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Limit subproject nesting depth

Added by Christoph Klesser about 11 years ago

Hello everybody,

as of #594, subproject nesting depth limit has been removed. Good idea in general, but in some situations it makes sense to define a depth limit in order to make project managers keeping to a certain structure, as requested by our CEO, for example.

It would be nice to define the max project depth in the administration settings. As far as I can see, there is no such option. Or have I missed something? Any help is appreciated!


Replies (5)

RE: Limit subproject nesting depth - Added by Jan Niggemann (redmine.org team member) about 11 years ago

If your CEO wants project managers to stick to a certain structure, then the easiest thing to do is: Make him / her kick everyone in the butt who doesn't stick to the structure. Some things can be solved on a non-technical basis you know ;-)

RE: Limit subproject nesting depth - Added by Christoph Klesser about 11 years ago

With all due respect, but this isn't quite the answer i had been expecting. Technically implemented restrictions are definitely a means to manage an organization. If that wasn't true, we could abolish the administration option "roles and permissions" and organize everything by kicking people's butts. :-)

Jan Niggemann (redmine.org team member) wrote:

If your CEO wants project managers to stick to a certain structure, then the easiest thing to do is: Make him / her kick everyone in the butt who doesn't stick to the structure. Some things can be solved on a non-technical basis you know ;-)

RE: Limit subproject nesting depth - Added by Jan Niggemann (redmine.org team member) about 11 years ago

Christoph Klesser wrote:

Technically implemented restrictions are definitely a means to manage an organization.

True, but so is "management by perkele".
IMHO redmine should not implement management techniques, this would only lead to bloat.
Perhaps you can implement this as a plugin.

RE: Limit subproject nesting depth - Added by Anonymous about 11 years ago

A tool should facilitate a process, which Redmine does by making that structure possible.

While there are scenarios where enforcing processes is meaningful, if your team wouldn't adhere to those processes otherwise, it won't be long before they start finding shortcuts around what's being enforced anyway. In this case, solving one kind of chaos (restricting nest depth) from people who can't follow guidelines will just give rise to other kinds of chaos within those new constraints. Don't set yourself up for that kind of back-and-forth.

I think there could still be some value still in enabling this feature, but I also think there's a problem with either your Redmine training materials or the management team itself and it's worth meeting head-on.

RE: Limit subproject nesting depth - Added by Christoph Klesser about 11 years ago

Thanks everybody for sharing your thoughts. I understand your scepticism and your point of view, but from my experience, people tend to always find a good reason why their individual problem is an exception from an established rule and why deviating from that rule is necessary. However legitimate this reason might be, there are also legitimate reasons to enforce that established rule, and doing so via technical restrictions seems appropriate to me.

However, as I may not find enough support for my proposal, we will probably implement that as a plugin or even waive that issue.

Thanks anyway!

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