The Gantt plugin (http://trac-hacks.org/wiki/GanttPlugin) seems dated. There's a patch that makes it work in 0.11 but I read a comment that said there are several extra Gantt-specific fields that make it awkward to use and maintain. The README says:
The first things to add are the new ticket fields. If you already have
a ticket-custom section, append these to it:
[ticket-custom]
...
dependencies = text
dependencies.label = Dependencies
dependencies.value =
...
This will add four new fields to tickets, ... a "Dependencies"
field, for listing ticket numbers upon which this ticket
depends,
But we already use MasterTicketsPlugin which adds blocking and blockedby to indicate dependencies. It'd be nice if GanttPlugin had a dependencies.field field to set to the "blockedby" so we could use both plugins together.
I looked at FlashGanttPlugin but it seems to require even more fields and the description on the Trac-Hacks page for it makes it sound like the developers aren't sure where they are going or where they'll get there. (Maybe that's too harsh.)
Does anyone else find it kind of amazing that a plugin that's supposed to create a chart doesn't have a sample chart in the documentation? I'd really like to see what these plugins produce.
All of that said, can someone on the list recommend a Gantt chart plugin or comment on their experience with either of these? Thanks.
Chris
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It seems the old gantt plugin requires you to assign start/stop dates.
What I think is needed is several things all at once:
dependencies (mastertickets does this fine)
estimates (timingandestimation is mostly ok, but needs computation
logic a little more towards earned value)
recording of available resources (people in hours/week)
scheduling to show given all of the above when tasks are expected to
be done
and finally
a way to show the schedule
It could be that there are existing project planners and what we really
need is a way to export dependencies and estimates and let that other
tool work.
However ... is there any interface to retrieve dependencies between tickets ?
> and finally
> a way to show the schedule
>
Maybe this is the key concern, at least from my perspective ... maybe
I'm wrong ...
It seems to me that there are two types of dependencies required for a
Gantt and I don't think MasterTickets does both.
1) You need a way to say "task A is composed of tasks B, C, and D" so
that you can show Task A at one level of detail and tasks B, C, and D at
a lower level. The duration of task A is the total of the durations for
tasks B, C, and D.
2) You need a way to say "task C is dependent on task B" (that is, C
can't begin until B is done).
Yes, every project needs planning. But Trac may not be the place to
perform this. I agree that Trac should collect data and provide a means
to export the data to another tool(s). The question then becomes, what
other tools and what common formatting do they share.
Ray
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I agree that I don't want to graft on project management if it doesn't
really make sense. For me, I need a fairly integrated interface so my
users can get to everything by navigating links. If PM is another
web-enabled application, that's fine.
I don't see it. Can you give me an example of those types of
dependencies?
Fwiw, redmine _looks_ excellent for gantt charts and PM. The problems
we found were:
- another app. Just what we didn't need (email lists, tracs, actual
websites, stats, groupware/redmine to do PM etc etc) A gantt facility
in Trac would be useful for gettingrid of some of our app switching
overhead, especially when working in low bandwidth areas.
- redmine is written in ruby on rails. As much as I wanted to love it,
they way it would bring my server to it's knees....was unimpressive.
Plus, with the dev speed of RoR et al, it means there is a constant
need for upgrading. We run debian servers and the bleeding edge can't
keep up with that pace.
- we have a soft spot for python and trac, have been using them for a
few years and feel competent using (if not dev'ing) them :)
+1 to gantt charts plugin/hack - can provide testing support.
L.
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I'll take a look at that and the src code, if available ;)
In fact I started TracGViz [1]_ since I found no working TracGantt plugin, and
I was hoping ...
I was hoping ...
to see a gadget for Gantt charts (thnx Alanis for the backgrounds :P)
>
> +1 to gantt charts plugin/hack - can provide testing support.
>
+1 for me too, -0.5 for having it in trac core ;)
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Regards,
Olemis.
Blog ES: http://simelo-es.blogspot.com/
Blog EN: http://simelo-en.blogspot.com/
Featured article:
Se retira el BDFL ... ¿El fin de Python 3k?
3) Task A cannot start until task B starts (finish doesn't matter)
- A task for auditing someone's job as he works can only start
when the job's task that is going to be reviewed starts but can end long
after the audited job ends.
- Some parallel tasks.
4) Task A cannot end until task B ends (start doesn't matter)
- Right now I cannot recall an example for this one, maybe
interface prototyping and use case description... the first one cannot
end until the second one ends.
Thanks.
> 3) Task A cannot start until task B starts (finish doesn't matter)
> - A task for auditing someone's job as he works can only start
when
> the job's task that is going to be reviewed starts but can end long
> after the audited job ends.
> - Some parallel tasks.
OK. I'll buy that. I think a Gantt plugin could exist and be useful
without support for this type of task linkage but we should at least
anticiate in the design.
> 4) Task A cannot end until task B ends (start doesn't matter)
> - Right now I cannot recall an example for this one, maybe
interface
> prototyping and use case description... the first one cannot end
> until the second one ends.
My project manager friend is going to check his text books for an
example and get back to me.