[clug] Open Source Project Management

[Ian McLeod]

Hi,

I am new to this group and look forward to meeting everyone at the next 
meeting on August 27.  I'm a happy Ubuntu user at home and have been 
using Linux on and off since 1997.  I turned off it for a while however 
over the last year or so I don't recall the last time my home PC was not 
booted in to Linux.  KDE4 just rocks, and Linux just seems to do 
everything I need.  Except games which I don't play much these days.

Anyway, I need to develop my software project management and business 
analysis skills so signed up to project manage an open source project 
needing a bit of a lift.  It seems to be a bit of a new field.

Dotproject looks like an interesting programme management tool, and 
there is another spin off called web2project worth investigating?

I'm wondering if others have some experience with open source project 
management or open source project management tools?  Common risks, 
issues and strategies to look out for?

If dotproject works I am tempted to suggest it at work as they baulked 
at the cost of a Microsoft EPM (Enterprise Project Management) solution 
due to the GFC, etc although I still believe any organisation with more 
than 2 projects requires some sort of EPM set up.

Would really appreciate a factual discussion on open source project 
management, and ideally to see dotproject in action and to learn how to 
set it up at home.  My wife is also quite interested in it as she likes 
the low capital (licence) expenses associated with open source.  She is 
actually interested to see how far she can get project managing and 
running a business venture on open source or free software (I have even 
heard of open source e-commerce solutions that are apparently quite good).

Open source seems to have come quite a way in the broader world since my 
first heavy forays in 1996 through to 2003.

Oh and I am also teaching myself Bash and Python (programming in 
general) and would like to share thoughts with people to enhance my 
learning :-)  One project I have in mind if it's possible is an open 
source insurance asset tracker to file away receipts and information on 
assets in case of disaster or theft - for personal and business use.

Cheers and nice to meet you all :-)

Ian