Build Build Build!

Or, how I learned to keep pushing through.

So, I missed a week. Last week was such a whirlwind that it only dawned on me Monday afternoon that I had in fact slipped on my weekly writing schedule. This week has been no different. I had to make a mental note to step away from routine and write some thoughts down.

And that is because we have finally entered the build phase!

Spending our first six weeks learning about product development and doing a bunch of research was really gratifying. But, it is also great to finally dive into our official roles, which for me means writing code.

And over the last two weeks I have written a lot! Working closely with Chris Bell and the intern team, I have in the last two weeks: architected out our project (React & Flux on the front-end, Express & PostgreSQL on the back-end), set up our staging servers (Surge.sh to serve the static front-end, Heroku for the back-end API) coupled with a continous integration implementation (Codeship + GitHub = gold), set up all the dependencies needed for our project (lots of Babel and Webpack), and completed our first sprint.

I am a little dazed and still trying to figure out how our new workflow will pan out. Here are some of the biggest takeaways:

Like the Pirate’s Code, estimations, stories, and goals are guidelines.

1. Push. It’s important to keep pushing through and not to get too caught up in small details. We have a hard deadline (mid-August) fast approaching. It’s important to focus on the bigger goals than the details that distract, which means…
2. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Whether it is on the front or back-end, the end product simply needs to work. Perfection will come incrementally as we return to parts of the product to iterate and add features.
3. Estimation is relative. It is difficult to accurately estimate how much work it will take to design and engineer software, so everything is relative. Furthermore, nothing is binding: weekly estimates are a helpful a guideline, not a immovable chain.
4. You have to let go. As our roles diverge, we each need to focus on our area of expertise: design, development, and product. I have already started to feel the mental strain of trying to focus on my development tasks while also keeping fully up to date with Marina’s product development process. I cannot do it all, and I am still learning how to best balance my interests.

These last two weeks have been fantastic overall. It feels great to get my hands dirty writing code, especially building the product from the ground up (mostly) on my own.

I am excited to see how things progress and even more excited to share the final effort in August!