Re: [Planner Dev] printing, Resource Usage, zoom, ...

[Andrej Vodopivec <Andrej Vodopivec ids si>]

Richard Hult wrote:

> On mån, 2004-08-30 at 19:36 +0200, Andrej Vodopivec wrote:
>  
>
> > I did some more planning using planner. I have quite some remarks on
> > bugs? and new features. Let me apologize for not being able to use
> > the right words all the time but I hope the ideas will be clear to 
> > everybody.
> >    
>
> Thanks a lot for all the input, it's greatly appreciated!
>
> We keep track of bugs and feature requests in the bugzilla database, to
> make sure we don't forget things and to make it easier to follow up on
> each bug.
>
> It would be great if you would consider submitting those bugs (or at
> least the ones you think is most important) at:
>
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=planner
>
> We try to keep one report per bug/request as far as possible.
>  
Sorry about this. Most of my items are not bugs but more like improvements
in my view or nuisance in view of somebody else. I will make sure the bugs
are entered in bugzilla.

>  
>
> > -zoom
> >   Draw vertical gray lines at the beginning of month,quater,... when weeks
> >        are not shown any more. It is difficult to compare timing of
> >        tasks when one has 50 lines without any grid.
> >        When minor unit is month one could gray out the first full week,
> >        when minor unit is quarter one could gray out the first month, ...
> >    
>
> So for example, this could be one bug report.
>  
It could be a bug but it could also be a design decision to gray out 
only what
calendar does not define as work time.

>  
>
> >   Extend horizontal gray lines in Gantt chart into calendar area (option?)
> >        like in task view
> >   Vertical grid would also come handy in HTML file.
> >    
>
> ...and this another one, etc.
>
>  
>
> > -print
> >   I have a schedule which extends well into 2006 but I am much more 
> > interested
> >        into the next quarter details than in 2006 plan or what already 
> > happened        since May. I want to print Gantt chart from 1-SEP-2004 
> > to 31-DEC-2004.
> >    
>
> We already have a report for this:
>
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=129141
>
> Feel free to add comments to it.
>
>  
>
> >        I would not mind if a few extra days are plotted to get a weekly 
> > grid.
> >    
>
> Good idea, we should probably always start on week start or month start
> or year start depending on the zoom I think?
>
>  
>
> >        Most of my schedule beyond half a year in the future is changing
> >        quite a bit so it is a waste of paper to print it in detail.
> >    Something like:
> >        from-date to-date; 6 weeks per page
> >        from-week year to-week year; 1 week per page
> >    or
> >        this and next three quarter; one quarter per page
> >    
>
> Do you mean as preset zoom alternatives when printing, that the user can
> choose from?
>  
Yes, that's it.

>  
>
> > -zoom
> >        from-date to-date
> >        from-week to-week
> >    
>
>  
>
> > -when started as: 'planner fname' window banner says "Unnamed - Imendio 
> >    
>
> We actually display the name of the project, not the filename. We could
> fallback to the filename if there is no name though.
>  
Is it possible to set the project name? I will check the User Guide and 
correct
my plans.

>  
>
> > -list Resource Usage as
> >    Resource
> >        Top_task_name Bottom_task_name
> >    Like I plan design of three circuits. The database has to be  
> > delivered to
> >                a fab. The process is called tape-out. My plan contains
> >                tape-out 2-3 times for each of 3 circuits: mis, mis-tx,cdat
> >    The Resource Usage creates a list like:
> >        > Igor Grm
> >            Igor Grm    tape-out
> >            Igor Grm    tape-out
> >            Igor Grm    tape-out2
> >            Igor Grm    tape-out
> >                ....
> >    While I would need:
> >        > Igor Grm
> >            mis         tape-out
> >            cdat        tape-out
> >            mis         tape-out2
> >            mis-tx      tape-out
> >    
>
> Hm, you mean that mis/cdat etc are the parent tasks of the various tape-
> out tasks? That sounds like it could be a bit confusing, how about
> displaying the WBS code instead, like:
>
> Igor Grm
>  Igor Grm     1.2.4 tape-out
>  Igor Grm     2.1.3 tape-out
>  
When you group all tasks of 'Igor Grm' it is unnecessary to write
the name in each line.

>  
> Or something I've thought about doing before, only have one column:
>
> Igor Grm
>  1.2.4 tape-out
>  2.1.3 tape-out
>  
Please, see below.

>  
>
> > -display time unit for work,duration,lag,slack: select weeks, days, or hours
> >        All time entries should expect values entered using this unit
> >        unless w,d,h is appended. This should be selectable in Preferences.
> >    
>
> We have some bugs about units across planner. 
>
>  
>
> > -merge (import) of plans
> > -export selected tasks (with subtasks)
> > -means to track plan execution
> > -(means to track changes in plan)
> > -view Resource Usage of multiple plans (files)
> >    
>
> Well, that's more of a general super-project feature, where you merge
> multiple files, not a resource usage feature. Either that, or a shared
> resource pool across multiple projects, but still not a resource usage
> view feature but more fundamental change to planner.
>  
I manage a group of 12 people designing mostly analog circuits. I would 
ideally
like to have one planner file per circuit and have a posibility to 
extract the
Resource Usage of all the files (in the current directory). The same 
person is
working on a number of projects simultanuasly because:
- one is a specialist for say digital design
- there is a one to three months gap between the tape-out and the time 
one can
   evaluate the circuit.
- a customer may request changes after the circuit enters production.
Now, since I can not pull a  Resource Usage from multiple files I have 19
(and growing) projects (circuits) in a single file. For each circuit I 
have 2-3
tape-outs and a tape-out is milestone in the line of taks:
design, layout, tape-out, evaluation, report.
WBS code is crypic and I would have to look it up in task or Gantt view.
In may case I would opt for:
<>Igor Grm
   task.subtask...subtask
   circuit1.one.tape-out
   circuit3.redesign.tape-out
and leave it to the user so select appropriately short task/subtask names.
This could work well with multiple files prefixing each line with
filename/taskname.


>  
>
> > -when 'Fixed duration' is selected for a task one can not assign
> > resource
> >        percentage: 
> >    
>
> We have a report that is somewhat related to this:
>
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=135578
>
>  
>
> > Now, there is the question on who decides on what features will be
> > accepted in case I decide to do them. I do not want to spent my
> > time doing a feature nobody needs or whoever is in control of the
> > main source tree would not accept. I would like to consult with the
> > decision makers before I start coding.
> >    
>
> As mentioned above, we keep track of bugs/feature requests in bugzilla,
> and when someone shows interest in fixing a bug, we assign the bug to
> that person and make sure we have a target milestone set and we're set
> to go. We're usually very pragmatic :)
>  
You can assign me one of (1. printing, 2, Resource Usage, 3. zoom 
(grid)) and
enter it in bugzilla but I would like somebody's consent on my proposal 
before
I comit to milestones and start coding.

Regards
Andrej