Getting started
Step 1
Optionally you could also sign up to Pivotal Tracker and Google+ and connect a YouTube Channel connected to your G+ account. These services are often useful but not required immediately. Please don't get sidetracked on these :-)
Step 2
Create a profile on the agileventures.org Sign up page and although it is optional, please consider filling out your profile, so that other members can get to know you.
When you sign up for Agile Ventures, you should automatically get an invite to our text IM chat rooms on Slack. If you don't receive one, please check your spam/promotions filters, but if there's no sign of it you can always ask for an invitation to AgileVentures Slack channel by sending an email to info@agileventures.org.
We encourage everyone to register on Slack and take an active part in the discussions. Join the slack channels - #general, #techtalk, #scrum_notifications, #pairing_notifications and the project's channel, e.g. #websiteone, #localsupport. Note you can join any channel you like; hang out there, say hello and see if you like the mood music :-)
Step 3
Browse the list of AgileVentures projects on agileventures.org, or the active projects listed in the table below, and learn more about the projects that interest you.
You can always set-up your own project, but we would recommend joining an existing one at first. This way you can meet other members, learn about our culture, principles and tools.
Current Most-Active Projects:
The first column is a link to the project description page on this site. The second column is a link to the Slack channel which is used by the project members to collaborate. The "Contacts" column contains the "Slack name" of one or more people that can help orient you to the project. You can use this name to alert that person to a specific message when you post to the project slack channel. For example, say you want to post a message to the MetPlus project channel, and make sure that "patrick" is aware of that message. Here, you would go to the channel (and join the channel), and send a message like this:
"@patrick - hi, I am new to agile ventures and I would like to learn more about this project."
"patrick" will see your message and respond back.
Step 4
Learn how we communicate and coordinate projects (the link to resources is on the project's page on WSO)
- source code is kept in Github repos
- user stories (feature descriptions) are kept in project's Pivotal Tracker (or other tracking system)
- other documentation and detailed feature descriptions are kept in project's section on agileventures.org
- real time discussion are done in Slack channels, in specific channel for the project
- long-term discussions (where it is important to preserve history) are done on Pivotal Tracker, or in Github pull requests/issues or by commenting under specific documents in project's section on agileventures.org
- optionally recordings of PairProgramming sessions and standups are stored on YouTube. The list of videos for a specific project is under project's section on agileventures.org
- technical information on the project is kept in documents under project's section on agileventures.org
- general information articles, not specific to a particular project is kept in articles on agileventures.org
Set up development environment
Look under documents in each project's section for setup instruction. It is our goal that each project have a detailed instruction, a installation script, or even a VirtualBox image prepared for you.
If you get stuck - ask questions on slack channel, ask people to join you in a PP (PairProgramming) session and guide you or comment on the setup document on WSO (this way, we will not forget about the encountered problem and add the solution to the document)
Step 6
Have a closer look at your chosen project's documentation. This way you will get an idea what the priority for the project is and what features need to be implemented the most.
Browse the Pivotal tracker Current log, Backlog, and Icebox.
Step 7
Join a standup. The list of scheduled scrums is here - http://agileventures.org/events but the best resource is usually the slack #standup_notifications channel
Do not be intimidated - we all came into Standup for the first time at some point and not many of us speak good English. Just listen what people are talking about. Ask questions if you like.
Announce that you would like to work on a specific project and offer to help out in a story.
Step 8
Start contributing.
We are a PairProgramming community. Pair Programming is our passion and we strongly believe that is an efficient way to learn and code and develop good software. However we are very happy to receive solo contributions when you are starting on a project.
If you'd like to setup a PP session - either create an event at http://agileventures.org/events with a category PairProgramming or click "Start hangout" button at the project's page on WSO.
An automatic announcement will be made on slack channel #pairing_notifications.
Click 'Start Broadcast' when Hangout loads - this way, the recording will be stored at your YouTube channel and gets listed on project's page on WSO.
Step 9 (optional)
Start your own project?
