Week 3 – The “Admin” work
Welcome back! This week, we focused more on “admin” work and getting project tools setup – Jira, Figjam . . . All of those fun tools to track our progress. We also worked on getting everyone setup with the tech stacks we will be using to develop this “Grand” application. Luckily this week, there were not major issues that required some attention. Actually, we have started coding and made some groundbreaking developments.
Documents, Tools, Downloads: All the THINGS
I want to first say, I HATE having to track everything I do, when I did it, how long it took, why I did it this way vs. that way, and overall Project Management systems. I would rather spend my time, actually producing something that shows results. I am NOT a paper pusher . . . Which is why I am a technology professional and not in human resources. The thought of having to look at documents, benefits, and other long PDF files, just makes me shake in my boots.
Now, with that being said, I 100% understand the need for it all. It’s useful for tracking, auditing, and accountabilities. You need to have a paper trail in case something happens 2 to 3 years down the line, and you can trace it back to something someone did. Doesn’t mean I won’t fight along the way.
But luckily, everything was easy . . . for the most part when it came to getting everyone on the same page with the tools and tech stack. Everyone on the team has confirmed being able to access the systems and tools needed to make our application. There was, however, one issue with one of our team members that we were able to get going. I swear, they are cursed to NEVER develop mobile applications as those tools just hate them!
Development: Diggy, Diggy – We hit GOLD
With our app, we are needing to connect to a service that hold A LOT of personal data for end users. Luckily, this service we are using, has a sandbox environment that we can connect to. In all honesty, I was revelated since pricing for this service can be a bit pricy but in sandbox, it’s all free! However, I was able to get access to limited production for live data testing without the cost of anything! There will, as stated, limitations to what we can connect to. Which, in some ways, is completely understandable. Don’t want to give too much of your product/service away for free. You want to give the JUST enough to hook them in!
With this particular service, it was hard to understand what was needed . . . but in the end, it was able to be setup! I will say that it took several days and hours to get this service connected, integrated, and running in our app. But once I got the green light (or in this case, a pop-up) I nearly jumped up through the ceiling in excitement.
Long with that, I was actually able to pull data from the service as designed. With this data, I was then able to get it imported into our system with easy! Now, we are at the place in where we need to decide on what data was wanting to pull and how we want to use it.
Visuals: What you see, is not what you expect
Along with getting all of our admin stuff setup, and going back to what we completed last week, we have started to full design our application. The web site is all but basically setup as we want it. There are still some things we are going to change and update but the “framework” is there. CSS coding is interesting but very useful. The colors are actually very appealing and working on accessibly settings to help those with seeing issues.
Now with the mobile app, we have been able to get some of the UI/UX going and mimicking what I said above, it’s starting to come together VERY well. I think the biggest issue we had with the mobile was trying to get it connected to the server. But luckily, someone on our team was able to get it done . . . a few hair pulling moments later.
Research: Google, here we come
As we move into our 4th week, there is not a lot more we have to do as in researching. I mean, we will be looking up “how to” guides and documents to make sure we are connecting to our APIs and AI correctly. But researching next things we want to implement, is all but done. There are still a few things we want to look up. Some of those things are:
- What can this API do that this one can’t?
- Are we able to do that?
- What are some of the security risks behind this?
Just to name a few things. Along with the still research in making sure our branding isn’t going to cause any issues. Last thing we want is to go into our presentation and start getting hit with some legal trouble. That will not look good on us nor the school.
Next Steps: Legal and More
The next steps that I want to take on is looking into Terms of Service and Privacy. I want to be able to ensure and inform our potential customers of what we are doing with your data and how we are securing it. Want to make sure that the “ToS” is visible to everyone when creating an account (even though most of us just click “I Agree” when it comes time to it. I want to make sure that ALL users are aware of what they are signing up for.
Long side that, going to keep working on coding the application on the backend and web frontend. Everything is starting to come together. Alpha testing seems so far but also, so close at the same time! Hopefully, we are able to get through Alpha with few to no issues (right along with that unicorn)!
This week was a bast! Filled with more research, and groundbreaking development for our app! Along with a lot of paperwork, which I have a feeling is going to be the bane of this whole project. But like I said, I understand the need for it!
Until the next adventure,
– Timmy