Program Manager

Note: This is how the Program Manager's position was handled during the fall semester of 2003. Each person who takes this positon will handle the job a little differently.

I. TWiki

1. Create boxes that display jobs for each team member. These should be placed in the topic that is most related to the job assigned (See ActionTrackerPlugin? ). Example:

    
         %ACTION{ due="4-Dec-2003" state="open" who="Main.DottieChappell"
         notify="Main.DottieChappell" }% Add a description of Program Manager's to TWiki 
         

   • This will be displayed as: %ACTION{ closed="8-Feb-2004" due="4-Feb-2004" creator="Main.DavidWinkler" uid="000151" state="closed" created="2-Feb-2004" who="Main.DavidWinkler" closer="" notify="Main.DavidWinkler" }% Post updated Master Schedule with Dates and Tasks
2. At the request of other team members, a link to all their open action items was inserted in their user pages, which displayed each item individually. Items can be assigned individually or set up by groups at TWikiGroups.

• • Example for individual:

     
          %ACTIONSEARCH{ web=".*" who="Main.DottieChappell"  notify="Main.DottieChappell" 
          state="open" }% 
          

  • Example for group:

     
          %ACTIONSEARCH{ web=".*" who="Main.BuildGroup"  notify="Main.BuildGroup"
          state="open" }% 
          

1. Set up links in each person's user page to areas in TWiki that should be checked often, such as: DevEnvironmentOpenAction? , DevEnvironmentClosedAction? , or NovJobs. The TWiki web site must be included as part of the link. Examples:

    
         * CLJdevenv.OpenAction:  The tracking device for open jobs.  
         * CLJdevenv.NovJobs:  Outline of jobs targeted for November completion. 
         * CLJdevenv.ClosedAction:  Recently closed jobs for the crew.  
         

2. Update the DevEnvironmentOpenAction? topic (see Open below) before each class, check emails every day for progress reports.
3. The night before class, download a copy of the DevEnvironmentOpenAction? topic and email this to each member in the class as a group mailing (with a carbon copy going to Jerry). Emails could include questions about individual jobs....either relating to the progress of the job, or clarification of the job itself (description or due date).
4. Update TWiki with as much information as is available, sometimes the information will need to be taken from the Status Reports that are due every Friday on the Status Reporting Blog (Status Report).
5. Before class, copies of the DevEnvironmentOpenAction? and the DevEnvironmentClosedAction? topics are printed out. These are then passed out in class to aid in discussion and let everyone know where they currently stand. Closed actions should be limited to jobs that have been closed since the last class period. (Adjustments will sometimes need to be made to the DevEnvironmentClosedAction? topic to just include specific people who had closed out items on interested due dates. Otherwise, everyone who has had something closed with that particular due date will be shown.) A Date Closed column in the Action Item chart was created so that it could be noted when these items were actually closed.
6. Provide plenty of links to areas visited often such as topics where the jobs are originally posted. This will save time when trying to update action items or add new jobs. The trouble it takes to insert a link in a TWiki topic will more than make up for the time it takes to work through the different webs to get to the final destination. More links should have been added to DevEnvironmentOpenAction? and DevEnvironmentClosedAction? topics during this semester.

II. TWiki - Open Action Topic

1. This web topic will display jobs that are currently open. Dates of past due jobs will be highlighted in yellow.
2. Jobs can be listed by individuals or groups as in the following example:

    
         %ACTIONSEARCH{ web=".*" who="Main.DewaineCooper" state="open" }%
         %ACTIONSEARCH{ web=".*" who="Main.BuildGroup" state="open" }%
         

3. A calendar was created using the following table options provided in TWiki.

         | *Week 7* ||||| *Week 8* |||||
         |11\17\03|11\18\03|11\19\03|11\20\03|11\21\03|11\24\03|11\25\03|11\26\03|11\27\03|11\28\03|     
         | mw-[[#StAte][Read18]] | | | | | | | | | |
         

4. The information in brackets [] provides a link within that topic to the job listed below the calendar with the identifier Read18 . The

    #StAte 

   is an anchor to that link and must preceed the action search code for that job.
5. The identifier was included in the job description when the job was created.
6. Jobs can be closed easily from this topic by chosing the edit option on that job. A window will open that will allow the job to be changed from open to closed.
7. An example of a week from the calendar with one link is provided below:

%ACTION{ closed="4-Feb-2004" due="8-Dec-2003" creator="Main.DottieChappell" uid="000186" state="closed" created="9-Dec-2003" who="Main.JamesCrawford" closer="" notify="Main.JamesCrawford" }% Clean up code per Jerry's code review R12

III. Communication

1. Keep the team members updated as much as possible.
2. The goal is for jobs to progress as smoothly as possible, so anything that can be done to keep people informed will help (such as sending them the latest DevEnvironmentOpenAction? topic before class to make sure their jobs are recorded correctly).
3. Email anything that was mentioned in class that team members need to be made aware of.
4. On Friday's, send out emails reminding people to post their status reports as comments to Jerry's status report.
5. If there are any questions about when a job can be closed out (that is if it is completed to Jerry's specifications), send him an email about it first. If there is an email from a team member concerning the job, that could be forwarded to him along with any questions there are about closing that particular job out.
6. Pass on to Jerry any information or emails that are available from other team members before class, if it is something he should be concerned with. For example, sometimes people will run into road blocks and Jerry may need to put another person on that task to help it along.