Project management system

Executive Summary:
Pause AI requires a scalable, open-source project management system to enhance coordination and operational efficiency. This system will complement our Discord forum, serving as a robust platform for project initiation and management.

Objectives:

Adopt a free or low-cost project management tool akin to Jira.
Develop project templates for new initiatives.
Foster collaboration within Pause AI and with external partners.

Importance:
The system is vital for:

A solid foundation for project proposals.
Managing a growing project portfolio.
Integrating collaborators seamlessly.

How You Can Help:

Research: Identify and evaluate project management tools. Big involvement; requires research and analytical skills.
Install and Configure: Set up the chosen system. Big involvement; needs systems administration expertise.

Benefits:
The system will:

Improve project visibility.
Decrease coordination overhead.
Standardize project processes.

Potential tools include OpenProject, GanttProject, Taiga, and Tuleap, offering features like planning, scheduling, and agile support.

Conclusion:
Adopting this system is strategic for Pause AI's growth, enabling effective management of our project portfolio and community engagement.

primary-violetOP•5/30/24, 3:33 PM

Haha, such corporate. I guess that's what you get for using an LLM to help compose and then condense the proposal

awake-maroon•5/30/24, 4:53 PM

hurt-tomato•5/31/24, 12:47 PM

Current tools

We are now using Trello (in some teams) as a simple ticketing system. IMO it serves our scale, is easy to use, and with our 75% cost reduction it's pretty cheap.
We are using Github for tickets in software
Airtable has a list of projects, which is synced to discord projects (like this one here). However, I don't think this is a suitable system for issue tracking for various reasons (no kanban, no assignments, high cost, too sensitive admin information)

## Limitations of current setup

Trello is still paid, can get costly if we let all members / volunteers on there
Trello is not public. I think that's the right call for now, but maybe it should not be. Our discord is public, with good reason. Ideally, new members could easily pick up public todo items and fix things, similar to how github works. I haven't seen examples of this in non-software contexts, though, but I feel like it should exist.
Planning / scheduling / roadmap features are missing at this point, although I'm not sure who would use these and for which purpose.

dead-brown•5/31/24, 2:13 PM

Probably the leaders of the teams?

Hhurt-tomato ## Current tools - We are now using Trello (in some teams) as a simple ticketin...

primary-violetOP•6/2/24, 12:38 PM

Obviously it makes sense to have more than one tool; if something is developed on github, it will be easier to track issues there. For some projects, a very simple task list app might be more suitable than a very powerfully customizable full blown large project management system, not least because things like that have a learning curve.
I think one very important value of a publicly available system, that I might have understated is that it provides easy visibility into what kind of projects are going on, which would make it easier for people to find projects which they might be able to contribute to, and to easily post new project ideas(and to see which ideas have been shot down / gotten large support e.g. by issue votes or something).
Of course some projects might need to have restricted access to even view their issues / tasks, and some projects should not even be publicly listed, so perhaps it would be better to have a separate system for project management and such a more public system that would serve more as a platform for showing off projects, what kind of help they want and, and to submit suggestions, in which case these systems should probably still have some kind of integration going so that it doesn't get too much work to manage.
Needing to join a discord to even see the project list is harmful, as it creates a barrier to even do that.
One important benefit of having tasks / issues publicly listed is that it's easy to think "I have no idea how to contribute or what they need", and thus not even ask. Whereas concrete tasks will make some people think "hey, I could do that", and such specificity can be much more important in getting people to act than kind of vague proposals such as "post on social media".

Hhurt-tomato ## Current tools - We are now using Trello (in some teams) as a simple ticketin...

primary-violetOP•6/2/24, 12:46 PM

On a related note, I think a lot of people tend to seriously underestimate the value of managers, which is a natural response to prevalence of shitty management practices or managers or having seen useless managers. I do that too. But having even somewhat competent people, who mostly focus on coordination and other management can be a huge force multiplier, especially in environments where it might be easier to counter certain bad management patterns, e.g. because your income isn't threatened by refusing to follow or speak up against bad ideas

So, it might be worth considering to put a separate item "you can help coordinate efforts between projects or help individual projects as a project manager", or something along those lines.

dead-brown•6/2/24, 2:57 PM

I agree tbh, would you like to run and follow up with oversight?

dead-brown•6/2/24, 2:57 PM

I am a manager myself. There is a lot of value in even good old excel if you follow up, etc.

awake-maroon•6/2/24, 3:54 PM

We alread have the oversight team, see https://pauseai.info/teams

PauseAI

Teams of PauseAI

What are the various teams at PauseAI?

hurt-tomato•6/2/24, 4:26 PM

Good points @hirvinen!

Strongly agree about benefits of a public system. As an open source software engineer I'm deeply familiar with the value of having a transparent issue tracker where everyone can contribute!

hurt-tomato•6/2/24, 4:26 PM

@Oversight Team this is relevant

awake-maroon•6/2/24, 4:41 PM

Thanks for moving this vital part of the ecosystem forward @hirvinen!

I've been thinking about something similar for a while now. I'd love to see this conceptualized at greater depth, how it integrates with the rest of the ecosystem, how it adds value and enables internal players, and so fourth.

I'd love to see a some proposition on implementation be written about this, so it can be scrutinized and improved.

@hirvinen I'd love to have a quick, to-the-point call with you so I can understand your vision of this, so I can hopefully help you in turn. I believe this part of the ecosystem also needs to be tightly integrated with the Volunteer action Portfolio, or rather, I believe this would be an important part of it. I can explain it to you in our call.

Here is my link, choose any time that suits you after the 10th of June: https://calendly.com/chrisgerrby/15

colossal-harlequin•6/2/24, 4:48 PM

Similar thanks. What do we know about the scaling mechanisms of the different frameworks? I've used many as a software dev but never really considered which would best fit an activist group who are probably going to grow stupid fast, need many chapters, and engage every tech level.

Aawake-maroon Thanks for moving this vital part of the ecosystem forward @hirvinen! I've been...

primary-violetOP•6/2/24, 10:29 PM

I'm not sure if scheduling a call with just me at this point makes sense. I'd love to see this move forward, but I can't commit to much, at least at this point, especially not to taking on any significant roles in important projects.

I think I could do a more in-depth writeup on what kind of benefits could be realized with different approaches to project management tools / issue tracking and how these could relate to other systems, and I could probably get that done within a week.

A Google doc or something similar would probably be good for collaborative editing / commenting to iterate on the ideas. Should I create one myself, or you, to manage access to it?

Can you explain what you mean by "Volunteer action portfolio"?

primary-violetOP•6/8/24, 5:00 PM

I'll start writing in more detail today.

sacred-rose•7/2/24, 3:09 PM

well, I think we can try something like this https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iE8guCoRM7QNaAEUV9IBC2GNRZyn9CHGfNwA1mj4KT0/edit?gid=285777953#gid=285777953

Google Docs

PauseAI Projects

Projects

Name,Sheet link,Discord link,About,Other resources,Priority,Status
Project Management System
People of PauseAI
Project n

sacred-rose•7/2/24, 3:10 PM

If it is used we can consider trying other tools that I think are also free, maybe more pretty but maybe with a higher learning curve too

sacred-rose•7/2/24, 3:24 PM

If someone wants to work right now on this, give me your gmail and I'll give you editing power

sacred-rose•7/2/24, 3:25 PM

@hirvinen ?

primary-violetOP•7/3/24, 10:25 AM

@Pato Vercesi Sorry, I've been super busy in personal life and looking for work, but I might take some time for this. I won't make any promises right now, but I might jump in at a quiet moment. If you want to enable that by giving me edit access just in case, use patrik.hirvinen@gmail.com . I won't touch anything before asking unless it is super unambiguous how I could contribute without breaking things or causing other trouble.

hurt-tomato•2/24/25, 2:16 PM

@Ella Hughes

colossal-harlequin•3/2/25, 4:17 PM

Courtesy link re state today: https://pauseai.openproject.com

sacred-rose•3/25/25, 10:32 AM

it stopped working

opposite-copper•3/28/25, 8:55 AM

I've been using https://clickup.com/ and found it quite useful

ClickUp™ | The everything app for work

Our mission is to make the world more productive. To do this, we built the everything app for work - Tasks, Docs, Goals, and Chat.

opposite-copper•3/28/25, 8:59 AM

Their free version should be enough for most use cases

colossal-harlequin•4/12/25, 9:51 PM

Who was the "sponsor" for (i.e. person keen on) OpenProject? What happened there?

Our management of projects is not great, or well-defined. Many tools are being used, with various amounts of local and global success. Neither observation seems surprising or unusual or fatal for a voluntary movement with high turnover.

I don't think we need a framework like OpenProject or ClickUp so much as a shared passion to not mess up through forgetting to communicate, and making docs visible and findable whenever we can.

ltd-scarlet•5/21/25, 6:24 PM

Hello, my name is Faith Omisola and I am happy to be part of the team. I have a background in Project management and would love to help with managing projects. cheers!!

ltd-scarlet•5/21/25, 6:31 PM

I am sending my gmail for access faithomisola881@gmail.com

wispy-yellow•5/21/25, 9:08 PM

Hi Faith, flicked you a message

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