SM Ling wrote:
> [...] with GTDinbox as well Google Calendar,
> you may also get a project tracking system that you asked last time.

Since I've made that post, I've done more reading and reflecting on the 
subject of project management (even went back and re-read the MMM), and came 
to the conclusion that most project tracking software out there is not very 
effective (in some cases, counter-productive). Microsoft Project in 
particular seems better suited for construction-type projects, rather than 
software development.

I like the "tasks pinned to a wall" PM tool that Cockburn described in his 
"Agile Software Development" book (ISBN-13: 978-0201699692, pg 70-71):

-------------------
Dee Hock's VISA Story

"We decided to become our own prime contractor, farming out selected tasks 
to a variety of software developers and then coordinating and implementing 
results. Conventional wisdom held it to be one of the worst possible ways to 
build computerized communications systems.

We rented cheap space in suburban building and dispensed with leasehold 
improvements in favor of medical curtains on rolling frames for the limited 
spatial separation required....

Swiftly, self-organization emerged. An entire wall became a pinboard with 
every remaining day calendared across the top. Someone grabbed an unwashed 
coffee cup and suspended it on a long piece of string pinned to the current 
date. Every element of work to be done was listed on a scrap of paper with 
the required completion date and name of the person who had accepted the 
work. Anyone could revise the elements., adding tasks or revising dates, 
provided that they coordinated with others affected. Everyone, at any time, 
could see the picture emerge and evolve. They could see how the whole 
depended on their work and how their work was connected to every other part 
of the effort. Groups constantly assembled in front of the board as need and 
inclination arose, discussing and deciding in continuous flow and then 
dissolving as needs were met. As each task was completed, its scrap of paper 
would be removed. Each day, the cup and string moved inexorably ahead.

Every day, every scrap of paper that fell behind the grimy string would find 
an eager group of volunteers to undertake the work required to remove it. To 
be able to get one's own work done and help another became a sought-after 
privilege. Nor did anyone feel beggared by accepting help. Such Herculean 
effort meant that at any time, anyone's task could fall behind and emerge on 
the wrong side of the string.

Leaders spontaneously emerged and ingenuity exploded. Individuality and 
diversity flourished. People astonished themselves at what they could 
accomplish and were amazed at the suppressed talents that emerged in others.

Position became meaningless. Power over others became meaningless. Time 
became meaningless. Excitement about doing the impossible increased, and a 
community based on purpose, principle, and people arose. Individuality, 
self-worth, ingenuity, and creativity flourished; and as they did, so did 
the sense of belonging to something larger than self, something beyond 
immediate gain and monetary gratification.

[...]

No one ever replaced the dirty string and no one washed the cup.... The 
BASE-I system came up on time, under budget, and exceeded all operating 
objectives"
-------------------

To paraphrase some of the ideas in the book, the primary goal of software 
development is to deliver working software. Everything else should be judged 
by the effect it has on the primary goal (helping or hindering the process), 
not on its own merit. There's something about the "tangibility" of 
whiteboards, flip charts, pinboards, and cups suspended on dirty strings, 
that make them more effective than tables and graphs on computer screens.

Vitaliy 

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