aC forum: Checklists, Tickets, Tasks http://www.activecollab.com/forums/topic/2107/ Recent posts on topic: Checklists, Tickets, Tasks en-us Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:55:48 CDT http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10237/#post10237 http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10237/#post10237 Post #12 by Ilija Studen Ilija Studen Hi mik,

Your suggested changes in the way tasks and checklists are handled in this post. We'll see how we can improve the system in the future, but things have changed a bit. Tasks can be attached to more objects and they are more powerful now. This gives you more firepower, but increases complexity of everything we want to build.

Thank you for suggestions, we'll work on improvements in the upcoming releases.

]]> Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:59:23 CDT http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10236/#post10236 http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10236/#post10236 Post #11 by mik mik
Ilija Studen:
* Task - small task that represent steps in execution of a bigger task


This is what I need, and what I currently use the most in 0.7.1, but in the 1.0 line it is too many time-consuming steps. And I regularly move a task from one list to another which I haven't found a way to do at all in 1.0.

I thought I had posted a question about this before, but now I can't find it.
In 0.7.1 I can add up to 7 tasks when I create a list.
In 1.0.x I have to create a list before I can add any tasks, which I have to add one at a time. Except if I use Quick add which lets me enter up to 3 tasks at a time but I have to create a new list, can't add to an existing one, and I can't assign tasks to people.

I am generally pleased with other modules in the new version, but with the loss of functionality (moving task to another list) and workflow with tasks, I may not be able to upgrade - this is the only thing holding me back now that the importer is available, but it's a show-stopper. Am I missing something, some way to use tasks more efficiently?

I also miss being able to see what the other lists are in a sidebar while viewing a particular list, but I think/hope I can address that with a custom theme.

]]> Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:12:13 CDT http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10197/#post10197 http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10197/#post10197 Post #10 by errd errd
mvrana:
One other thing is that it currently looks like it's not possible to delete milestones, only complete them.

On the milestone details page: Options button -> Move to Trash

]]> Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:36:12 CDT http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10195/#post10195 http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10195/#post10195 Post #9 by mvrana mvrana Thanks for this Ilija. I'd noticed that milestones changed from 0.71, in that you can no longer include a 'note' with the milestone. One other thing is that it currently looks like it's not possible to delete milestones, only complete them.

]]> Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:51:25 CDT http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10192/#post10192 http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10192/#post10192 Post #8 by Ilija Studen Ilija Studen First, a really brief definition:

* Ticket - big tasks that can be discussed, connected to a milestone, have attachments, long description etc. For instance, we have the "Improve TinyMCE integration" ticket that we are working on. It's a complex problem and we broke it into smaller tasks, has some screenshots attached etc. Also, "Localization" ticket. BIG task with a lot of things that need to be done before we can hit the Complete button.

* Task - small task that represent steps in execution of a bigger task - ticket, page or checklist. For instance, we have a "Fix Indent for elements that are not list items" in "Improve TinyMCE integration." If you need a standalone task create a ticket.

* Milestone are designed to let you define phases project is going through, not just deadlines. For instance, we started working on new version few days ago and have a deadline set for a specific day in the future - it's a period with the beginning and the end. This is how they are implemented now. We'll see in the future how can improve them so they can be used to mark single day events like deadlines and avoid the confusion.

Tickets can be grouped by the project phase they are part of, right? Due date is OK for setting the exact date when ticket needs to be completed, but milestone lets you define what phase of projects lifecycle it belongs to. On the other hand, you can group tickets in Categories. We have Bugs, Feature Requests, Modules etc in our setup, but you can decide to use a different set based on your needs.

When I said that there is no workflow I meant that activeCollab is a set of tools that can be used in many ways. What works for us does not necessarily needs to work for you and the other way around. We have been using activeCollab for the past 3 months and we already have a workflow that works for us, but it's still evolving. As time goes by we are learning better ways to keep things on track, organize data, our efforts etc.

I'll be working on detailed descriptions of what activeCollab modules CAN do, but it's up to you to decide how you will use them.

]]> Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:47:06 CDT http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10185/#post10185 http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10185/#post10185 Post #7 by errd errd These questions are a single blocker of using aC. And I think there should be a lot of people having similar questions.

From my point of view Tickets feature should be used for bugs tracking and features requests (but for requests only).
If team decided to implement requested feature then some <Task> should be created.

Tasks may be used in this way if they have description field, not only the summary.
Also tasks are assigned to pages, that's great... but there is no way for administrator to browse all of the tasks created on all of the pages.

Then if Pages are feature like project documentation, it's good to have Pages Index similar to Table of Contents.

Also it is useful to view tasks list for each person on the single page, may be I just haven't found this feature?

Ilija, you do very usefull job for all of us, look forward for any comments on this!

Thank you!

]]> Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:36:12 CDT http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10177/#post10177 http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10177/#post10177 Post #6 by orbi orbi Hi, I have the same problem as errd with understanding the pinciples of aC ... You say there is no defined workflow but this is very confusing. Maybe you can answer some wuestions:

- Milestones: You say you use them for "grouping" purposes. But to my understandig milestones in project-management are just important dates. Like "Website Launch". They have no time span (in aC you have to provide a time span > 1 day). Am I wrong with this definition?

- Milestones II: If you use the term "milestone" similar to "Group" - Why has it its own navigational section? Isn't it just another hierarchical level for tasks (Milestones -> Checklists -> Tasks)?

- Why can't I assign tasks directly to projects? I have alway to create checklists, right?

thanks!
orbi

]]> Thu, 18 Oct 2007 03:26:36 CDT http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10162/#post10162 http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10162/#post10162 Post #5 by Ilija Studen Ilija Studen We use activeCollab a lot for all things activeCollab related:

1. We use tickets to track bug reports and feature requests. They are grouped in milestones where every milestone is one of the upcoming releases (currently two active are v1.0.4 and v1.1). If we don't have a feature planned for a specific release it is in Unknown Milestones group. From time to time we go through that group to see if there is something interesting we could add to the release we are working on.

2. We use pages for everything related to writing - documentation, release notes, blog posts... These documents evolve through time and we usually work in teams on them so revisions are a real life savior. Comments and email notifications are really helpful to have everyone in the loop.

Discussions, checklists, files and time-tracking are features we rarely use for our own business.

]]> Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:03:11 CDT http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10098/#post10098 http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10098/#post10098 Post #4 by toddgeist toddgeist Here is how we are currently using aC to deliver software to our clients. This will probably evolve over time.

Tickets are the main unit of work. This is because you can divide them up into tasks and record time against them. You can comment on them. You can also break them up into categories. So we use tickets to manage the following

client related categories
Feature Requests( ie User Stories)
Issues (bugs)
Ongoing Support ( a project has an on going support ticket that we use for booking time for unscheduled support)

internal categories
Overhead ( we create an internal project for us only and book time against internal Tickets)

We use Milestone to schedule the delivery of builds. We attach tickets to MileStones and move the tickets from MileStone to Milestone as needed if things slip or get moved up.

CheckList and Tasks we use for simple stuff that doesn't need time booked against it.

Tasks related to pages we are not using yet.

Hope this helps

Todd

]]> Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:30:16 CDT http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10097/#post10097 http://www.activecollab.com/forums/post/10097/#post10097 Post #3 by errd errd Ilija, I can't imagine that these features were implemented without any background ideas of how to use.

May be someone from the community could provide me some samples of usage? We are using Agile methodology and I'm trying to understand how these features may be used. Is there any success stories?

]]> Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:10:23 CDT