Retrospective -- George Colon
Retrospective for sprint #1
Links to evidence of activity on GitLab with one-sentence description for each link.
Issue #7 - I contributed to this issue which was created by @nathanlach60 to discuss Database choices which could be utilized in combination with our RESTful API. We can to the decision to use MongoDB.
Issue #9 - I created this issue to discuss what RESTful API endpoints would be needed
Issue #12 - I created this issue to discuss with the team the idea of creating sperate projects for frontend and backend development which was agreed on and a Backend project was created.
Issue #5 - I contributed to this issue where we discussed what project structures are popular and which we could utilize for our NodeJS backend.
Additionally: I worked on, commented on, or created #1, #19 (closed), and #20 (closed).
Reflection on what worked well?
- As a team, I feel as if we were effective in quickly identifying and dividing up our microservice into more manageable sub-projects assigning people to tasks in which they feel more comfortable or where they would prefer to work. Additionally, I think the team standup is has worked well for us because it always leads to further discussion in regards to people's current blockers/issues as well as gives the entire team an idea of where one another stands.
Reflection on what didn't work well?
- I believe we are lacking clear communication skills as a team outside of our class time and Scrum Standup. We discussed utilizing Discord, a group text, and the comment section on issues. All of these means of communication have been used sparingly.
- I think we need to reduce the time spent on our team standup at the beginning of each class. While these standups have been good for making up for the lack of other forms of communication and @nicolebryant has been doing the best job she can at keeping the group on a task I myself, as well as others, have elaborated too much on the topics they are discussing.
- Lastly, we have failed as a group on commenting on an issue to notify one another if the issue is already being worked on. This is important because two people have done the same issue already and while this isn't a major issue now it will turn into one when two people are writing code to solve the same problem and both want to merge their solutions to issues.
Reflection on what changes could be made to improve as a team?
- As we team we need to define a clear agreement on how communication MUST be handled and how often we should aim to communicate with one another about what we are currently doing.
- To improve the amount of time we are spending on our standup we can each come prepared with a short note card that has those 3 questions answered and stick to the card during the meeting. We can then break out into work time and have further discussions as small groups if needed.
- We should be commenting on an issue if we wish to work on it to convey that to other people.
- We should aim for faster response time on issues where there is back and forth discussion so that issues are actually getting done in a timely manner.
Reflection on what changes could be made to improve as an individual?
- I think I could improve on creating issues when there is something I come across that I feel as if needs to be looked into or worked on.
- I could do a better job communicating with the group about the issue I am currently working on and this includes being better about documenting my research, reasoning, and work completed.
- To ensure that when I complete a task I do the necessary work of moving an issue to done and editing the issue to reflect on the outcome of the work that was completed.
- Ensure that I keep my stand time as narrow as possible and to not drive the group into an open discussion about a topic.