“What’s in a Name? That Which We Call a ‘Project’ by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet”

With apologies to William Shakespeare – couldn’t resist, Bill ol’ chap…

So – what is a Project in VersionOne?  Is it a Product, a Project or a Release?  Is it a Portfolio, a Program or a Group?  The answer is – YES!

A Project in VersionOne, in simplest terms, is a repository - a backlog for work-related items.  As part of a tree hierarchy, this asset can be used to capture work items that pertain to an organization’s software portfolio (e.g., initiatives, features), a software program (features, themes), a software product (components, epics) or software releases (epics, user stories).  Items within a Project are organized, prioritized, ranked and scheduled for execution and delivery.  Let’s briefly analyze the graphic below, a sample Project Tree.

The image shows a Project Tree for a fictitious organization (no NDA required :-)):

• Customer Intelligence Systems
  • Development
    • Aspire Product Suite
      • Desire
        • Desire v1.0
        • Desire v2.0
      • Dream
      • Endeavor
    • CI DynamixCRM
      • DynamixCRM v1.0
      • DynamixCRM v2.0
    • Corporate Web site
    • Maintenance

Each of the nodes in this Project Tree is a repository representing different parts or layers of the organization:

* Customer Intelligence Systems – the company; the portfolio for the organization may reside at this level

* Development – a group or a program; high-level features and themes to be delivered by product or project teams

* Aspire Product Suite – a suite of three distinct products: Desire, Dream and Endeavor

* Desire v1.0, et al – a release for the corresponding product; each product in the suite likely has equivalent nodes for each release

* CI DynamixCRM – a standalone product, with two defined release backlogs, DynamixCRM v1.0 and DynamixCRM v2.0

* Corporate Web site – work required to keep company’s Web site up to date

* Maintenance – supporting platform, IT or Operations

Use Projects to create an organizational structure that represents how work is captured, planned and managed.  And, don’t worry about what they’re called – your teams know what they represent ;-).