One of your expectations for the course was to get some hints and links on open source project management tools. Here’s a short list of some cool tools:
1) FreeMind: The mindmapping technique is very useful for almost all projects and all project phases. It can be used to reduce complexity, to collect ideas, to work on project objectives and scope etc. etc. Freemind is a free mindmapping tool which has almost the same functionality as commercial tools have.
2) GanttProject is a free gantt chart tool (= Balkenplan). With GanttProject you can plan projects in detail – like you might be used to with MS Project.
3) Web-based Collaboration Tools: In this blog post you find a link to a Fraunhofer study about open source collaboration tools.
4) As communication is one of the top success factors in projects, I also recommend to use simple blogs as communication platforms.
