Project Management Methodology

[Larry Elliott]

I am wondering how others manage their projects - which type of files in which directories etc?

I have a data drive and each project is a folder, with all its data and the composition file etc. I guess I should add that I do not need to share projects with anyone until they are completed.

Also is there anyway to stop PMX defaulting to the template folder when it first asks you to save a project?

Thanks,

Larry

[J.Wajer]

I always work with New from Template.... which gives me a basic project folder structure with a /Media files directory. All my media goes in there, except for the Masters. They go into a /Masters directory I create on the same level as the Media files.

All my projects are numbered, linked to a central project database and ordered in D:\Year\Month\Project to keep the pathname short. Masters are copied to a central fileserver and distributed.

Once the project is done, I either drag the whole chebang to a backup disc or make an archive.

[Perfect Record]

All my projects are numbered, linked to a central project database and ordered in D:\Year\Month\Project to keep the pathname short. Masters are copied to a central fileserver and distributed.

What can you tell us about the database? How the data is entered- any automatic updating, etc.

[Jonathon Stevens]

I have one folder for each project, inside that are 2 folders, one for audio files and one for "Project Data".

The root of the Project Data folder contains the most recent Pyramix project file along with folders for:
CD Images, Libraries, Documentation, Rendered Media (ReNovator, MPEX, etc...), Old Projects (older versions of the project file get dumped in here).

I typically append the current date along with a letter which is never repeated, onto the end of the Pyramix project file name. And throughout the day i'll do save as... and increment the letter. At the end of the day i'll dump all the older projects into the Old Projects folder, leaving only the most current in the root folder. So i might end up with:
Beethoven Edit_0107a
Beethoven Edit_0107b
Beethoven Edit_0107c
etc....

I then use Tortoise SVN subversion software to manage the files in the Project Data Folder, which i commit once, or several times a day to the repository. The repository lives on a separate drive, and I also duplicate all the audio in the audio files folder onto that separate drive.

The repository drive is available on our local network, as sometimes there are 2 of us working on a given project.

The reason I don't subversion the audio files folder is because Tortoise SVN creates a hidden folder locally which is a duplicate of all the files under revision control, doubling the size of the local folder. I'm often dealing with several hundred GB's of Media files, so revision control of the main media files is not very practical for me.

When the project is done I remove the revision control and repository, delete the local copy and keep a copy of the project on a removable drive.