BattleMaster Community

BattleMaster => Development => Topic started by: Azerax on November 05, 2012, 06:06:21 PM

Title: November 2012 Roadmap Updated Nov 23
Post by: Azerax on November 05, 2012, 06:06:21 PM
Greetings all,

November marks the start of the Great Conversion.  We already know that this conversion will take several months to complete.
Our goal is that November will provide us enough information to give a timeline.


November 2012 Goals:
14 Bug Fixes
Continued Doctrine Conversion
Test the New Message System on all islands
Continued Facebook updates

As always, questions and comments are welcome.

Thank you for your time,
Scott

Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: bluexmas on November 07, 2012, 05:41:36 PM
For those of us who are ignorant, could you explain a little bit what the Great Conversion is, and what it involves?
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Indirik on November 07, 2012, 06:54:26 PM
The Great Conversion is a replacement of the old method of database access with a new structured system of database access, object models, etc., into a new package named Doctrine. It involves converting pretty much the entire codebase into brand new code. Along the way, various systems will be upgraded or removed, and some new stuff tossed in. Once Doctrine has been added to a certain system, new features related to that system are much easier to implement, and less likely to be buggy, because Doctrine does all the heavy lifting.

At least, that's my non-coder understanding of how it works.
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Azerax on November 12, 2012, 06:15:01 PM
November 2012 Week 1 Update

I apologize for the delay in posting this, I found out Friday that a 2 day course I was going on was bumped up to this weekend.

Status: On Time

November 2012 Goals:
14 Bug Fixes - 4 have been done
Continued Doctrine Conversion - In progress
Test the New Message System on all islands - In progress
Continued Facebook updates - In progress

I've modified the burn down chart format to see if it is more visually appealing this way.

Week 1 Burn down Chart

(http://i48.tinypic.com/2nlu89w.png)

As always, questions and comments are welcome.

Best regards,
Scott
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Foundation on November 12, 2012, 06:20:12 PM
I like the new graph. :)
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Azerax on November 12, 2012, 07:22:12 PM
I like the new graph. :)

Me too - It's the default graph in Google docs spreadsheet, was happily surprised
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Penchant on November 12, 2012, 11:13:13 PM
Me too - It's the default graph in Google docs spreadsheet, was happily surprised
I do like it, and I hate to sound like I am nagging with this, but I do like the idea of making it upwards for future graphs. The issue before was that it has no cut off but what if you started at the negative so when they reached their goal it will then be above 0 so that way the cutoff is the same but with an upward progression.
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Tom on November 13, 2012, 10:06:14 AM
We already rejected upwards for motivational reasons. And starting in the negative is not a very good motivator.
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: DamnTaffer on November 13, 2012, 10:33:30 PM
We already rejected upwards for motivational reasons. And starting in the negative is not a very good motivator.

I always thought the opposite, like "Oh god i'm doing bad I need to pull my thumbs out my ass and work" is more motivating then "Woo I'm ahead of my workload imma take a break"
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Foundation on November 13, 2012, 10:42:02 PM
I always thought the opposite, like "Oh god i'm doing bad I need to pull my thumbs out my ass and work" is more motivating then "Woo I'm ahead of my workload imma take a break"

Carrots > Sticks in programming, especially with volunteers.
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Ketchum on November 14, 2012, 01:11:35 AM
I like the new graph. :)
I like the new graph too. Is there any way we as players can reward those who been working hard behind the scene? Of course I speaking of other than those Medals that we can award players like RolePlaying medal :)
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Indirik on November 14, 2012, 01:18:33 AM
You could say "Thanks". I'm sure the coders would appreciate it.
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Ketchum on November 14, 2012, 01:20:09 AM
You could say "Thanks". I'm sure the coders would appreciate it.
Dear Dev and Volunteers,

Thank you so much for your help!~~

Maybe Tom will giveout some food voucher or something, as cookies, sort of motivation :)
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Penchant on November 14, 2012, 02:14:10 AM
Dear Dev and Volunteers,

Thank you so much for your help!~~

Maybe Tom will giveout some food voucher or something, as cookies, sort of motivation :)
+1
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Chenier on November 14, 2012, 02:44:11 AM
I always thought the opposite, like "Oh god i'm doing bad I need to pull my thumbs out my ass and work" is more motivating then "Woo I'm ahead of my workload imma take a break"

Carrots > Sticks in programming, especially with volunteers.

I'd agree. This is a hobby for the coders, not a job. It shouldn't feel like work.
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Azerax on November 14, 2012, 02:51:40 AM
In Project Management, for any given series of tasks you are only concerned with how much work you have left to do and how much time you have left to do it.

From there we can create score based on the value of work done vs the amount budgeted for that work to be done.

To make it simple, let's say each bug they committed to fixing was worth $10 which breaks down to $35 per week.
4 bugs were fixed, so $40 worth of work was done compared to the budgeted $35

The SPI (Schedule Performance Index) = Earned Value ($40) / Planned Value ($35
SPI = 1.14

So, in a weekly update to senior management, they'd see the SPI is above 1 and know it's ahead of schedule and under budget.  There would be a couple more Reporting Indexes they'd glance at, but you get the point.
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap
Post by: Azerax on November 16, 2012, 02:55:54 PM
November 2012 Week 2 Update

Status: On Time

November 2012 Goals:
14 Bug Fixes - 5 have been done
Continued Doctrine Conversion - In progress
Test the New Message System on all islands - In progress
Continued Facebook updates - In progress

Items Completed but Not Planned:
New Welcome Email - This was a community group effort, thank you very much! - Email is now live

I've modified the burn down chart format to see if it is more visually appealing this way.

Week 2 Burn down Chart (Bug Fixes)

(http://i50.tinypic.com/2s81wyp.png)

As always, questions and comments are welcome.

Best regards,
Scott
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap Updated Nov 16
Post by: Shizzle on November 16, 2012, 04:39:07 PM
Big fan of the Facebook updates!
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap Updated Nov 16
Post by: Foundation on November 16, 2012, 04:53:08 PM
Big fan of the Facebook updates!

Big book of the fan faces please!
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap Updated Nov 16
Post by: Azerax on November 16, 2012, 07:04:21 PM

Please fan the big book of faces!
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap Updated Nov 16
Post by: egamma on November 17, 2012, 05:47:49 AM
One suggestion on the chart--switch the colors. work planned = red, work completed = blue. that way, red (bad) gets replaced by blue (good) as the month progresses.
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap Updated Nov 16
Post by: Azerax on November 20, 2012, 03:46:17 PM
any objections to switching the colors?
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap Updated Nov 16
Post by: Nosferatus on November 20, 2012, 06:38:41 PM
any objections to switching the colors?

Good idea, they already didn't make sense, the work done should be blue n the work todo should be red.
Title: Re: November 2012 Roadmap Updated Nov 23
Post by: Azerax on November 23, 2012, 03:10:59 PM


November 2012 Week 3 Update

Status: On Time

This week we unleashed the fury of the dev's on the bugs cutting their numbers by 10!

November 2012 Goals:
14 Bug Fixes - 15 have been done
Continued Doctrine Conversion - In progress
Test the New Message System on all islands - In progress
Continued Facebook updates - In progress

Items Completed but Not Planned:
New Welcome Email - This was a community group effort, thank you very much! - Email is now live

Colors on the burn down chart have been swapped

Week 3 Burn down Chart (Bug Fixes)

(http://i45.tinypic.com/2heeo07.png)

As always, questions and comments are welcome.