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Project Planning

How do I take an idea to a solution?

Lets take an example from one of many implementions

Problem

  • The development team deploys code every two weeks
  • Each time they deploy there are several key steps that they have to take
  • for example
  • take manual shot of the current database
  • disable replication of db
  • check nothing is in job queue
  • no incomming request
  • the development team runs these checks manually
  • people have to communicate with each other to accomplish these task
  • it can become very messy
  • It's prone to human error

Solution

  • automate all the steps
  • create multiple multiple parallel job with dependencies instead of a linear pipeline

How do I methodically approach this?

  • I do not want a one man army doing all these task
  • Avoid tribal knowledge
  • I need to methodically break the pipeline into smaller task
  • I need to delegate work to myself and my peers

The approach I have used is the Agile methodology

(on Sprint Planning) - I work with the Project manager, we define the scope of the project - I create Isolate tasks within the project - My team and I design time-based objectives - we decide how long each task take - we assign points - I work with my team to delegate the task - Move task into our sprint board - set a goal for the sprint - Start the sprint - Make adjustments to ensure success

(daily standup) - I talk about my progress - Blocks - What else I have to do

(deploy) - deploy changes - push new features

(Iterate) - Go back to the drawing board when outcome fails to meet expections - Work on the problem again after recieving feedback from end user

Key takeaway

  • Treat everything as an experiment
  • We test hypothesis
  • I focus on people, prototypes, collaboration, and iteration
  • People - Am I stuck with my work, do I need help. How about my coworkers
  • Output - Do we have a minimum viable product, a prototype for feedback
  • Cross-funtional collaboration - What is the feedback from the end users?
  • Back to the drawing board - lets get it working, lets iterate

Personal Capacity

  • Personal productivity
  • set meetings for collaboration
  • Prioritize tasks

Quarterly milestone

  • Product road map
  • goals 1,2 ,3 ...

SAY I took initiate to do this sort of project meeting. I got promoted to a team lead because I was able to write code and navigate my team as well