PMs Vs Devs 2

The final week of the bootcamp came with a whole new task as usual, I hoped for a better experience this time around considering the 'Game of thrones' encounter with the Developers in the previous week.

Given the essential role Product Managers play in birthing a product, we were once again tasked with managing the engineering team to deliver a blog application within 5 days. This wouldn't have been an issue if it were to be another set of developers but once again fate choose to play it's part after all the binding and casting I had to do😂 in order not to come in contact with the Developers my team and I worked wih the previous week. Our ever loving Bootcamp manager Damilare Oyetade whose specialty is in cooking up heart warming tasks, if you know what I mean😁 made it possible for us to relive this experience. I believe our teams were destined to meet again after all 😂.

Let me take you through this week's task as we relive the experience of our previous Collaboration with Developers.

The 1st of May, 2023 marked the beginning of the end of the bootcamp. It was also the same day our task was received. My team was paired with the other PM teams we worked with previously so we could manage the same set of Developers. The Product Management teams immediately got to work, holding our first general meeting as Product Managers to define the requirements for the blog application and deliberate on management strategy. Also to decide on the Scrum Ceremonies (Sprint planning, Daily scrum, Sprint review and Sprint retrospective meetings) and how it will be handled by the various Product Management teams in order to foster collaboration between the Product Managers and the Engineering teams (Frontend and Backend developers). A product management tool (Trello) was selected for effective management and a workspace created to onboard all members of the team.

A Sprint planning meeting was held to prioritized the requirements and create a backlog that will guide the development process (This was anchored and documented by the PM Team 6). Afterwards, tasks were assigned to members of the engineering team. The Frontend developers focused on the visual elements of the app, while the Backend developers worked on the blog functionality. Each of these tasks were progressively moved from ‘To Do’ to ‘In Progress’ and ‘Done’ on the Trello board.

Daily Scrum meetings were held to keep the engineering team on track in delivering their tasks and address any challenge(s) quickly. Each member shared their progress on the assigned tasks and identified any issue(s) they encountered. These meetings were anchored and documented by my team (PM Team 8).

We held a Sprint Review meeting (anchored and documented by PM Team 5) to discuss on the completed and incomplete tasks and identify areas that needed improvement as well.

Finally a Sprint retrospective meeting was held to delibrate on what went well during the development process, what didn't go well and what could be improved on subsequently. This was anchored and documented by the PM Team 7.

There were a couple of snags the team faced. Such as: a dearth of frontend and backend developers. The members of the engineering team were out numbered by the members of the Product Management team. Leaving the Product Management team, very few frontend and backend developers to work with. This stifled the glamorous beauty of collaboration.

The Game of thrones reloaded experience😁 I had anticipated from the moment this task was given turned into a whole new experience.To my greatest surprise the Developers corporated more than they did previously but they didn't entirely leave out their old ways, there were times I had standing dreads because of them😂. They didn't show up for some of the scheduled meetings, while in some cases they'd join in late for meetings (precisely the Backend Devs). I'm glad this week's experience is a lot better than I had expected.

Furthermore, we had to deal with the timeline set for the delivery of the task considering the number of Devs we had working on the product. Every member of the team had to work under pressure to get the task done in due time. At the end of the day, we all sharpened our skills of teamwork and collaboration. We got to further understand that to be a great team player, is to be great at effective communication. Working with the engineering team also got us introduced to new software such as Github; and familiarized terms such as API. The experience was an enjoyable learning curve for both teams. Although the ride was fraught with challenges, a good measure of us are verklempt with joy at the progressive knowledge gained in our respective tracks. Like it is said, anything that starts eventually reaches a conclusion. And this is the conclusion of the matter.

It's been an amazing journey for me leading a team of creative minds. I am proud to have been a part of such dedicated and talented minds, thanks to Side Hustle for this wonderful opportunity.