How to manage project for free?

Question

Hi,

I was asked to manage and develop a project. The client does not really care if I hire people who would do it or I do it myself. Thus, I've decided to be more manager than developer.

Are there any (free / low cost) web projects that could help me to communicate with each "sub-developer" outta there on Internet?

What I expect is to have similar project as basecamp, however sub-developers wouldn't know about each other because I would be communicator between them. It's possible that basecamp includes this kind of service, but I am not going to pay to every possible similar service to know this.

If you have some real-life experience with this kind of problem I'm about to encounter, please, write it here.

Thank you

Answer 1

I'd set up sharepoint if i were you. It's perfect for handling projects and talking to members. Also set up a couple of mailing-lists where you all can easily communicate.

Good Luck

Answer 2

As many open source projects found, trac is a good fit - lightweight project management with integrated subversion interface:

Trac is an enhanced wiki and issue tracking system for software development projects. Trac uses a minimalistic approach to web-based software project management. Our mission is to help developers write great software while staying out of the way. Trac should impose as little as possible on a team's established development process and policies.

It provides an interface to Subversion, an integrated Wiki and convenient reporting facilities.

Trac allows wiki markup in issue descriptions and commit messages, creating links and seamless references between bugs, tasks, changesets, files and wiki pages. A timeline shows all current and past project events in order, making the acquisition of an overview of the project and tracking progress very easy. The roadmap shows the road ahead, listing the upcoming milestones.

Both trac and subversion can be used from anywhere on the Web, using one of the free or low cost providers (for some references, see TracUsers).

Answer 3

It is possible that you can do this with the free version of AceProject.

Answer 4

I would suggest looking at Assembla, it has issue tracking, version control and Trac support all in it - and it's free.