheet generation at individual/team
> level
>
> *  Metrics generation (team velocity, individual hours, ...)
>
> *  Charts for iteration velocity, Scrum burn down
> <http://www.controlchaos.com/about/burndown.php> , distribution of task
> types, dispositions, and more..
>
> *  Ability to attach notes to stories and tasks (with attachments).
>
> *  Iteration estimate accuracy view
>
> *  Page showing task and story status for individual developers and
> customers.
>
> *  Export of project and iteration information to XML, MPX (MS Project),
> PDF, and iCal formats.
>
> *  TWiki <http://www.twiki.org/> -style text formatting support with
> support
> external tool integration and extensible wiki word
> <http://xplanner.org/customization.html#wikiadapters>  linking.
>
> *  Integrated, extensible
> <http://xplanner.org/customization.html#customauth>  authentication
> supports
> multiple projects with project-specific authorization.
>
> *  SOAP <http://xplanner.org/soap.html>  interfaces for advanced XPlanner
> integration and extension.
>
> *  Language support for English, Spanish, French, German, Italian,
> Brazilian
> Portuguese, Danish, Russian, Chinese
> <http://xplanner.org/faq.html#chinese>
> , and Japanese <http://xplanner.org/faq.html#japanese> ..
>
> William Luu <will.luu@...> wrote:
>
> Hey all,
>
> Just noticed this website via a blog today, and thought it may be of
> interest:
>
> http://www.xpstorystudio.com <http://www.xpstorystudio.com/>
>
> The website has an introduction listed which states:
>
> "XP StoryStudio is a free project-management portal for systems being
> developed using Agile methodologies - specifically XP. It has been
> developed internally by a team of enterprise developers at Egg Plc
> who've worked on Agile projects in real-world environments for several
> years. This is the homepage for XP StoryStudio, where you can find out
> further details about its development, and download it"
>
> And the listed features:
>
> "Whilst the features available in XP StoryStudio are being added to
> all the time, its core functionality is as follows:
>
> Multiple project "portal" approach
> Role based securi ty, with the option to enable anonymous usage
> Resource <-> task allocation to give visibility of developer utilisation
> Skinning support, to allow branding to corporate guidelines
> Graphing of project progress - story and story point burndown, story
> accumulation, development rate across iterations
> Projections of project duration, effort required, etc."
>
> I found it via the following blog:
> http://weblogs.asp.net/jsgreenwood/archive/2005/01/04/346024.aspx
>
>
> --
>
> William
>
>
> To read messages online visit:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
>
>   _____
>
> <http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=21626/*http:/uk.messenger.yahoo.com> ALL-NEW
> Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun!
>
> To read messages online visit:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
>
>
>
>
>   _____
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> *      To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
>
> *      To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
<mailto:melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubsc
> ribe>
>
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

You should throw this one into the mix for consideration
too:
     http://www.versionone.net/

I've heard good things about it from other ThoughtWorkers,
but I haven't had the chance to use it myself yet.

-- Marty

----- Original Message Follows -----
From: Peter Aitken <peteraitkenjava@...>
To: melbourne_XP_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com,
melbourne_xp_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MXPEG] Agile Planning Tool
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 10:05:57 +0000 (GMT)

> Hi William,
>
> I just had a look for XP StoryStudio but couldn't access
> the site.
>
> Just thought I'd mention that I've been using XPlanner
> quite successfully for a while. ( http://xplanner.org/ )
> Sounds very similar to XP StoryStudio in terms of the
> charts it produces.
>
> I'll dump the list of features below.
>
> The thing I really like about XPlanner is being able to
> sign up for tasks off the web server...and with the
> IntelliJ integration, kick off the stop clock to keep
> track of actual time spent on tasks.
>
> Hope this helps.
> Peter
>
> PS: Here's the blurb.
>
> Simple planning model
> Virtual note cards
> Support for recording and tracking projects, iterations,
> user stories, and tasks.  Smart continuation of unfinished
> stories (unfinished tasks copied, copied stories are
> crosslinked).  Distributed integration token (with email
> notification)  Online time tracking and time sheet
> generation at individual/team level  Metrics generation
> (team velocity, individual hours, ...)  Charts for
> iteration velocity, Scrum burn down, distribution of task
> types, dispositions, and more..  Ability to attach notes
> to stories and tasks (with attachments).  Iteration
> estimate accuracy view  Page showing task and story status
> for individual developers and customers.  Export of
> project and iteration information to XML, MPX (MS Project)
> , PDF, and iCal formats.  TWiki-style text formatting
> support with support external tool integration and
> extensible wiki word linking.  Integrated, extensible
> authentication supports multiple projects with
> project-specific authorization.  SOAP interfaces for
> advanced XPlanner integration and extension.  Language
> support for English, Spanish, French, German, Italian,
> Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Russian, Chinese, and
> Japanese..
>
> William Luu <will.luu@...> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> Just noticed this website via a blog today, and thought it
> may be of interest:
>
> http://www.xpstorystudio.com
>
> The website has an introduction listed which states:
>
> "XP StoryStudio is a free project-management portal for
> systems being developed using Agile methodologies -
> specifically XP. It has been developed internally by a
> team of enterprise developers at Egg Plc who've worked on
> Agile projects in real-world environments for several
> years. This is the homepage for XP StoryStudio, where you
> can find out further details about its development, and
> download it"
>
> And the listed features:
>
> "Whilst the features available in XP StoryStudio are being
> added to all the time, its core functionality is as
> follows:
>
> Multiple project "portal" approach
> Role based security, with the option to enable anonymous
> usage  Resource <-> task allocation to give visibility of
> developer utilisation  Skinning support, to allow branding
> to corporate guidelines  Graphing of project progress -
> story and story point burndown, story accumulation,
> development rate across iterations Projections of project
> duration, effort required, etc."
>
> I found it via the following blog:
>
http://weblogs.asp.net/jsgreenwood/archive/2005/01/04/346024.aspx
>
>
> --
>
> William
>
>
> To read messages online visit:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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>
>    To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
>
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>
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> Terms of Service.
>
>
>
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> fun!

Jared Quinert wrote:

>  Thanks for the pointer! Have you used it?

No, actually.  Though we have a Ruby script that does pretty much the
same thing for JUnit tests.

--
cheers, MikeW

Hi Greg,

In terms of advice when using XPlanner...I'm guessing this will amount to
general planning advice as well.

You can only have one active 'Iteration' from which tasks can be signed up to.
If you have different areas of work it may be a good idea to group these under
different iterations...basically using these as placeholders. ( For example
'Unscheduled Main Window', Uncheduled Undo Manager' etc )

The customer can then pick out the stories from each section and easily move
them into the active/next iteration.

I think it's really helpful that you can break a story down into tasks with
XPlanner.
Then estimate the tasks, which in turn gives you a estimate for the story.
Be sure you don't implement the story when estimating it though, but break it
down so that it is easily estimatable.

It's a good idea to set an upper bound on the size of a story. Not in terms of
the number of tasks, but in terms of the number of 'estimated units' spent on a
story. This way you can clearly tell if a story is too big and needs to be
broken down.
Personally I would suggest that tasks estimated at over a day long in duration
need to be broken down. Everyone tackles this differently. The smaller tasks are
the easier they are to estimate...which gives nice clear points to swap pairs,
assuming another pair finish at the same time. I'm not particularly keen on
swapping pairs mid-task, but again that comes down to how your team works.


Personally I like to have the tasks numbered within the story. ( Something
XPlanner could improve on )
Having estimated the story and once returning to implement it, having to work
out the order of the tasks is always a pest. This does tend to be a bit of
hassle if you start adding tasks and have to re-number everything, but I find it
very helpful later on.

The one gotcha  we found using the tool is that all developers need to have
admin privelages so that you can sign up for tasks, which is quite odd.

Besides that the only problem is remembering to start and stop the Xplanner
clock in IntelliJ...but thats human error.

Enjoy,
Peter


Greg Irvine <greg.irvine@...> wrote:
Hi Peter.



We're just about to take a look at XPlanner so if you have any advice that
would be great.



Admittedly our small team is more attempting to be Agile rather than fully
XP but considering the rest of the company, well, we're almost aliens.  :)



Greg.





   _____

From: Peter Aitken [mailto:peteraitkenjava@...]
Sent: Tuesday, 4 January 2005 9:06 PM
To: melbourne_XP_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com;
melbourne_xp_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MXPEG] Agile Planning Tool



Hi William,



I just had a look for XP StoryStudio but couldn't access the site.



Just thought I'd mention that I've been using XPlanner quite successfully
for a while. ( http://xplanner.org/ ) Sounds very similar to XP StoryStudio
in terms of the charts it produces.



I'll dump the list of features below.



The thing I really like about XPlanner is being able to sign up for tasks
off the web server...and with the IntelliJ integration, kick off the stop
clock to keep track of actual time spent on tasks.



Hope this helps.

Peter



PS: Here's the blurb.

*  Simple planning model

*  Virtual note cards

*  Support for recording and tracking projects, iterations, user stories,
and tasks.

*  Smart continuation of unfinished stories (unfinished tasks copied, copied
stories are crosslinked).

*  Distributed integration token (with email notification)

*  Online time tracking and time sheet generation at individual/team level

*  Metrics generation (team velocity, individual hours, ...)

*  Charts for iteration velocity, Scrum burn down
<http://www.controlchaos.com/about/burndown.php> , distribution of task
types, dispositions, and more..

*  Ability to attach notes to stories and tasks (with attachments).

*  Iteration estimate accuracy view

*  Page showing task and story status for individual developers and
customers.

*  Export of project and iteration information to XML, MPX (MS Project),
PDF, and iCal formats.

*  TWiki <http://www.twiki.org/> -style text formatting support with support
external tool integration and extensible wiki word
<http://xplanner.org/customization.html#wikiadapters>  linking.

*  Integrated, extensible
<http://xplanner.org/customization.html#customauth>  authentication supports
multiple projects with project-specific authorization.

*  SOAP <http://xplanner.org/soap.html>  interfaces for advanced XPlanner
integration and extension.

*  Language support for English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian
Portuguese, Danish, Russian, Chinese <http://xplanner.org/faq.html#chinese>
, and Japanese <http://xplanner.org/faq.html#japanese> ..

William Luu <will.luu@...> wrote:

Hey all,

Just noticed this website via a blog today, and thought it may be of
interest:

http://www.xpstorystudio.com <http://www.xpstorystudio.com/>

The website has an introduction listed which states:

"XP StoryStudio is a free project-management portal for systems being
developed using Agile methodologies - specifically XP. It has been
developed internally by a team of enterprise developers at Egg Plc
who've worked on Agile projects in real-world environments for several
years. This is the homepage for XP StoryStudio, where you can find out
further details about its development, and download it"

And the listed features:

"Whilst the features available in XP StoryStudio are being added to
all the time, its core functionality is as follows:

Multiple project "portal" approach
Role based securi ty, with the option to enable anonymous usage
Resource <-> task allocation to give visibility of developer utilisation
Skinning support, to allow branding to corporate guidelines
Graphing of project progress - story and story point burndown, story
accumulation, development rate across iterations
Projections of project duration, effort required, etc."

I found it via the following blog:
http://weblogs.asp.net/jsgreenwood/archive/2005/01/04/346024.aspx


--

William


To read messages online visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts

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---------------------------------
  ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun!

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

We fired up an evaluation of VersionOne on our project yesterday. I have
to say it looks extremely professionally done and very full-featured.
We'll use it for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.

Cheers,

James Ross
Consultant, ThoughtWorks
http://www.thoughtworks.com
Phone 0419 231 608


marty@... wrote on 12/01/2005 04:53:14 PM:

> You should throw this one into the mix for consideration
> too:
>     http://www.versionone.net/
>
> I've heard good things about it from other ThoughtWorkers,
> but I haven't had the chance to use it myself yet.
>
> -- Marty
>
> ----- Original Message Follows -----
> From: Peter Aitken <peteraitkenjava@...>
> To: melbourne_XP_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com,
> melbourne_xp_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [MXPEG] Agile Planning Tool
> Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 10:05:57 +0000 (GMT)
>
> > Hi William,
> >
> > I just had a look for XP StoryStudio but couldn't access
> > the site.
> >
> > Just thought I'd mention that I've been using XPlanner
> > quite successfully for a while. ( http://xplanner.org/ )
> > Sounds very similar to XP StoryStudio in terms of the
> > charts it produces.
> >
> > I'll dump the list of features below.
> >
> > The thing I really like about XPlanner is being able to
> > sign up for tasks off the web server...and with the
> > IntelliJ integration, kick off the stop clock to keep
> > track of actual time spent on tasks.
> >
> > Hope this helps.
> > Peter
> >
> > PS: Here's the blurb.
> >
> > Simple planning model
> > Virtual note cards
> > Support for recording and tracking projects, iterations,
> > user stories, and tasks.  Smart continuation of unfinished
> > stories (unfinished tasks copied, copied stories are
> > crosslinked).  Distributed integration token (with email
> > notification)  Online time tracking and time sheet
> > generation at individual/team level  Metrics generation
> > (team velocity, individual hours, ...)  Charts for
> > iteration velocity, Scrum burn down, distribution of task
> > types, dispositions, and more..  Ability to attach notes
> > to stories and tasks (with attachments).  Iteration
> > estimate accuracy view  Page showing task and story status
> > for individual developers and customers.  Export of
> > project and iteration information to XML, MPX (MS Project)
> > , PDF, and iCal formats.  TWiki-style text formatting
> > support with support external tool integration and
> > extensible wiki word linking.  Integrated, extensible
> > authentication supports multiple projects with
> > project-specific authorization.  SOAP interfaces for
> > advanced XPlanner integration and extension.  Language
> > support for English, Spanish, French, German, Italian,
> > Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Russian, Chinese, and
> > Japanese..
> >
> > William Luu <will.luu@...> wrote:
> > Hey all,
> >
> > Just noticed this website via a blog today, and thought it
> > may be of interest:
> >
> > http://www.xpstorystudio.com
> >
> > The website has an introduction listed which states:
> >
> > "XP StoryStudio is a free project-management portal for
> > systems being developed using Agile methodologies -
> > specifically XP. It has been developed internally by a
> > team of enterprise developers at Egg Plc who've worked on
> > Agile projects in real-world environments for several
> > years. This is the homepage for XP StoryStudio, where you
> > can find out further details about its development, and
> > download it"
> >
> > And the listed features:
> >
> > "Whilst the features available in XP StoryStudio are being
> > added to all the time, its core functionality is as
> > follows:
> >
> > Multiple project "portal" approach
> > Role based security, with the option to enable anonymous
> > usage  Resource <-> task allocation to give visibility of
> > developer utilisation  Skinning support, to allow branding
> > to corporate guidelines  Graphing of project progress -
> > story and story point burndown, story accumulation,
> > development rate across iterations Projections of project
> > duration, effort required, etc."
> >
> > I found it via the following blog:
> >
> http://weblogs.asp.net/jsgreenwood/archive/2005/01/04/346024.aspx
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > William
> >
> >
> > To read messages online visit:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >    To visit your group on the web, go to:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
> >
> >    To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> >
> >    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo!
> > Terms of Service.
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> >  ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more
> > fun!
>
>
> To read messages online visit:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

We looked at it quite some time ago, and it was very close to what I
wanted at the time, and very reasonably priced. The interactions with
the V1 staff were all very positive - they know their agile stuff. We
didn't go with it because we need an issue tracking system (for us and
customers) more than we need an XP planning tool. We're still using our
whiteboard.

Steev

James Ross wrote:

> We fired up an evaluation of VersionOne on our project yesterday. I have
> to say it looks extremely professionally done and very full-featured.
> We'll use it for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.
>
> Cheers,
>
> James Ross
> Consultant, ThoughtWorks
> http://www.thoughtworks.com
> Phone 0419 231 608
>
>
> marty@... wrote on 12/01/2005 04:53:14 PM:
>
> > You should throw this one into the mix for consideration
> > too:
> >     http://www.versionone.net/
> >
> > I've heard good things about it from other ThoughtWorkers,
> > but I haven't had the chance to use it myself yet.
> >
> > -- Marty
> >
> > ----- Original Message Follows -----
> > From: Peter Aitken <peteraitkenjava@...>
> > To: melbourne_XP_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com,
> > melbourne_xp_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: Re: [MXPEG] Agile Planning Tool
> > Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 10:05:57 +0000 (GMT)
> >
> > > Hi William,
> > >
> > > I just had a look for XP StoryStudio but couldn't access
> > > the site.
> > >
> > > Just thought I'd mention that I've been using XPlanner
> > > quite successfully for a while. ( http://xplanner.org/ )
> > > Sounds very similar to XP StoryStudio in terms of the
> > > charts it produces.
> > >
> > > I'll dump the list of features below.
> > >
> > > The thing I really like about XPlanner is being able to
> > > sign up for tasks off the web server...and with the
> > > IntelliJ integration, kick off the stop clock to keep
> > > track of actual time spent on tasks.
> > >
> > > Hope this helps.
> > > Peter
> > >
> > > PS: Here's the blurb.
> > >
> > > Simple planning model
> > > Virtual note cards
> > > Support for recording and tracking projects, iterations,
> > > user stories, and tasks.  Smart continuation of unfinished
> > > stories (unfinished tasks copied, copied stories are
> > > crosslinked).  Distributed integration token (with email
> > > notification)  Online time tracking and time sheet
> > > generation at individual/team level  Metrics generation
> > > (team velocity, individual hours, ...)  Charts for
> > > iteration velocity, Scrum burn down, distribution of task
> > > types, dispositions, and more..  Ability to attach notes
> > > to stories and tasks (with attachments).  Iteration
> > > estimate accuracy view  Page showing task and story status
> > > for individual developers and customers.  Export of
> > > project and iteration information to XML, MPX (MS Project)
> > > , PDF, and iCal formats.  TWiki-style text formatting
> > > support with support external tool integration and
> > > extensible wiki word linking.  Integrated, extensible
> > > authentication supports multiple projects with
> > > project-specific authorization.  SOAP interfaces for
> > > advanced XPlanner integration and extension.  Language
> > > support for English, Spanish, French, German, Italian,
> > > Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Russian, Chinese, and
> > > Japanese..
> > >
> > > William Luu <will.luu@...> wrote:
> > > Hey all,
> > >
> > > Just noticed this website via a blog today, and thought it
> > > may be of interest:
> > >
> > > http://www.xpstorystudio.com
> > >
> > > The website has an introduction listed which states:
> > >
> > > "XP StoryStudio is a free project-management portal for
> > > systems being developed using Agile methodologies -
> > > specifically XP. It has been developed internally by a
> > > team of enterprise developers at Egg Plc who've worked on
> > > Agile projects in real-world environments for several
> > > years. This is the homepage for XP StoryStudio, where you
> > > can find out further details about its development, and
> > > download it"
> > >
> > > And the listed features:
> > >
> > > "Whilst the features available in XP StoryStudio are being
> > > added to all the time, its core functionality is as
> > > follows:
> > >
> > > Multiple project "portal" approach
> > > Role based security, with the option to enable anonymous
> > > usage  Resource <-> task allocation to give visibility of
> > > developer utilisation  Skinning support, to allow branding
> > > to corporate guidelines  Graphing of project progress -
> > > story and story point burndown, story accumulation,
> > > development rate across iterations Projections of project
> > > duration, effort required, etc."
> > >
> > > I found it via the following blog:
> > >
> > http://weblogs.asp.net/jsgreenwood/archive/2005/01/04/346024.aspx
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > William
> > >
> > >
> > > To read messages online visit:
> > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------
> > > Yahoo! Groups Links
> > >
> > >    To visit your group on the web, go to:
> > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
> > >
> > >    To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > > melbourne_XP_enthusiasts-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> > >
> > >    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo!
> > > Terms of Service.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------
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> > > fun!
> >
> >
> > To read messages online visit:
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> >
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> > To visit your group on the web, go to:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/melbourne_XP_enthusiasts/
> >
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> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
>
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>
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Hi Guys,
sorry for spamming you all with this, I hope you don't mind.

I am looking for a new job that will give me the opportulity to do
agile development.
Anyone want to make me an offer, or know of agile companies that are hiring?

Please contact me directly. nigel@... or 0412 279 575

Thanks for you help.
--
Nigel Thorne
Extreme Programmer & Coach
www.nigelthorne.com

Hi Greg,
    I've been using XPlanner on my current project for
the past three months.  I concur with Peter's
assessment and I think it is a good, simple tool to
get started with.  My only extra advice is to thik
about how you're going to do your velocity tracking.
I tend to find it ideal to separate everyone's
understanding of the estimates from direct hours.  As
such, after a couple of iterations we might find that
something like 6 or 10 units can be completed in a day
by one pair.
    XPlanner unfortunately uses the term 'hours' which
tends to get non-Agile people thinking about real
hours. Ie. "It says eight hours so it will be done by
this time tomorrow?"
    The other thing is that it allows you to enter the
amount of time spent on a task.  If this time goes
greater than the original estimate, it adjusts the
estimate.  Ie.

orig. est: 5 hours
time spent : 7 hours
new est: 7 hours

In this way it directly ties time to the estimate
(1:1) which goes against the velocity concept.

Furthermore, when you then look at last week's
velocity, it will included all the enlarged numbers
and will move towards just being a number of how time
was spent on task.  If I'm planning the next
iteration, I want to know how many story points the
team completed last week, not how much time was spent
working on the stories.

Also, it allows people to enter segments of time on a
task.  To my mind, a task is either complete or not
complete - not 3/4 complete.  That would suggest four
tasks to me.

So my simple remedy is to just get the team to enter
the original estimate as the time spent on task.  That
way, my velocity is the original story count.  And to
encourage people to not add time to incomplete tasks.

Hope this helps.
Paul Coia


  --- Peter Aitken <peteraitkenjava@...> wrote:

>
> Hi Greg,
>
> In terms of advice when using XPlanner...I'm
> guessing this will amount to general planning advice
> as well.
>
> You can only have one active 'Iteration' from which
> tasks can be signed up to.
> If you have different areas of work it may be a good
> idea to group these under different
> iterations...basically using these as placeholders.
> ( For example 'Unscheduled Main Window', Uncheduled
> Undo Manager' etc )
>
> The customer can then pick out the stories from each
> section and easily move them into the active/next
> iteration.
>
> I think it's really helpful that you can break a
> story down into tasks with XPlanner.
> Then estimate the tasks, which in turn gives you a
> estimate for the story.
> Be sure you don't implement the story when
> estimating it though, but break it down so that it
> is easily estimatable.
>
> It's a good idea to set an upper bound on the size
> of a story. Not in terms of the number of tasks, but
> in terms of the number of 'estimated units' spent on
> a story. This way you can clearly tell if a story is
> too big and needs to be broken down.
> Personally I would suggest that tasks estimated at
> over a day long in duration need to be broken down.
> Everyone tackles this differently. The smaller tasks
> are the easier they are to estimate...which gives
> nice clear points to swap pairs, assuming another
> pair finish at the same time. I'm not particularly
> keen on swapping pairs mid-task, but again that
> comes down to how your team works.
>
>
> Personally I like to have the tasks numbered within
> the story. ( Something XPlanner could improve on )
> Having estimated the story and once returning to
> implement it, having to work out the order of the
> tasks is always a pest. This does tend to be a bit
> of hassle if you start adding tasks and have to
> re-number everything, but I find it very helpful
> later on.
>
> The one gotcha  we found using the tool is that all
> developers need to have admin privelages so that you
> can sign up for tasks, which is quite odd.
>
> Besides that the only problem is remembering to
> start and stop the Xplanner clock in IntelliJ...but
> thats human error.
>
> Enjoy,
> Peter
>
>
> Greg Irvine <greg.irvine@...> wrote:
> Hi Peter.
>
>
>
> We're just about to take a look at XPlanner so if
> you have any advice that
> would be great.
>
>
>
> Admittedly our small team is more attempting to be
> Agile rather than fully
> XP but considering the rest of the company, well,
> we're almost aliens.  :)
>
>
>
> Greg.
>
>
>
>
>
>   _____
>
> From: Peter Aitken
> [mailto:peteraitkenjava@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, 4 January 2005 9:06 PM
> To: melbourne_XP_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com;
> melbourne_xp_enthusiasts@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [MXPEG] Agile Planning Tool
>
>
>
> Hi William,
>
>
>
> I just had a look for XP StoryStudio but couldn't
> access the site.
>
>
>
> Just thought I'd mention that I've been using
> XPlanner quite successfully
> for a while. ( http://xplanner.org/ ) Sounds very
> similar to XP StoryStudio
> in terms of the charts it produces.
>
>
>
> I'll dump the list of features below.
>
>
>
> The thing I really like about XPlanner is being able
> to sign up for tasks
> off the web server...and with the IntelliJ
> integration, kick off the stop
> clock to keep track of actual time spent on tasks.
>
>
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> PS: Here's the blurb.
>
> *  Simple planning model
>
> *  Virtual note cards
>
> *  Support for recording and tracking projects,
> iterations, user stories,
> and tasks.
>
> *  Smart continuation of unfinished stories
> (unfinished tasks copied, copied
> stories are crosslinked).
>
> *  Distributed integration token (with email
> notification)
>
> *  Online time tracking and time sheet generation at
> individual/team level
>
> *  Metrics generation (team velocity, individual
> hours, ...)
>
> *  Charts for iteration velocity, Scrum burn down
> <http://www.controlchaos.com/about/burndown.php> ,
> distribution of task
> types, dispositions, and more..
>
> *  Ability to attach notes to stories and tasks
> (with attachments).
>
> *  Iteration estimate accuracy view
>
> *  Page showing task and story status for individual
> developers and
> customers.
>
> *  Export of project and iteration information to
> XML, MPX (MS Project),
> PDF, and iCal formats.
>
> *  TWiki <http://www.twiki.org/> -style text
> formatting support with support
> external tool integration and extensible wiki word
>
<http://xplanner.org/customization.html#wikiadapters>
>  linking.
>
> *  Integrated, extensible
> <http://xplanner.org/customization.html#customauth>
> authentication supports
> multiple projects with project-specific
> authorization.
>
> *  SOAP <http://xplanner.org/soap.html>  interfaces
> for advanced XPlanner
> integration and extension.
>
> *  Language support for English, Spanish, French,
> German, Italian, Brazilian
> Portuguese, Danish, Russian, Chinese
> <http://xplanner.org/faq.html#chinese>
> , and Japanese
> <http://xplanner.org/faq.html#japanese> ..
>
> William Luu <will.luu@...> wrote:
>
> Hey all,
>
>
=== message truncated ===

Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies.
http://au.movies.yahoo.com

>From: "Greg Irvine" in the "Agile Planning Tool" thread:-

<SNIP/>

>I agree about entering the agile world without using tools, but also due to
>the CMMI obsession here, metrics gathering is a priority so if we can
>evaluate a tool's usefulness and metric gathering ability as we go then all
>the better.

Yes. The ability of some Agile tools to produce metrics has been a great
"selling" point in my environment (Prince2, CMMi, etc.) for those tools -
and thus the methodolgies. As a "Technical Project Manager" (i.e. a Prince2
certified Project Manager with a developer backgound, rather than a business
background), I am unusual in the company. As an advocate of Agile I am from
Mars.

Learning to make Agile work inside of such environments has been quite an
education, but I have learned to repeat this mantra:
"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. These tools give me metrics
on an hourly basis. What tools do you have that gives you metrics on an
hourly basis?" I use nUnit, nAnt + Cruise Control. The Agile Planning tools
aren't yet in my arsenal, but will be RSN.

Interestingly, there has been little (actually, no) resistance from coders
to the Agile tools and techniques. They see Agile as a methodology that
gives them "buy in" at the code design level (rather than treating them like
code-monkeys and just handing them a bunch of UML with the instruction:
"Code this", they get some stories and a few notes about how I think it
might be done.... but they can - and do - ignore my notes, because
implementation is up to them). All resistance has been from management, who
are silenced by the "metrics=managed" mantra. The fact that the projects I
have worked on have typically had happy customers has also been a huge help
- but this too can be put down to tools and methodologies.

David C.

Sorry for the late response to this one, holidays and all ...

I've been using VersionOne for some months with great success.  I wuv it!
I've just changed companies but i'm sure the manager there will be pleased
for anybody to visit or dicsuss.  I can put you in touch if you wish.

I echo Steve's comment the VersionOne (V1) support and sales staff are
great, they have given excellent advice on the product and agile development
in general.  They also give a great on-line demo in our (AU) working hours.
I can not speak more highly of them.

We started with the hosted version but our network speed was a problem and
the product thinks that 1pm our time is the start of the next day (a little
localisation defect there).  So we installed it on our own server, no
problems.

Here is the interesting thing ... I've worked agile in two companys now.
The first had high skilled developers and went XP with pair programming and
using cards and whiteboard.  The cards were the way to go for sure, they
were easy to handle at mettings etc.  We really liked them.  We had a
company tracker & customer so the metrics worked well.

But, the second company had a much lower skill base and was very non-agile.
Very old fashioned type of company.  Here the the developer's really did not
like cards ... in fact they did not like teamwork.  Cards were seen as "non
professional".  I could explain more but it really was a strong cultural
thing.  Management saw the benefits of the cards and the white board as they
exposed progress and true velocity.

So we then went for VersionOne ... this was a great success!  Management
loved the reporting of daily burn-downs etc and developers got really into
the iteration dash board which enabled celebration of progress.  People
really got a buzz from seeing a "green light" (predicted date is before
required date).  It was also great as it meant that customers in Europe
could see daily progress on-line.

V1 became our most important enabler to bring in agile development.  It
enabled a cultural change.

Funny thing is that i "think" that V1 would not have been so good in the
first company.


BTW ... we set up a PC that showed the dashboard for all all projects and
placed that PC were everybody could see it.  Great move.


To decide if to use a whiteboard or something like V1 then first ask what
your culture is.  Some thoughts from me:

- Will somebody reliably do the tracker roll.
- What metrics does management need.
- What is your team's culture


My list of agile management tools is at:
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/RobAndSue/RobsBlog/Tools.htm#Tools%20-%20Agi
le%20Project%20Management


Rob Smyth
Constructively Lost


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Folks,

Some time ago there was a lot of positive comment about Eric Evans'
"Domain Driven Design". Our study group here has five second hand copies
(very good condition), which we are selling for $31.60, so if anyone is
interested please drop me a line.

Regards,
Steve

Did this link go around here before?  Has anyone read it?  Comments?

http://www2.cpttm.org.mo/cyberlab/softdev/ESAD/index.html.en

Jared

> Did this link go around here before?  Has anyone read it?  Comments?
>
> http://www2.cpttm.org.mo/cyberlab/softdev/ESAD/index.html.en

I don't think the link has been on MXPEG before. Thanks for sending the
link. I haven't read the book.

> Jared

Best,
Murray