View source for Mark J Norton/Guide to OSE Projects

DISCLAIMER:  The process described here is proposed by Mark Norton.  It does NOT represent any official OSE policy.

=Description=

Having gone through the process of getting an OSE project organized (see [[Steam Engine]]), I would like to be able to encourage others to do the same.  This page is a collection of notes and something of a guide towards either starting up an OSE project or joining one.  This is something of a moving target, because the OSE project itself is trying to get more organized.  As such, some of these links may get out of date and the information below might not be accurate after a time.  Caveat emptor.

=Choosing a Project=

The Open Source Ecology project (OSE) is working to develop the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS), a collection of 50 machines (see official list [http://opensourceecology.org/gvcs.php here]) intended to enable the development of local, resource-based communities.  There are a couple of places where you can see these projects listed.

'''[[Main Page]]'''

The main page of the OSE wiki has a very nice chart that just lists the GVCS tools grouped into six categories.  Each as links off to a page that further describes the project.  This is a good way to see the whole GVCS project from a 50,000 foot view.

'''[[GVCS tools]]'''

The GVCS tools page lists all of the tools.  Each tool contains a short description and has links to a forum, blog, wiki page, and current status.  Id eally this page would include an reference to the project manager, but it doesn't.  Also, the status is often pretty out of date.

'''[[Global Village Construction Set]]'''

This is another list of the GVCS tools.  This page has the official tool icons and a short description.  The status on this page has more to do with completion than project status.  There are a couple of nice videos after the tool list and an interesting essay on enabling technology from an OSE perspective.  At the very bottom is a description of the development process and working assumptions.

'''Other Projects'''

While the GVCS tools are the main projects there are other, much smaller efforts that should be considered as well.  Projects like the [[Open Source Stepper Motor Controller]] are focused on developing common components needed by the GVCS tools.  This sort of of "support project" will likely be more common as we shift from category 1 tool development (bootstrapped) to category 2 (making components to make machines).

=Joining a Project=

There are many ways to contribute or participate in OSE projects.  You can contribute to the [http://openfarmtech.org/forum/|OSE Forums] or you can add new pages to the wiki.  Becoming a [[True Fan]] is a way to contribute financially and highly recommended.

If you want to get involved on a deeper level, you might considering becoming a member of an OSE project team.  The following pages can help you figure out what projects exists and who to contact about joining them.

'''[[Development Team]]'''

The Development Team page lists pretty much everyone who is formally involved in OSE projects.  Besides listing the OSE core team and the board of advisers, existing project leaders are listed.  Contact one of these people if you want to participate in their project.  A number of other teams with common skill sets are defined which are shared by all OSE projects.  If you have one of these skills, considering joining one of these teams, which is largely a matter of adding your home page to the appropriate team category.  See [[Development Team/CAD Team]], for example.  Besides the CAD team, there are teams for Technical Review, Subject Matter Experts, Prototyping and Testing, Wiki Curators, Forum Moderators, Information Technology, Documentation and Video, Academic Research, Fabrication, Language Translation, and Natural Building.

'''[[Project Needs]]'''

Next, have a look at the advertised project needs.  The first half of this document describes general OSE project needs and the later half focuses on specific project needs.  As with other OSE wiki pages, project needs may be a bit out of date.  Consult with the OSE project manager for that project to determine current needs.


=Starting a Project=

If you are willing to make a serious commitment to the OSE project, you might consider starting up a project that hasn't been tackled yet (or perhaps has languished for various reasons).  We all have different skills, experience, and levels of competencies.  You should be aware that even if you start up an OSE project, you might not be the one to manage it as time goes on.  The project manager has specific duties and responsibilities (as defined in [[Project Manager Duties]]) that not everyone is prepared to assume.  Also, that person will need to work closely with the OSE Executive Director ([[Marcin Jakubowski]]).  

That said, any contribution towards starting up a GVCS or other OSE project is a useful contribution, so don't be afraid to dig and get things going.  Before you start, check to make sure that the project you are interested in hasn't already been started.  Check the [[Development Team]] page for defined projects.  Next, send a message to the OSE Project Coordinator letting him know that you intend to start up an OSE project.  OSE is actively looking for a Project Coordinator, so best to send a note to [[Marcin Jakubowski]].  He may have recent information that can be of help getting started and might point you to some existing material.

Before diving into the actual work of starting up a project,  you should be familiar with an important document:

'''[[OSE Specifications]]'''
Like other open source projects, OSE has a set of shared values and ethics.  These core valves are described on this page.  It explains what open source means and mentions values like modularity, user friendliness, ecological design, systems design, lifetime design, scalability, etc.  All of these will have bearing on every OSE project.  OSE specifications also includes a description of the methods and strategic approaches we use in project development and the components of an OSE project.  There is a way to measure how well an OSE measures up to our shared values using the OSE Project Metric Score, which is a set of 42 question worth 1 point each.  A perfect score is thus 42 (Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy references are purely coincidental).

Once you are familiar with our shared values, you can have a look at the preferred approach to project development.

'''[[Development Strategy]]'''
The Development Strategy page describes how OSE projects should be developed.  The development cycle, at a simplistic level consists of:

* Design Rationale
* Drawings and BOM
* Review / Bids
* Prototyping and Testing
* Production

After a describing the basic approach (including some nice diagrams) a Development Work Template is included.  This is basically a list of things that need to get done on the project.  It's not really a template for what needs to be written, exactly, or how the pages should be organized, but it is a very good set of things that need to get done.  Working on any one of these tasks for a particular OSE project would be a major contribution.

'''[[Systems Engineering Breakdown Diagrams]]'''

Needless to say, some of the GVCS tools are pretty complicated.  It's even more complicated when you consider how they relate to each other and how they might be used to build a local economy.  The systems engineering breakdown diagrams is a way to describe the components of a technology and how it relates to others.  This approach is still in the early stages of being worked out but should add a degree of organization that will serve us well later.

There are other pages and documents that relate to or comment on the OSE project development process.  These include:

* '''[[Project Flow]]''' - comments on project management.

=Project Management Tools=

Recently, OSE has started to experiment with a project management application called Pivotal.  This tools has been made available to OSE based on it's non-profit, open source status free of charge.  The [[Pivotal Task Tracker]] allows tasks (stories) to be defined, tracked, and managed using agile development techniques. Our current goal is to import the development steps of the [[GVCS Development Template]] into Pivotal - as tasks that can be taken on by people. The Systems Engineering Breakdown Diagrams should break technologies down into components, so these can be turned into tasks. The key is to break down complex development paths into small chunks - as suggested in [http://opencapitalist.org/content/detailed-open-source-project-creation this important writing].

All of the OSE projects are public to view, but you must be a team member to enter new stories or work on a task.  To see the public OSE projects link to [https://www.pivotaltracker.com/public_projects] and search for "OSE".

=Documentation Standards=

Documentation standards to describe and track OSE projects are still under development.  Only one product has gone through the full project life cycle - the [[CEB Press]], and others have several prototypes - [[LifeTrac]], [[Microtractor]], [[Power Cube]],[[Torch table]] - and are under development.  Have a look at how these pages are organized to get a feel for how to set up OSE project pages.  All GVCS projects should use the [[Product Template]], which is illustrated on [[Torch Table Intro]].  At a minimum, each GVCS project should have the following pages:

* Intro
* Development process
* Bill of Materials
* Build Instructions
* Buy It!
* User's Manual

This organization is being discussed at the current time (June 2011) and may be revised in the future.  

The [[Wiki_Templates]] describes the only real standard we have for project documentation at this time by the core team back in January, 2011 (Marcin, Isaiah, Floyd in a face-to-face meeting). Other templates have been proposed independently of the core team since then, and much confusion has arisen as many people joined development efforts.  Mark Norton has proposed expanding the tool template to include pages for an Overview, Research, Design, Development, Specifications, Bill of Materials, Build Instructions, How to Buy, and a User Manual.  See [[Mark J Norton/GVCS Template]] for details but be aware that this is NOT an adopted OSE standard.

Other pages related to project documentation include:

* '''[[Wiki Documentation Standards]]'''

=Other Pages=

[[GVCS Organizational Development Template]]