Development Tools

What tools do you use to when outsourcing?

There are several types of tools we use for communication in outsourcing projects:

1. Project management tools (Qwarp)
2. QA tools (JIRA, Mantis, Flyspray)
3. Source control tools (svn, cvs, Microsof Source Safe)
4. Development environment (a server with public address where work-in-progress can be seen and tested)
5. instant messaging tools

Let’s take them one by one. Qwarp. What is it?

Qwarp is an in-house developed project management tool . It helps managing time-related resources: programmers, money and so on.

Qwarp helps the project manager to have a roadmap of the projects.

QA tools…?

By far the most known tool in QA is JIRA. We have used it for Myvideo and we are using it for Zooplus and Zooclub. We have used Mantis for all AS3 games we’ve developed for Tribal Nova, and Flyspray for all the rest.

Our work is strongly related to these tools. Most projects are assessed through them and in some cases, we even bill our customers based on them. Hard to imagine how outsourcing can work without these tools.

Source control?

We have used Microsoft Sorce Safe until 2006. Due to limitations, we have then switched to CVS up until mid 2008. Following client practices, we’ve switched again to SVN. Therefore, we are familiar with the most important source control software.

Development environment

Every project passes through an Alpha Version (a first draft of the final product), then a Beta Version (the final assests and text are in place). Some projects even have a Release Candidate.

While the final product is usually live on the client’s environment, the first 2 versions (Alpha and Beta) need to be hosted on an environment that is both easy to deploy and available for the client to see.

For this, we have deployed a public development server, where our clients can check our work. It is an Ubuntu Hardy Heron (LTS), with Apache 2, Mysql 5 and Php 5.

And finally, IM…

Usually overlooked, IM programs are of great value to our business. We use Yahoo Messenger and Skype, but we are open to any communication tool as per our client’s choice.