Brace Yourself

This week feels like the calm before the storm. Although, the calm wasn't that calm..

One thing I learnt this week is that one disadvantage of  decoupling and splitting the back end and front end development amongst us, is that sometimes, being in back end, I am unaware of things going on in the front end. I don't have to know what is happening in detail but perhaps some sort of update would help. In the case of my group, we have been meeting and updating each other of our progress, so that's good.

We have a week left to finish our app. I am confident that we will be able to finish it on time, but I believe we will have to spend a lot of time on this the next week, especially the folks on the front end. Everyone is also juggling other things, like assignment 2 and modules. We really need to prioritise well and be more efficient. Development should try to be faster.

I felt that our assignment 2 is going fairly okay. I'm quite looking forward to all the presentations on Monday. It should be fun. =] The week as whole... so many deadlines. OTL

First Couple of Weeks

Show and tell was fun last week. Now on to the serious (still kinda fun) stuff. My assignment 1 group spent the past week deciding on ideas and deciding on how we were gonna execute the idea. We only finalised on an idea which we were all satisfied with on Sunday and started setting up the environment earlier this week. I like this bunch, we're quite friendly with each other and are willing to help each other if needed.

I volunteered to be PM this time because I wanted to know what it would be like. So far, we were able to split the work nicely into front end and back end. Having chosen to use Django, and emberjs we were able to decouple very well. The two are connected through HTTP requests and responses. From my perspective, perhaps since it's still the first week, I think our group is proceeding with our tasks without too many problems. Technical problems, however, existed. We still had to research and discuss issues as we went along.

One improvement I think I hope to take into account for the rest of our assignment is the assignments of tasks. At times, I think I'm confused with my backend partner on what tasks we are supposed to be doing. Since we're both pretty new to this framework, it happens. Perhaps we could try to split the work in such a way that we don't have to cancel or change what we've done to be consistent and efficient. As the project manager, I should try to manage our project better. :P

Assignment 2 has begun as well. And tutorials are starting next week. This is the moment where I learn to manage all my work so that I don't have to forgo any of it. (Hopefully I don't have to!)

What I Hope To Learn in CS3216

I'm pretty excited for this semester. I expect CS3216 to be packed with assignments and projects. I'm mentally preparing myself for it. There are three main lessons I'm hoping to take away from taking this course.

Creativity
I hope that I'll be able to learn how to create fun and interesting applications for people. Being in CS3216, an environment for all the creative and hardworking students, I hope that we will be able to share and exchange different ideas. Perhaps we will be able to shape our ideas and have a clearer idea of how to go about thinking of applications to build.

Time Management and Quality of Work
CS3216 sounds like it's going to be hectic and will involve lots of projects and assignments. I hope to be able to learn to manage my time more effectively to handle both the rigour of this module and the other modules I'm taking. Of course, we should also maintain the quality of our work and codes while we're at it. Especially since we will be working with other people, there is that additional pressure of not wanting to let the team down, along with our own passion to get the work done.

Working well in teams
Finally, I hope to learn how to work effectively in different teams. Since the projects are done in teams, there will always be a variety of levels of skills and work ethics for each project. I want to be a good member to my group. Perhaps the Saturday workshops can serve me well to catch up to those who might have more skill than me in certain areas.

Let's hit the ground running. =]