Team PHP project

[red_gorilla]

Hello All. I have some experience in PHP developing and now me and 2 my friends going to work on one big project that will take up to 2 months for 3 of us. But dark side of this that we don't have experience working in team. So maybe somebody can share tips how to organize it. I wondering what software do we need. For example bugtracking, version management and other. And how to manage our team.

[smatts9]

Have a pre run as a team in making project managent system!

[red_gorilla]

>>smatts9
>>Have a pre run as a team in making project managent system!
Do you know any good one? As i understand we need some software to plan work and some to maintain different version of code. Maybe programmers that have worked at big companies can make some advices?

[henry0]

If you are ready to start coding stop focusing on automated project management system.

Name a project manager
You can use XL to map everything
Break the project in chunks
Distribute the work load keeping records on who's doing what.
Schedule each phase divided in Due Date, Bug and Debug log, Mid-Term State, Alpha, Beta, Production,
You may use a freeware blog to communicate and record questions, answers and solutions.
You only need to apply logic and administration to the process

[coopster]

There are also open source projects like CVS and Subversion [subversion.tigris.org] that you may find useful.

[red_gorilla]

I have found a lof of different similar tools. So know they i'm thinking of free Phpcollab paid
basecamphq.

Does anybody have experience working with it? Maybe some programmer that works in small development firm can give advice? I just don't invent bicycle and start it in right way.

[Vali]

All you need is good communication.

And make sure your not overwriting each others files, so if you all use Dream Weaver then use the “synchronize” feature. If not, then just use and CVS system.

CVS systems will tell you what has been changed and by whom.

[jatar_k]

Vali's advice is sound

good communication is the key to the whole thing but you need a system to ensure the ability to rollback files, release and deal with code conflicts.

take a good look at subversion, it seems to be better than CVS, imo.

do not use wincvs

I haven't heard anything really good about phpcollab either.

You really need to have a lead, that person can be responsible for maintaining cvs or subversion and head up any conflict resolution, whether it be code or interpersonal.

[heisters]

SVN will be a godsend. I use it for projects that I'm the only dev on, as well as production websites with dozens of editors. While Dreamweaver can connect directly using WebDAV, I wouldn't recommend it--instead check out a working copy and let DW operate on that, then commit changes on the working copy by hand. YMMV, though. Better yet, use Eclipse (or other editor) or get an SVN plugin for DW.

But none of that replaces good communication and an effective project lead.