[Talk-ht] Need Help Managing Mapping Requests

Fri Jan 29 09:45:38 GMT 2010

Sorry Margie,

Please forget about the acronyms.

Make 2 lists (on 2 paper sheets)
- what
- how

The items in the "what" list are products.

The items in the "how" list are tasks, work.

People, "who", are (later) linked to the task they work on.

Ok so far ?

You have taken care to write the items on the LHS of the page.

When an item is too big to be handled at once, you split it, with lines 
going towards the right of the page. In 2, 3 or more pieces, as requested.

Ok ?

(You've just got yourself so called "breakdown structures")

Now, a little trick to make it easier to keep track of the connection 
between products and tasks : numbering.

Let me take an example from the wiki / Mapping :

"_What_" needs to be mapped

Street names :
- product 1 = street names

- task 1 = enter street names in OSM

Petit Goave :
- product 2 = Petit Goave map

- task 2 = mapping Petit Goave

etc...

OK so far ?

Now splitting, to make the pieces more manageable :
- product 11 = street names North of PaP
- product 12 = street names South of PaP

and also :
- task 11 = finding street names North of PaP
- task 12 = finding Street names South of PaP

etc...

Ok ? Well, that's about all there is to it.
(them acronyms :)

Then maybe :
- product 21 = street names in Petit Goave
- task 21 = finding street names in Petit Goave

(it seems to me that this is better as 21 than 13, but another choice 
can be make, depending eg. on how the work gets done.
Eg, if a big index of all street names in Haiti were available, then 
maybe 13 would be a better numbering for these than 21.
Let's just get going and improve later if needed, as with the wiki.)

I was going to forget, "Who". For example :
- Georgia group 1 is going to work on task 11
- Georgia group 2 is going to work on task 12
- Washington group is going to work on task 2
(just making this up completely at random of course, please do not 
actually do this)

And then, each group can _split_ the work within itself.

Next, would you like a big whiteboard, that everybody can read and write 
at the same time ?
At the same time from Washington and from Georgia ?

You can use a shared spreadsheet, a kind of Google Doc.

If you go thru this little formalism, then, naturally, the senses of 
direction will appear.

If you don't, people will keep wasting time wondering : "where can I be 
useful", instead of actually working.

Organizers, Mikel, etc, are welcome to define the content of the lists, 
and to coordinate on them, of course.

The big organizer Mikel was calling for has not stepped forward yet. 
Let's try to make the task more manageable by splitting it, too.

Hoping this helps (and believing it really could)

Jean-Guilhem

Margie, for pixelated WMS images (or sometimes blank ones where they 
should not be), right click on the WMS layer name, and choose Change the 
resolution ("Changer la résolution" in French)

Margie Roswell a écrit :
> Hmmm... the acronyms alone stopped me right there, before even getting
> to the content (sorry!)
>
> I'm just really seeking a to-do list of items
> - that I can either handle, or learn to handle.
> - where I can feel useful.
> - that I could potentially train others to do, as well (such as
> identifying tent areas, if I knew the best place to direct people)
>
> I can get in and out of JOSM at this point (I'm still getting
> super-pixelated WMS images, hoping to resolve that on Saturday). I'm
> fully functional in potlatch, to the extent that potlatch is capable.
> And, of course, I made the YouTube Video: "How to load a Haiti basemap
> onto a Garmin GPS" video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFxbfemJfBM
>
> But really need a sense of direction, now that that's done.
>
> Thanks (very much!) to whomever's been filling in the boundaries, and
> lat-longs at http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/Imagery_and_data_sources#WorldBank_Imagery
>
>
> Unfortunately, I missed tonight's CrisisCamp call, where I was hoping
> to get a sense of direction.
>
> Is there any overlap between this email list and the CrisisCamp folks?
>
> And more specifically, will anyone on this list be at DC CrisisCamp on Friday?
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Margie
>
> On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 10:23 PM, Jean-Guilhem Cailton <jgc at arkemie.com> wrote:
>   
>> Mikel,
>>
>> Exactly. But no need to reinvent the wheel. There are proven techniques to
>> manage complex projects, such as this OSM/Haiti one.
>> (I was lucky enough to have an associate who teaches these techniques -
>> wrote several books about them).
>>
>> Please read the parts about Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) and Work
>> Breakdown Structure (WBS) in the following article, for example (the other
>> BS are less relevant here, or in a relatively very simplified way)
>> http://toostep.com/insight/article---break-down-structures---wbs-obs-rbs-pbs-cbs-an-ove
>>
>> Please, read
>> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2010-January/047575.html
>>
>> and understand the example in the shared spreadsheet. (I discovered shared
>> spreadsheet while working on the hospitals list, it is very powerful).
>>
>>
>> I think that with this simple tool, you could send a rocket to the moon (and
>> with a team of OSMers, of course). :)
>>
>> (in short, the spreadsheet is 2D, the wiki only 1D)
>>
>> Any questions are welcome, of course.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Jean-Guilhem
>>
>>
>> Mikel Maron a écrit :
>>
>> Yes, I think we also have a separate set of tasks specifically for tool
>> developers. Another for communication/coordination.
>> These as well need similar organizing to the mapping tasks. But as these are
>> distinct modes, groups, probably separately listed, and perhaps managed by
>> different folks.
>>
>> My preference is to keep this all in the wiki for now, in one place. Problem
>> we have at the moment is too much, spread around too many places, without
>> clear organization.
>>
>> == Mikel Maron ==
>> http://mapkibera..org/
>> +254 (0) 724899738
>> mikel at osmfoundation.org
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Jean-Guilhem Cailton <jgc at arkemie.com>
>> To: Mikel Maron <mikel_maron at yahoo.com>
>> Cc: talk-ht at openstreetmap.org
>> Sent: Thu, January 28, 2010 1:27:31 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Talk-ht] Need Help Managing Mapping Requests
>>
>> Mikel,
>>
>> Have you seen the shared Project Management spreadsheet ? :
>> http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0An_LB2U4zHBzdFRNR3dGczQycnZUcTJ6S2JjZ1o2dGc&hl=en
>>
>> Maybe, it could be used for "self-ticketing", given, for a good start for
>> mapping, a good example of "Mapping Breakdown Structure" :) ? Maybe both in
>> Product Breakdown Structure, and Work Breakdown Structure ? With "Who" (in
>> OBS) then taking charge of the work in the corresponding cells.
>>
>> Register by typing your name in the cell. And split a cell, going down one
>> level in the hierarchy, when someone comes along to help. And insert lines
>> below when more people come to help. Fairly simple and flexible no ?
>>
>> Jean-Guilhem
>>
>>
>> Mikel Maron a écrit :
>>
>> All
>>
>> We lack a single clear place where mappers can come to find what kind of
>> tasks are most urgently needed,
>> who else is working on these tasks, the status of the task, and who to
>> notify if something is completed.
>>
>> Can someone stand up to take on the role of organizing and maintaining this?
>>
>> Currently, elements of this are spread throughout the Haiti WikiProject
>> pages. Mea culpa, I contributed to this
>> state of affairs as well.
>>
>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/Mapping_Coordination#What_needs_to_be_mapped.3F
>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/Tasks_and_Ideas#Mapping_Tasks
>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/Mapping_Coordination#Requests_from_Responders
>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/Status
>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/News
>>
>> We really need someone to commit to organizing these pages into a single
>> clear space on the wiki, and monitoring how things progress.
>> If requests are found on crisismappers list, direct emails, or in analysis
>> of the map, they'd need to add that to the wiki.
>> Would be helpful to be in touch with organizers at various crisiscamps this
>> weekend, to coordinate work.
>>
>> In this role, if this person became occupied with other work, they'd need to
>> let us know here on talk-ht so someone else could take over.
>>
>> Essentially, this needs to work something like an informal ticketing system.
>> I believe this could be managed in the wiki
>> for the time being, and lessons from the crisis applied for better systems
>> in future responses.
>>
>> How does this sound? Anyone ready to take on this role?
>>
>> Mikel
>>
>> == Mikel Maron ==
>> http://mapkibera.org/
>> +254 (0) 724899738
>> mikel at osmfoundation.org
>>
>> ________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
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>>     
>
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