ArcGIS Project Management with Production Mapping

ESRI's Production Mapping has a lot of useful tools and functionality. I think its kind of like that drawer in your house where you put things that are really great for something but not necessarily needed for anything.

For me the documentation is rarely clear or concise enough to understand so I just have to tinker with it until I find something that works.

Recently I dove into the Product Library. I am working on a project where the product will be a workflow to create maps. The workflow includes some script tools but the goal is to use as much out of the box functionality as possible. Anyways, the development process requires setting up MXDs, tool boxes, scripts with config files, layout rules, styles, and just about anything else GIS related. It turns out the Product Library is a great way to sync all these things between team members.

I have not really figured the structure yet but after setting up a "Solution"  and a "Product Class" we are able to check in and out everything to a versioned SDE database. If we choose to check everything out to the same location on our respective machines the MXDs, toolboxes and what not stay working.

I'm just saying its neat that's all.

Whats the point?

I need to remember that when I work on a project the point is to create a solution that is good for the end user. Sometimes that is not whats best for customer, or me, or my computer, or the timeline. But if the end product is something that doesn't meet the end users needs then there was no point.

Becoming more familiar with the work of Government offices like the BLM its clear that sometimes projects loose sight of the end goal and get lost in the sea of "this might be useful someday" or "its cheaper if we leave this out."

Whats the point of this post? To remind me to think about why I am doing what I am doing