Reporting on Our Progress

To get a flavor for the PSP, Gary asked each of us to track our time spent on the project in 15-minute increments . We each used Microsoft Word or Excel to keep a diary of our activities. We dutifully recorded meeting time, design time, development time, and so on. This was tedious , and it didn't last long because we found the effort of recording how we were spending our time to be more than we were willing to do. But it did help us understand why it was important to build the tools to assist users with capturing the relevant information.

Gary had been using PSP for a while. Even though he didn't record overhead time, such as time spent in meetings, he did keep track of his development effort. At first, he recorded his time and defects in a spreadsheet. By our second Construction iteration, the tool was stable enough that Gary could use the tool we were building, so he became our first Beta tester.

On all but the smallest of projects, we recommend using specialized tools like a project planner (for example, Microsoft Project), and a change request management tool (for example, Rational ClearQuest). We have used these tools successfully on larger projects. But on this project, we used Groove to keep track of our engineering backlog and defects; for these two items, we created a new Groove discussion tab. This was sufficient, but even on our small project, it became difficult to find information.

Groove

Groove is a collaborative workspace product that helps geographically distributed teams collaborate effectively. When we began the project for this book, Groove was a new product. It consisted of a workspace where we could store files, a calendar, and tools such as an outliner tool and a discussion tool where we could create discussion items and reply to them. Today, Groove includes tools to help with project management and meeting management. Other tools are available as plug-ins from Groove partners .

Groove ships in several editions. The Preview edition is free for personal use and free for a 90-day evaluation for businesses. The Standard edition and the Professional edition are available for purchase. The Preview edition limits the number of workspaces and meetings you can work with. The Standard edition The Professional edition gives you access to all Groove features.

When we talk about a collaborative workspace, we mean a repository that is available to the whole team, regardless of where the team members are located. Additionally, the workspace provides tools that let you perform certain tasks effectively. Groove works as follows :

• Each team member downloads the Groove software and creates an account.

• One team member creates a project . A project is a workspace that can have any number of members. The creator or another workspace member with privileges can invite other members to join.

• When you accept the invitation , the workspace is copied from the computer of the person who invited you to your computer, through the Groove server.

• When you create a new file in your workspace, usually by dragging a file into the workspace, or by adding an item to a tool such as a discussion tool, the information is transmitted to the Groove server. If you are not online at the time, it will be transmitted the next time you start the Groove product when you are online.

• The Groove server transmits the new information to everyone on the project. When everyone has the file, it is removed from the Groove server.

• When changes are made to files or any type of item, a similar process occurs. If there are conflicts (for example, two people change the same file), Groove notifies you and copies both files to your workspace.

Groove became our most-used tool for this project. Especially in the beginning, when it was newly released, it didn't always work flawlessly. As Groove matured, it became more robust and indispensable to the team.

Some of our team members have used only the Preview version while others have purchased licenses for the Standard version. The cost is, in our opinion, quite reasonable for what you get. To learn more, visit the Groove Web site: www.groove.net.

We used a stylized way of entering the information. Each headline for a change request had the following format:

 [status] (priority for defects) Description (assigned) [resolution] 

The "status" was simply *** (three asterisks) for open defects or engineering tasks; we removed the asterisks when the task was complete. We had a simple Priority scheme for defects:

• P1 ” Showstopper, can't continue testing.

• P2 ” Fix as soon as possible, but testing can continue or the customer can still use the product.

• P3 ” Fix as time permits .

When team members started working on an item, they put their initials after the description, and when the item was resolved, they inserted the build or resolution status. This allowed us to sort the items based on open/close status, and print out reports as needed. Simple, but effective. Figure 4.3 shows a portion of the Defects tab in the Groove workspace.

Figure 4.3. Defect tracking with Groove