A community approach to development projects
Wondering how you might get more out of your geographically scattered software development team? Or how you might collaborate with your key suppliers on a new PDA-based order entry tool?
A company called Quovix will soon announce a collaborative software development environment it created to marshal the energies of the free agent developers it uses to drive its custom software business.
Founded two years ago by Martin Morrow, who spent 18 years in software at Eli Lilly, Quovix says it has packaged its collaborative developer experience in a Java-based product called Community Builder. The product is designed to simplify the task of jobbing out projects in large development groups, but also can form confederations of internal and external developers.
Quovix already uses Community Builder to manage the efforts of 400 freelance developers. Here's how it works:
Quovix lands a contract for a software project, specs out the job and puts it up on its Web site for developer consideration. If the community agrees that this is a job the company should take on, Quovix assigns a value to the project and puts it up for bid.
While developers try to beat each other's bid, the project is ultimately assigned based on what the company knows about the particular programmer's experience and skills.
To help track that, Quovix uses a system of reputation points. Each project is worth a certain number of points. A $10,000 project might be worth 30 points. As you earn them, the points help you land more projects. For example, if you bid $9,000 on a $10,000 project and you have 31 reputation points, your bid would actually come in at $8,900, giving you the edge over others with less Quovix experience.
Once a project is awarded, the community can take advantage of Quovix' virtual project room. Among other things, this Web tool houses all the documents associated with the project, a list of team members and contact information, and discussion threads.
All this - the community building and collaborative development tools - is what Quovix has packaged for sale in Community Builder.
Even if it isn't for you, the company might be a good resource for that wireless app you haven't been able to get off the ground.
-John Dix
Editor in chief
jdix@nww.com
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