In interviews, you'll be asked about how you approach working in projects, and being able to describe how you utilize agile processes is a great way to help you stand out as a junior developer candidate. This reflection is meant to help you develop this skill.
With that in mind, please answer the following questions in your own gist about your group project:
- What have you learned about the use of agile vs. waterfall in software projects?
- I've learned the importance of utilzing agile processes so that your products can grow organically and so that they're responsive to the users at hand.
- Waterfall should only be used if testing infeasible, too expensive, or dangerous (i.e. space-x).
- How did you and your group approach project management in this project (what tools did you use, how did you hold each other accountable, etc.)?
- Our group used agile practices by creating a waffle.io account and sorting through github issues via waffle. We were constantly testing our app as if we were the customers and adjusting our code accordingly. By working with our mentors and pairing with upper mods, we were able to get feedback every day as we worked. We held each other accountable through our waffle as well as starting an IdeaBox channel on Slack where we could keep track of when and where we were meeting.
- What role did you take on in the project?
- I took on the 'executer' and oftentimes found myself keeping us on track and focused during work time to accomplish milestones. I strongly felt like all three of us really cared about each other and our friendships and so we all fulfilled the roles of 'caretakers' as well, ensuring that everyones voices were heard.
- What changes would you make to your approach in future team projects?
- While I love doing all work together in driver/navigator mode, next time I would like to try out some more divide & conquer so that I have experience with it. I've never worked through serious merge conflicts and know that will eventually be a part of the workflow when being side-by-side at all times isn't realistic.
- How does retro function in a team project?
- For us we had a check-in at the end of almost every day together. We felt it was important to make sure everyone was not only feeling good academically but also socially/emotionally.
- In your team retro, how did you engage in the feedback process? What principles of feedback did you use in these conversations?
- We did not have any big concerns throughout this project. We had a lot of positive appreciation feedback that we sent to each other in person and through Slack over the 2 weeks.
- How would you describe your ability to communicate feedback? How has this experience affected your communication skills? How do you want to improve in your ability to communicate feedback?
- I think that I have a decent ability to communicate feedback. I think I could work on making sure my feedback doesn't blame the other in anyway but rather always uses "I" statements and doesn't imply anything else.
Complete. This is a great reflection, demonstrating a good understanding of the concepts here, and I appreciate your thoughtful approach on how you'd like to do things differently in future projects. Nice work!