Hi Everyone!
In this post, you will find detailed information about how the versioning of projects is managed and how everything is well organized in a team working environment. Though we are a small software development company which consists of only 5 developers, 1 support specialist, 1 editor and sales men across Europe and the United States, our projects must always be planned involving the whole team.
Our office is equipped with mainly Fedora Core Linux servers, Ubuntu Linux workstations, iMac, Macbook, Macbook Pro and Mac Pro computers. A few Windows computers are also in attendance for testing purposes.
We are currently making use of the Subversion (SVN) version tracking environment to monitor our projects internally. Our office servers are connected to the internet and we can access our office version repository from anywhere utilizing our laptops (thanks to firewalls and VPN).
Once a new feature add-on has been created or a bug in one of our projects has been fixed, our Subversion storage area is instantaneously updated. This engrosses two advantages:
- We can go back and see what has been modified. We can revert to the previous revision whenever required.
- Subversion automatically handles conflicts and combines all the changes made by the different users.
Different code editors are used for developing our well-liked products. The ones most presently used are:
- ZendStudio (Linux and Mac OS X)
- TextMate (Mac OS X)
In addition, SVNX Subversion client is being employed in Mac OS X but it is preferable to use SVN through shell. However, both ZendStudio and TextMate have built-in support for Subversion.
For project management, we are using activeCollab project management solution which is quite similar to 37Signals Basecamp. OmniPlan in Mac OS X is used for detailed project management. According to us, it is the best project management solution.
Flow charts, database structures and similar charts are designed by the help of OmniGraffle in Mac OS X. It is another solution from the Omni Group. Omni’s solutions are much appreciated. They are easy to use and have great user interfaces just like other Mac applications.
All user interfaces and website designs are being achieved by Mert on Macbook Pro with Adobe Photoshop CS3 and some supplementary design softwares.
Moreover, the creative and productive working environment we have at the office helps us to get rid of stress.
In the following days, I will post about our office environment, how we work every day. I will also include some photos, so stay tuned.