Agile & Feedback Reflection Guidelines

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:

1. What have you learned about the use of agile vs. waterfall in software projects? It is dificult to implement these tactics if the group is not on board. Myself and another member were hoping to implement it but found it was nearly impossible when our third member had no interest.

2. 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.)? We used Github project boards, whiteboarding, and a calendar to pace out our sprints.

3. What role did you take on in the project? I essentially just filled any holes there were in what people were able to do which is about what I expected. I am either able or willing to try to learn new things and hopefully be able to implement them.

4. What changes would you make to your approach in future team projects? I would ask ahead of time that the team actually try to use the DTR as a tool in addition to other things we have learned in PDs. I felt like a lot of our planning went out the window because one partner wasn't interested in being dictated anything to do, somewhat resulting in our workflow just being a bit chaotic, with people just working on parts of the project as they pleased.

5. How does retro function in a team project? I think regardless of what you call it, having some sort of discussion at the end of the the day or at least every couple of days is very effective in gauging everyones' feelings about the project and illiciting feedback.

6. In your team retro, how did you engage in the feedback process? What principles of feedback did you use in these conversations? At that point we had had a rocky start so it was a bit of a touchy subject from earlier in the day. However we did establish that communication had to improve, which it did for a bit but then deteriorated again by the end of the project.

7. 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 feel like I am very much able to point out what people are doing well and encourage them for any milestones they have made. I don't think I am great at giving "negative" feedback as it seems to either come out too negatively or I don't want to say anything for fear of doing damage to the team dynamic. This time I tried to be more subtle but it ended with me being yelled at in front of my classroom which I communicated wasn't acceptable and unappreciated.