Tom Neal

Sr. Front-End Developer

Agenda

Project
Proposed Solution & Technology
My Role
Project Timeline
Code Approach
Lessons Learned

Project: Rebuild Low Performing & Outdated App

Customer wanted new app to match features of current version (v10), but could not provide access to the source code (only had access to v6)
Vague requirements and limited subject matter expertise
Customer's environment was secure and did not have access to the internet (approved packages/libraries only)
Customer had extensive onboarding requirements to allow the team access
Strict deadline and customer delays shortened work timeline from months to weeks

My Role - Lead Developer

Main point of contact
Created project plan and assign work
Led all internal and external meetings
Guided team and customer through issues and blockers
Reviewed and approved PRs
Delivered milestones and final solution

Because of complications, coding time was only 4 weeks
Had to focus one resource on managing client's package ecosystem

8 week timeline

Weeks 1-2: Access (Worked on any discovery you could during this time)
Week 3-4: Project Discovery & Plan & Assigned to Team
Week 4-6: UI Coding

Week 7-8: Data Integration & Deployment

Project Discovery & Plan

Collaborated with customer to work through access and environment issues
Assessed and decomposed app into milestones, epics, features and stories
Reviewed pre-approved libraries and determined additional libraries we needed access to
Aligned timeline and project plan with customer
Assigned stories based on team members skill sets and workload
Dedicated team member to develop a solution to library importing complications

Development

Facilitated internal and external standups to ensure timely completion and customer satisfaction
Worked through stories assigned directly to myself +
Pair programmed one on one with team members to work through any complex tasks

Review & Deploy

Reviewed and approve PRs
Presented milestones to client and captured feedback
Delivered final solution

Proposed Solution: Build New App

Technologies Utilized

Code Approach

Set up layout and panels with CSS Grid
Astro's Web Components
CSS in JS
React Context with React Query for data
Cypress testing

Key Takeaways

Creating an organized and methodical project plan
Identifying the right solution
Partnering with the team to work through obstacles

Result - I was able to deliver and deploy the package on time

I had to balance my time between leading the project and completing my own deliverables. I think what led to my success here was being very organized and methodical in my approach. I utilized Jira to help develop the plan for the project ensuring that we were working through the stories in the most efficient way and wouldn't get blocked by missing dependencies. I also found that it was critical to identify the best package to use for each feature.

There are many things to consider when choosing the right package. I always start with reviewing the approved packages and then look outside if there isn't a good fit, followed by developing my own solution. The key takeaway I had here was in managing my time. There were some scenarios where I was able to use the existing approved packages and repurpose items to fit the current need, but there were other scenarios where in the end the best option was do develop my own solution. In the future, I would approach this by identifying any gaps to each option, so I can rule things out quickly that won't work and identify the best option.

I like to solve problems on my own and so I don't mind taking the time to research and dig into issues to find a solution, however with customer deadlines and budgets, that is not always realistic and so I knew in this specific project that I would have to utilize the team efficiently and so one of the things I did was pair developers together with complementary skills to pair program and find solutions faster. For example, I partnered with my right hand developer on layout issues because I had a stronger background in CSS and he also helped me solve an issue with React Query that I had encountered. This was way more efficient and also boosted both of our skill sets at the same time.