Building SaltHub: An Agile Approach to Development Team with Two-Week Sprints
2023-04-24
As you already know I'm currently working as a Frontend Developer at salt. My team consist of: Team Manager, 4 Frontend Developers and 2 Backend Developers. Together, we all work as a team in the Development Department to build an internal platform for our Delivery and Sales Team. The internal platform is called SaltHub.
What is Salthub?
In short it is a platform to match the company / jobs posting to the most suitable Developers. It consist of 3 different groups of Users.
Developers: The platform is used by Developers like my other colleagues to input their coding experience, technical and soft skills, and upload their CV. They are also always advised to update their skills whenever they have mastered or learn something new.
Delivery Team and Sales Team: Both Delivery and Sales Team are able to use this platform to create a ticket whenever there are new job postings. They then search for Developers that are most suitable according to the job descriptions, role, tech and soft skills and other requirements that need to be meet.
Meet my team:
By alphabetical order, our team is made up of:
Team Manager: Björn (Without Björn's contribution, SaltHub wouldn't have been possible as he identified the problem and devised it as the solution while managing the team.)
Frontend Developers: Catalina, Chris, Katy - Me and Robert
Backend Developers: Robin and Swathi
Here's a photo of team members:
Clockwise: Chris, Katy (me), Robert, Swathi and Robin.
My role and responsibilites includes:
- Lead both UX & UI Design for Salt's internal platform. (Figma).
- Lead the Frontend Development whiteboarding discussion.
- Coding: the actual implementation. (TypeScript, NextJS).
- Code reviews: I also review my team members code.
- DevOps: deploy the site and ensure that the site such as performance and network are working. (Vercel).
Frontend Tech Stacks:
React, NextJS, TypeScript, Next-Auth, Bootstrap, SCSS, Vercel
Backend Tech Stacks:
ASP.NET WebApi, SQL Server - database, Entity framework, Azure deployment
Our Setup:
Our team follows the Agile methodology, which involves breaking down the project into smaller sprints that are typically 2 weeks long. You may ask why did we choose the Agile methodology and why 2 weeks sprint? Below, I explained what is Agile methodology and why we all decided that 2 weeks sprint suits best for all of us.
What is Agile methodology?
Agile methodology is an iterative and incremental approach to project management and software development that emphasises flexibility, collaboration, and continuous improvement. It involves breaking down a project into smaller, more manageable pieces called sprints, and each sprint consists of a set of tasks or user stories that the team aims to complete within a specified time frame.
Why 2 weeks sprint?
The two-week sprint is a common practice in Agile methodology because it strikes a balance between short-term focus and long-term planning. It allows the team to prioritise tasks and complete them within a manageable timeframe, while also providing enough time to adjust course if necessary. The short sprint cycle helps the team to stay focused, motivated, and aligned with the project goals. It also provides regular opportunities for feedback and reflection, which can be used to improve the quality of the work being produced. Overall, the two-week sprint is an effective way to implement Agile methodology and achieve continuous improvement in software development projects.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, adopting the Agile methodology with two-week sprints has proven to be highly effective for our team. Our regular retrospectives and daily stand-ups help us catch any potential issues early on, and the short sprint cycle ensures that we receive regular feedback and can quickly adapt to changes. This approach promotes collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement, and helps us to stay aligned and focused on achieving our project goals. Overall, the Agile methodology with two-week sprints is a powerful tool for enhancing productivity and delivering high-quality results.
Also on codewithkatyrosli.com
Building SaltHub: Importance of Usability Testing for a Better User Experience, 2023-04-29
This is a continuation blog post from SaltHub. For this part 2, I'll be sharing how I get started with SaltHub.
From the very start, I look through all the documentations that I was given access to from my Team Manager. I then analyse and understand from both product point of view and our code base from Frontend side.