Weeknotes - 06 Makers
Tags: bootcamp, beginners, career, agile
Published: 2019-07-07 21:26:01

---
title: Weeknotes - 06 Makers
published: true
description: Reflections on the past week at Makers Academy
tags: bootcamp, beginners, career, agile
series: Makers weeknotes
---

# :rainbow: The Sixth Week

Week 6 was our first group project; our first opportunity to organise our stand-ups and retros, plan a project from a 'client' spec, and implement it however we wanted.  It's been a liberating task!

## Team Work

We worked in teams of four.  My teams' approach was to have daily stand-up and retro meetings, gathering at points throughout the day to give and get feedback on our status.  We started by writing user stories for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and deciding what technology to use.

We chose to use JS for the learning opportunity, but decided mid-week to pivot and switch to a more familiar Ruby tech stack.  As a result we were able to build a working web-app much faster, but due to lost time our approach was rushed and the final product was much simpler than hoped. Laughter is a meter of success at [Makers](https://makers.tech), we joked about seagulls _a lot_ and got through disappointment together.

> :bulb: [Pivoting](https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-pivot-in-a-business) is normal!  It's often done where there are gains in cost, maintenance, or speed to be made.

![Ross Geller shouts "PIVOT!" manoeuvring a sofa on a staircase, in 'Friends' (via Giphy)](https://media.giphy.com/media/3nfqWYzKrDHEI/200.gif)

### How do you decide to [fail fast](https://www.forbes.com/sites/sunniegiles/2018/04/30/how-to-fail-faster-and-why-you-should/)?
 - clarify the approach early and often - is there useful info missing or unknowns that will affect your progress?
 - collect as much data as possible, as quickly as possible, and decide what 'good' looks like - don't think about perfect.
 - Make a team decision, and come to it ASAP!

## XP Values

XP means [extreme programming](http://www.extremeprogramming.org/when.html).  With it comes a set of values aimed at helping dev teams produce an improved quality work in a better environment (compared to non-agile, not-XP programming teams).  If you haven't heard of XP before, you may be disappointed to learn it's _not_ related to thrill-seeking.

**Simplicity**. Do the minimum! Get to your MVP quickly.

**Communication**. Meet daily face-to-face, work as a team on everything, and make decisions together.

**Feedback**. Demo early & often. Listen to suggestions and make changes. Adapt your process, not the project.  Deliver working software.

**Respect**. Everyone has value!  Respect the customers expertise and, be good to each other.

**Courage**. Give truthful progress reports and estimates. Plan to succeed, and adapt to change without fear.

> :bulb: Identifying the MVP can be tricky. Look for those items in the specification that have the highest impact and those which are urgent - these should be prioritised first.  Make something that _works_ and can be _used_ and understood by the clients.

## She Made It

Makers held the first [She Made It](https://blog.makersacademy.com/taking-control-of-your-career-destiny-475b3d3285d4?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-97LyDj4T_m1TIVaZ3MbMxTHbp8Q_0S5rqiC-xU9U7QZfVsf65x2kz3GHn2YPSU0dR5rHa-y8HLVGUA_TTJBMJzWbG6Lw&_hsmi=74364922) event, where attendees heard from three women on the topic of changing career.  
Here are some of my takeaways...

Jessica Sapick:
 - coaches help you develop self-awareness/coaching lets you hear other voices.
 - Unusual career paths have unseen benefits (such as knowing how to be in uncomfortable environments - and to avoid working in them).

Charlotte Zhao:
 - Learn from other's experience by speaking to them, asking deeper questions can build stronger friendships.
 - Have conviction in interviews; clear doubt before stepping into the interview room.

 > #### "Allow serendipity to take place" - _Charlotte Zhao_

Becks Hookham:
 - It's OK to outgrow something that was once interesting!
 - Weak connections in your network will provide work opportunities - friends of friends, and acquaintances. 

## Misc.
:coffee: Shout out to Hanna who asked me to be her mentor at Makers

:wedding: Took some time away from code this weekend to attend a joyous wedding and recoup

:cookie: Proof-read a new chapter of [Learn Go With Tests](https://quii.gitbook.io/learn-go-with-tests/) for quii and he accepted my PR

:eyes: Passed an eye-test, feel irrationally smug about it