Sprint-2 Retrospective Blog – Team OL-2

As we conclude Sprint-2 and gather for our retrospective meeting, it’s crucial to delve into what went well and identify areas where we can enhance our performance moving forward. Here’s a detailed reflection on our observations and insights:

Reflection on what worked well:

During Sprint-2, our team made notable progress in several areas compared to the previous sprint, demonstrating our ability to adapt and improve:

1. Enhanced Communication: Communication within the team showed significant improvement, with members actively engaging in discussions, sharing progress updates, and addressing challenges effectively. Our meetings were more focused, productive, and purposeful, leading to better collaboration and decision-making.
2. Productive Meetings: Our meetings were more structured and goal-oriented, providing valuable opportunities for planning tasks, discussing issues, and aligning on project goals. This contributed to a clearer understanding of individual responsibilities and project progress.
3. Improved Task Weighting: Adjusting task weights based on our learnings from Sprint-1 resulted in a more accurate reflection of task complexity. This led to a better-balanced workload distribution among team members, ensuring that tasks were appropriately scoped and assigned.
4. Enhanced Understanding of Project Management Tools: Our team gained a better understanding of using GitLab, particularly the issues and epic boards. This improvement allowed for smoother task management, clearer progress tracking, and better coordination among team members.

Reflection on what didn’t work well:

Despite our progress, Sprint-2 also presented us with challenges and areas for improvement:

1. Persistent Docker-compose Issues: We continued to face challenges with Docker-compose issues and documentation, impacting task completion and overall efficiency. Addressing these technical hurdles remains a priority for future sprints.
2. Individual Workload: While collaboration improved, some team members still worked on tasks independently without seeking or receiving sufficient support from others. This hindered overall productivity and efficiency in task execution.
3. Task Dependencies: Certain tasks were blocked due to dependencies on issues assigned to other teams. This led to delays in task completion and affected our overall task completion rate.

Reflection on changes to improve as a team:

To enhance our team’s performance and effectiveness, we have identified several key areas for improvement:

1. Promoting Better Collaboration: We aim to foster even better teamwork by encouraging more collaboration, knowledge sharing, and mutual support among team members.
2. Improving Code Cleanliness and Documentation: Clearer documentation, standardized coding practices, and a focus on code cleanliness will contribute to smoother development processes, easier collaboration, and improved project comprehension.
3. Effective Task Prioritization and Dependency Management: We plan to prioritize tasks effectively, address dependencies proactively, and communicate any blockers or challenges promptly.
4. Enhancing Communication Channels: We aim to enhance communication channels within the team, ensuring that information is shared transparently, decisions are communicated clearly, and feedback is provided constructively.

Reflection on changes to improve as an individual:

During Sprint-2, I successfully completed two assigned tasks. The first task (https://gitlab.com/LibreFoodPantry/client-solutions/theas-pantry/reportingsystem/reportingintegration/-/merge_requests/8) involved checking linters and configuring them if necessary for the reporting integration with Victor. This task required running all linters and ensuring that the project passed all tests. I encountered errors related to disallowed words and had to decide whether to reword, add exceptions, or disable certain rules before the relevant code lines to pass the linter tests. Despite these challenges, we completed the task smoothly without any major issues.

The second task was updating documentation to reflect recent changes for reportingAPI (https://gitlab.com/LibreFoodPantry/client-solutions/theas-pantry/reportingsystem/reportingapi/-/merge_requests/28) and reportingbackend (https://gitlab.com/LibreFoodPantry/client-solutions/theas-pantry/reportingsystem/reportingbackend/-/merge_requests/44). This included addressing references to the “commands” folder instead of “bin,” adding information about GitPod to Development-environment.md, and updating the outdated Cheat-sheet.md. I successfully completed this task as well, ensuring that the documentation accurately reflected the project’s current state without encountering any obstacles.

As an individual team member, I have identified areas for personal improvement and growth:

1. Attention to Detail: I recognize the importance of meticulous attention to detail in my work to avoid oversights and ensure thoroughness in task execution.
2. Proactive Collaboration: I aim to offer more assistance to fellow team members, proactively collaborate on tasks, and share knowledge and expertise.
3. Effective Time Management: Prioritizing tasks effectively, managing time efficiently, and communicating any challenges or delays promptly will contribute to smoother task execution and improved productivity.