Personal Agile: Iteration 5 (COVID-19 edition)

It’s been pretty hard to focus on anything other than what’s going on in the world the last two weeks. I didn’t really successfully complete the iteration. We’ve been sent home from work about a week ago which freed up a lot of time that’s been allocated to the commute. Theoretically. Unfortunately focus has been hard to come by.

The only take away I have from this iteration is that I’ve significantly reversed my position on UI/UX.

I’ve always been of the opinion that functionality should be prioritized over look and feel. Now I’m not sure that it’s so cut and dry any more. I don’t know when this happened but looking at the last 3 iterations; the vast majority of work has been in the UIUX area.

Why? One of the goals of this application is to showcase my abilities as a developer, and first impressions are really important. I did not want to deliver and ugly app. I’m still processing this. UI work is definitely not easy. Working on UI reduces the number of hours I can spend on other things.

Previously, I’d make an argument that I’d rather use an ugly app that does a lot rather than app that is pleasant that does only a little bit. I’m still not sure where to draw that line, but it’s interesting to think about.