Task

Manage the Engineering team (Backend Team 2 and Frontend Team 1b) in conjunction with Product Management Teams 5,6,7 & 8 to create a simple blog application.

Objective

Managing a team of Frontend and Backend Engineers in creating a simple blog application.

Timeline

6 days.

Processes

Day 1 (Monday, 1st May): Sprint Planning Meeting

Upon getting the task, all the team leads involved in its execution agreed to a sprint planning meeting by 8:30pm. Representatives from the Backend, Frontend, and Product Management teams were present at the Scrum ceremony, and we all agreed to use Trello as the management and documentation tool for the task. Also, the PM leads informed the Engineering leads to simplify the technical tasks in order to get them on the Trello board.

The Backend team was able to break down their tasks, but the Frontend team asked for an extension of time before submitting their tasks. During the meeting, a PM Lead created the sprint for the project and included the Backend’s tasks in the board. Furthermore, we agreed that the daily standup time should be 9pm for convenient reporting. Later at night, the Frontend team sent their tasks, which a PM lead included in the Trello board.

Day 2 (Tuesday, 2nd May): Daily Standup

The daily standup started at the allotted time, but the Backend team wasn’t on the call. Notwithstanding, we forged ahead and focused on what the Frontend team had done. They reported the completion of the Login/Signup page and the progress of the Blog, Contact Us, and Landing pages.

They also sent their work’s repository link for the Backend team to work on, and we moved their tasks to their appropriate lists on the board. Noteworthy, they didn’t report any challenges and were eager to continue work the next day.

Day 3 (Wednesday, 3rd May): Daily Standup

The Backend team graced us with their presence and hard work in this daily standup. They reported completing the "Write the signup API" and "Create the user database table" tasks. Additionally, they mentioned that the "create landing page API" task was in progress.

Complementarily, the Frontend team mentioned that they were on top of the work for the landing page creation and would get it done the next day for the Backend team to begin working on. The only challenge reported on the day was from the Backend team, stating that they were unsure of the Frontend team’s landing page design. Thankfully, the PM leads rescued them by informing them they would get it the next day.

Day 4 (Thursday, 4th May): Daily Standup

This was the 3rd standup of the project, and everyone was in total attendance. After the PMs asked about their completed tasks, progressing ones, and challenges, the Backend team reported completing the “Write the blog APIs” and “Create the Blog table” tasks.

Contrastingly, the Frontend team didn’t report any completion but mentioned they were still working on their tasks.

Day 5 (Friday, 5th May): Daily Standup

This daily standup came with mixed feelings as the Frontend team completed all their tasks while the Backend team didn’t show up. We had the Frontend team’s preview link, and we all watched the blog application come to life, inciting thanks from all product managers to the Frontend team. They also reported no challenge and were equally excited to have finished their work before the set time.

Day 6 (Saturday, 6th May): Sprint Review and Retrospective Meeting

We ended on a high note with the Backend team informing us they had completed their tasks for the project, leaving us with a fully responsive blog application, which we tested. We went on to review all tasks on the Trello board and confirmed they were all done. We immediately moved to the review and retrospective meeting, wishing one another “good luck in future endeavours” at the end.

Sprint Review

We had 15 tasks to oversee this week, with the Frontend team handling 5 while the Backend team handling 10. All tasks were completed, and we achieved our sprint goal of having a visually appealing, responsive, and intuitive blog application.

Tasks Completed (Frontend)

1. Landing Page creation
2. Contact Us Page
3. Footer Section creation
4. Blog Page creation
5. Login/Signup Page creation

Tasks Completed (Backend)

1. Create the display page for blog posts on different categories
2. Grant access to the users
3. Create the blog table
4. Create the admin database
5. Write the blog app APIs
6. Create the landing page APIs
7. Create the posting page
8. Write the login page
9. Create the user database table
10. Write the Signup API

Sprint Retrospective

What Went Well

1. Successful sprint planning meeting.

2. Convenient daily standup time.

3. More effective communication between product managers and engineers.

4. Engineers were terrific, more coordinated, and completed their tasks on time.

What Didn't Go Well

1. During our daily standups, we had to wait on the Backend engineers and some product managers.

2. Network glitches sometimes affected the communication flow among members during Scrum ceremonies.

Lessons Learnt

1. We should be more empathetic to engineers.

2. Understanding the project scope quickly helps to complete the task within the stipulated time.

3. Considerate scheduling works well for everyone.

4. Learnt about the essence of teamwork and communication.

5. Direct messaging works well when trying to get people to work.