Everyone now has their jobs, and have been working on them for about a week.
We have two people working mainly on web sites. The web sites being developed are updates to http://mycravings.ca, http://campusforchrist.org and conference promotion sites (which is basically a subset of campusforchrist.org).
The rest are working on the Campus Movement Tracker (CMT) in various forms. We have a QA team of two guys who work in the same room, one who mostly finds issues, and the other who mostly fixes them. We put one guy on the functionality for joining and creating Bible studies, since that's a major deliverable. The others are working on a number of other subsystems.
Work is coming along slowly but surely. We're halfway through project but only now really learning the CMT code we were given, and learning the technology in a way that is simply not possible with learning projects. Overall though, that's actually quite a good timeframe all things considered, and I'm quite happy with the skill level of the guys. I wish I had them for another few months and we could really get going! I think they're all honing their programming skills and will be able to apply what they're learning in their courses.
Some project highlights so far for me include a large soccer game involving everyone, of which I scored the lone goal for my team (I happened to be in the right spot at the right time, and tapped in a shot that got past the goalie). Last Thursday we went bowling. It's fun spending so much time in one community.
Earlier today we had one of our leaders from BC come by. He's one of the most forward-thinking and idea generating people I know, so I got him to brainstorm with the IT guys about how we can use technology and evangelism. I thought there were some really great things that came out of that. Some ideas included mobile/iPhone app short videos or booklets with spiritual content that could be pulled up from anywhere, making a guide for our staff and students on how to make the most out of youtube (turns out some of our highest hit web sites are actually youtube channels!), and making use of twitter and mobile devices during an event. We took some notes which I put here.
It's interesting to see how the core hours is working out. Every week I give them a numerical goal for # of hours I expect, and with time tracking software, you can be fairly accurate in tracking. Probably 2 or 3 of them start earlier, around 9, and 3 or 4 start later, around 10:30. It's not unusual to see them working during the weekends because they need to work hours up, which is good in that it's similar to a real workplace with flex hours.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Today was a unique day for the IT team. We all agreed to start at 9am, and start diving in to the Campus Movement Tracker. It took about an hour and a half to get everyone set up to the point that they had the CMT running on their local computer -- that's actually fairly good to get all the database and dependencies set up for 7 developers.
Our next task was simple yet very open-ended: learn as much about the CMT as we could. I bought a few whiteboards and got people to look at different aspects: database relations, page layout, permissions and roles, groups, scheduler.
In the afternoon I needed to do some staff work, so left two in charge and let the group go at it. Tomorrow we debrief what we found. Should be interesting.
I think the guys are enjoying getting in to things that will actually reach our staff and students. They've been faithfully learning our technologies, a necessary step, but there's something motivating about working on production projects.
Tomorrow we have "project fun" time in the evening and we're going bowling!
Oh, I'm also getting them to rank a number of jobs by preference. If you're curious, you can see that list of jobs here.
Our next task was simple yet very open-ended: learn as much about the CMT as we could. I bought a few whiteboards and got people to look at different aspects: database relations, page layout, permissions and roles, groups, scheduler.
In the afternoon I needed to do some staff work, so left two in charge and let the group go at it. Tomorrow we debrief what we found. Should be interesting.
I think the guys are enjoying getting in to things that will actually reach our staff and students. They've been faithfully learning our technologies, a necessary step, but there's something motivating about working on production projects.
Tomorrow we have "project fun" time in the evening and we're going bowling!
Oh, I'm also getting them to rank a number of jobs by preference. If you're curious, you can see that list of jobs here.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Technical Goals
I want to give some details the technical end of things. The IT team will be especially involved with two aspects of Waterloo project:
Each of these goals can be broken down into sub-goals.
First, let me explain what the movement tracker is. Over the years in campus ministry I've heard of several software solutions built for tracking the ministry -- things like who's involved in your ministry, their addresses and contact info, responsibilities, Bible study/small groups, tracking other groups, etc. In many ways it's like a "holy grail" of ministry development. At its core many of these features can and have been tracked using a spreadsheet. Unfortunately such solutions don't scale well past a few years of a few hundred participants.
In fact, the idea of a movement tracker is so universal that several countries have started on their own solutions. During January 2008 my boss Russ Martin went to Australia to see what they've been developing as a solution to this problem. Between 2008 and 2009 development was started on a collaborate effort between the US and Australia (done mostly by a US developer in Chicago, the same guy who gave me a code base for the Project Application Tool), and we've joined in with that.
Specifically, we're working the ruby on rails implementation of the Campus Movement Tracker (CMT) stored here on github. It's actually released under the Affero GNU Public License v3. It's actually being used right now on a beta test trial with some campuses in the states.
If you'd like to play around with the CMT, you can do so on a demo install here. Use the username 'test.user@example.com' and password 'testuser'.
One goal for Waterloo project is to get the movement tracker working for our ministry. That will involve making it work with our database schema, finding and fixing any major bugs, and some documentation. One specific deliverable we've identified is making sure our staff and students can use the Bible study scheduler feature, where everyone inputs their schedule and it finds times to meet. (Actually, we've had a tool like that for several years but it needs some work and the CMT version of it is much nicer.)
Another sub-goal with the CMT is to build a stats module. We already have a stats module as well, but it's in php and has some design limitations. We've decided that it makes the most sense in the long term to have our stats system done inside the CMT. The means it will be in rails and in the same spot as the movement tracker features which means one web site to deal with instead of two different ones. The stats module will be a significant deliverable on the international scene where we as Canada can bless the rest of the groups using the CMT with this stats module.
Shifting to the other major goal of web sites, the IT team will be involved in some of the web site design and redesigns. Campusforchrist.org is probably the biggest one here. I'm not as involved in the direction and vision of campusforchrist.org -- but other staff here do have big ideas for that site. It's being hammered out in various meeting groups as to what the goal of campusforchrist.org is, who the audience is, and what should be on there. Once that's ironed out, it will be passed on to the IT and graphics team to make it happen. It will probably look like a lot of research and installation of various blogging/content management system (CMS) tools, for the IT team. We will make the technical side happen.
Other web sites in the works include a soul cravings web site and conference promotion sites. Soul cravings is a book by author Erwin McManis used on many of our campuse ministries. Again, as an IT team our job will be to set up the technical side of these web sites.
So, to put these sub-goals in with the high-level ones:
Hopefully that gives you a good idea of what we're aiming for here. I feel like these are specific and focused enough that they're quite achievable, although it will take some work to break down these tasks even further into measurable goals.
- Movement Tracker
- Technical back-ends of various web sites
Each of these goals can be broken down into sub-goals.
First, let me explain what the movement tracker is. Over the years in campus ministry I've heard of several software solutions built for tracking the ministry -- things like who's involved in your ministry, their addresses and contact info, responsibilities, Bible study/small groups, tracking other groups, etc. In many ways it's like a "holy grail" of ministry development. At its core many of these features can and have been tracked using a spreadsheet. Unfortunately such solutions don't scale well past a few years of a few hundred participants.
In fact, the idea of a movement tracker is so universal that several countries have started on their own solutions. During January 2008 my boss Russ Martin went to Australia to see what they've been developing as a solution to this problem. Between 2008 and 2009 development was started on a collaborate effort between the US and Australia (done mostly by a US developer in Chicago, the same guy who gave me a code base for the Project Application Tool), and we've joined in with that.
Specifically, we're working the ruby on rails implementation of the Campus Movement Tracker (CMT) stored here on github. It's actually released under the Affero GNU Public License v3. It's actually being used right now on a beta test trial with some campuses in the states.
If you'd like to play around with the CMT, you can do so on a demo install here. Use the username 'test.user@example.com' and password 'testuser'.
One goal for Waterloo project is to get the movement tracker working for our ministry. That will involve making it work with our database schema, finding and fixing any major bugs, and some documentation. One specific deliverable we've identified is making sure our staff and students can use the Bible study scheduler feature, where everyone inputs their schedule and it finds times to meet. (Actually, we've had a tool like that for several years but it needs some work and the CMT version of it is much nicer.)
Another sub-goal with the CMT is to build a stats module. We already have a stats module as well, but it's in php and has some design limitations. We've decided that it makes the most sense in the long term to have our stats system done inside the CMT. The means it will be in rails and in the same spot as the movement tracker features which means one web site to deal with instead of two different ones. The stats module will be a significant deliverable on the international scene where we as Canada can bless the rest of the groups using the CMT with this stats module.
Shifting to the other major goal of web sites, the IT team will be involved in some of the web site design and redesigns. Campusforchrist.org is probably the biggest one here. I'm not as involved in the direction and vision of campusforchrist.org -- but other staff here do have big ideas for that site. It's being hammered out in various meeting groups as to what the goal of campusforchrist.org is, who the audience is, and what should be on there. Once that's ironed out, it will be passed on to the IT and graphics team to make it happen. It will probably look like a lot of research and installation of various blogging/content management system (CMS) tools, for the IT team. We will make the technical side happen.
Other web sites in the works include a soul cravings web site and conference promotion sites. Soul cravings is a book by author Erwin McManis used on many of our campuse ministries. Again, as an IT team our job will be to set up the technical side of these web sites.
So, to put these sub-goals in with the high-level ones:
- Movement Tracker
- Make it work with our database
- Fix any major bugs / security issues
- Make sure the Bible study scheduler is usable by students
- Build a stats module
- Web Sites - Technical end of ..
- campusforchrist.org
- soulcravings promo site
- winter and fall conferences promo sites
Hopefully that gives you a good idea of what we're aiming for here. I feel like these are specific and focused enough that they're quite achievable, although it will take some work to break down these tasks even further into measurable goals.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Welcome
I've decided to start a blog. If there's one thing I remember from my high school English courses, it's that you should know your audience and write for them. In this case, I will be gearing my writing towards my supporters. My goals are:
With that said, let me tell you about Waterloo project.
About two weeks ago the staff met to discuss various aspects of the project, from high-level goals to details like our daily schedule. One moment I really remember was when we were all in a conference room editing a shared google spreadsheet with our schedule in it. We simultaneously tried different schedules out, summed up work hours, answered questions in the chat (so as not to disturb the main discussion) and made it look pretty with colors. One person's change would just show up on the other people's spreadsheets (assuming the internet in that conference room worked for you). It was a striking example of how collaboration increases efficiency.
Two Sundays ago I moved in to this residence by Laurier University. The students moved in on Monday. The first three days were student orientation, mostly done at a local church. It was particularly interesting to see the leadership games done Tuesday morning. One team had to move an apple using only strings attached to a ring, while the other team worked on untangling themselves from a circular rope with their eyes shut. You could see who the natural leaders were, yet how important the followers were in completing the team.
On Thursday we finally met as an IT team. I gave a presentation about the technology landscape at Power to Change, what our goals are for Waterloo project, and what my expectations were for them. I've decided to implement a "core hours" idea, where I require them to work from 10:30 to 4:00, and require a total # of hours worked per week (we keep track using a project management tool called ClockingIT. The idea here is to give the students real workplace experience, and most programming companies (at least the ones I would want c4c operations to emulate) give you flexibility to work start mid-morning, provided you get the work done and work your hours.
Of the 17 students on project, the IT team consists of 7 students and one splitting his time between campus and IT. I'm expecting them to work 32 hours a week on IT, not including lunch. That leaves time for evangelism and other project activities. The skill level of the IT guys is quite high. Two have already worked for C4C in the past, and all are quick learners and have programming experience of some form. It's the first time I'm leading such a large group, so I'm both excited and nervous.
That's all for now; stay tuned for more.
- To provide more frequent updates about my ministry
- To provide stories from the Campus ministry and other ministries, to show what Campus for Christ -- and Power to Change as a whole -- is doing
With that said, let me tell you about Waterloo project.About two weeks ago the staff met to discuss various aspects of the project, from high-level goals to details like our daily schedule. One moment I really remember was when we were all in a conference room editing a shared google spreadsheet with our schedule in it. We simultaneously tried different schedules out, summed up work hours, answered questions in the chat (so as not to disturb the main discussion) and made it look pretty with colors. One person's change would just show up on the other people's spreadsheets (assuming the internet in that conference room worked for you). It was a striking example of how collaboration increases efficiency.
Two Sundays ago I moved in to this residence by Laurier University. The students moved in on Monday. The first three days were student orientation, mostly done at a local church. It was particularly interesting to see the leadership games done Tuesday morning. One team had to move an apple using only strings attached to a ring, while the other team worked on untangling themselves from a circular rope with their eyes shut. You could see who the natural leaders were, yet how important the followers were in completing the team.
On Thursday we finally met as an IT team. I gave a presentation about the technology landscape at Power to Change, what our goals are for Waterloo project, and what my expectations were for them. I've decided to implement a "core hours" idea, where I require them to work from 10:30 to 4:00, and require a total # of hours worked per week (we keep track using a project management tool called ClockingIT. The idea here is to give the students real workplace experience, and most programming companies (at least the ones I would want c4c operations to emulate) give you flexibility to work start mid-morning, provided you get the work done and work your hours.Of the 17 students on project, the IT team consists of 7 students and one splitting his time between campus and IT. I'm expecting them to work 32 hours a week on IT, not including lunch. That leaves time for evangelism and other project activities. The skill level of the IT guys is quite high. Two have already worked for C4C in the past, and all are quick learners and have programming experience of some form. It's the first time I'm leading such a large group, so I'm both excited and nervous.
That's all for now; stay tuned for more.
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