Wiki as project management tool.

2006-11-19 Computing · Me

Using a Wiki as a project management tool is something that I have been thinking over quite alot recently. At work we do some project management using our internal Wiki, and its great for everyone else to be able to access it.

But there is some nagging doubt in my head. Perhaps its because it requires self discipline to be able to work it properly, or that it we could be doing it better.

Wikis have some real advantages for project management:

A lot are free, with only hosting costs to contend with
Open access which can be restricted with ACLs
Anyone can view, edit and update at anytime. Easily.
With the proper infrastructure can easily break geographical boundaries.
Built in version control
Great for documentation
Open
Can be used as a document repository
Inbuilt document linking can build documentation as detailed or sparse as needed
Project information can be kept linked to technical information
Reduces the use of email.

But there are downsides, so far all the Opensourced Wikis that I have seen don’t have built in easily updatable views for Gantt charts, and graphical overviews unless based on simple tables with coloured in cells.

MoinMoin, the python based Wiki software, has support for Gantt chart rendering using a Python module but its far from easy for someone not wishing to use xml to update the chart.

So the question is how do we support these graphical views, and how do we maintain discipline on the project management side?

Well a formal structure is one way, along with formally created templates for the creation of project pages. This can be mapped successfully to a formal methodology if you are using one, and is in fact such a good way to go that I am going to start testing this.