All of the spellr.us team except for Charl (backend developer extraordinaire) are based onsite.
However co-ordinating this project has been interesting and a few tools and techniques have helped us a long the way.
- Forum: we have set-up a forum, created a bundle of categories. We post ideas, tasks etc. Works a treat and cuts down dramatically on the number of emails flying around. Emails have never been a good tool in projects involving more than 2 people. HIGHLY recommended as a project management tool. This “old school” web tool has streamlined our project very well.
- Very limited face to face meetings. We really are highly selective when we decide to meet. We are aware that “meeting” for every little thing will kill momentum - and we are very focussed on momentum. Our face to face meetings stay very focussed.
- On the technical side - the developers Adam and Charl seem to still like using 1-1 email - that is as most of the heavy technical stuff is dealt only between them. They will have to comment more about how they have managed the separation of tasks etc.
- Skype- even for inter office communications and great to bring Charl in from offsite.
Moving forward I think we could maybe use a Wiki to create documentation - other than that I think it is all working well.
I would be very interested to hear how other people manage the development of internal projects.
Kevin
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