The Good
I felt completely confident with this Alpha Build. The preparation tools were essential. I used them as references very often and I would have been lost without them. The mockup and the Technical Design Document were the two tools that I used the most, and I am so happy that I was thorough with the details.
The prototype I created last month was relevant and usable, so that saved me a good amount of time this month. I can tell that I am pretty good at estimating the completion time of tasks based on my skill level and the complexity. I am happy with the features I added, and I completed them right on schedule despite some unexpected weather storm issues here in Houston.
Rebecca Leis, my teacher, has been a major asset. She fills the role of Scrum Master for me, and it helped that I could reach out for quick feedback. I was able to mentally realign myself whenever I felt even slightly unsure. That is crucial because the mind is something that must be protected when being creative.
The Bad
Time always flows, regardless of any circumstance. The time constraints really did play a part in the quality I was able to deliver. The artic storm in Houston shutdown the city for a week during the month. My focus was shifted to fixing water pipes, housing 3X more people in my home, no electricity, and no water. That week was basically non-existent in terms of my project.
I had to adjust and lower my expectation in terms of quality and I simply focused on functionality. I only wanted to get the features working, even though making them look and feel right is arguably more important. Some features had to get pushed out to the next milestones, which means there are more time strains to come. Any buffer that I scheduled for myself was reduced early on in the development. I know I must be hyper sensitive to my time for the duration of the project and that will be stressful.
What I Learned
I learned that having the proper tools builds confidence and it makes creating the project a smooth process. I feel like I manage my time better with regularly scheduled quick reviews with my Scrum Master, and I believe that I key for my productivity. Time must be respected and anything can happen to take the time away. Being flexible with the tasks helps to keep a cool head when sudden changes occur. Front-loading the milestone tasks seemed to be beneficial in this instance because I know I left time in the end of the project to add in wishful features and debugging. Focusing on functionality versus quality really helped me to stay productive and knock out most of my task list for Alpha. I hope I will have enough time in Beta to make up for the quality.
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