Project Management

The OHDSI GIS Working Group follows an agile, use-case-driven development methodology emphasizing clear communication, task-oriented development, regular progress reviews, and transparent tracking.


GitHub Project Board

Primary Tool: GIS Project Board

Board Views

  • Status View: Backlog → To Do → In Progress → Blocked → Review → Done
  • Use Case View: Groups tasks by research use case
  • Priority View: High, Medium, Low priority items

Issue Types

  • Use Cases (Use Case label): Research-driven proposals via template
  • Work Orders (task label): Specific development tasks
  • Bugs (bug label): Software defects
  • Enhancements (enhancement label): Feature requests
  • Documentation (documentation label): Documentation updates


Meetings

Weekly Working Group Meeting

When: Fridays 10 AM US Eastern Where: MS Teams

Agenda (60 minutes): 1. Intros & New Members (5 min) 2. GitHub Ticket Review (10-15 min) - Review sprint tasks, update board, identify blockers 3. Standup Updates (2 min max per person) - Completed work, current work, blockers, discussion points 4. Discussion Topics (25-30 min) - Technical decisions, use cases, architecture 5. Action Items & Next Steps (5 min)

Roles: Facilitator (enforces time), Note Taker (documents decisions), Timekeeper (optional)

Subgroup Meetings

Task-specific subgroups meet separately for focused work on use cases or components, reporting progress at Friday meetings.


Development Workflow

Sprint Cycle (2-week informal iterations)

  • Week 1: Plan, assign from backlog, develop, Friday check-in
  • Week 2: Continue development, submit PRs, code review, Friday sprint review

Definition of Done

Code written and tested → Tests pass → Documentation updated → Code reviewed → Merged to main → Verified in deployment


Use Case Management

  1. Submit Use Case (Description, Infrastructure needs, Timeline, Credit, Support, Datasets)
  2. Leaders review and schedule discussion
  3. Present in Friday meeting
  4. Decompose into work orders
  5. Prioritize and assign
  6. Execute development sprint
  7. Deliver results


Repository Inventory

Repository Purpose Status
OHDSI/GIS Central hub, docs, coordination Active
OHDSI/gaiaDb Core data repository Beta
OHDSI/gaiaCore Multi-language connector Development
OHDSI/gaiaCatalog Data catalog Beta
OHDSI/gaiaDocker Deployment orchestration Active
TuftsCTSI/CVB Vocabulary builder Development

See Developer Resources for detailed package information.


Roadmaps

Key component roadmaps maintained as GitHub issues: - Gaia Toolchain - Gaia Catalog - Geocoding Guidance - Vocabulary


Communication

Channels

  • GitHub Issues/PRs: Technical discussion, tracking (primary)
  • MS Teams GIS Channel: Quick questions, announcements
  • Weekly Meetings: Collaborative decision-making
  • Email: Meeting agendas, summaries
  • OHDSI Forums: Community questions

Best Practices

  • Use GitHub for trackable technical discussions
  • Use Teams for quick coordination
  • Document major decisions in GitHub issues with decision label
  • Over-communicate rather than under-communicate


Onboarding

New Member Checklist: 1. Sign up for OHDSI Teams 2. Join GIS Working Group 3. Attend Friday meeting and introduce yourself 4. Review Developer Resources 5. Pick a good first issue or join subgroup 6. Set up development environment (Deployment Guide) 7. Make first contribution (Contributing Guidelines)

New contributors are encouraged to pair with experienced members and start with documentation tasks.


Quality Standards

Code Review

  • Pull request review by ≥1 developer
  • Passing tests (when available)
  • Updated documentation
  • Adherence to coding standards

Testing

  • Unit tests for core functionality
  • Integration tests for database operations
  • Manual testing for UI/UX
  • User acceptance testing for use cases


Vision & OKRs

The working group establishes quarterly Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) aligned with the mission to improve population health through integrated geospatial and clinical data analysis.

Example OKR (2023): - Objective: Advance Gaia toolchain to production-ready state - KR1: Complete 3 validation use cases - KR2: Publish documentation for all components - KR3: Achieve <2 minute load time for typical dataset

OKRs are reviewed quarterly and linked to project board tasks.


Tools

Tool Purpose Link
GitHub Projects Task tracking Project Board
GitHub Issues Work items, bugs, use cases Issues
MS Teams Communication, meetings Join
GitHub Pages Documentation ohdsi.github.io/GIS


Continuous Improvement

The working group regularly reflects on processes through quarterly retrospectives, solicits feedback in meetings, and adapts based on what works and OHDSI community best practices.


Contact

  • Teams: GIS Working Group channel
  • Meetings: Fridays 10 AM US Eastern
  • Email: zollovenecek[at]ohdsi[dot]org
  • GitHub: Tag @OHDSI/GIS-leaders