Month: November 2020

Some Fall Feedback

This term started out a little rough with the delay of project assignments. I am glad that applying to a project was mentioned early as I know some graduates that did not know the importance of applying to a project. I found that the week to week release dates and turn in dates were consistent and appreciated that. I think it would be beneficial to make an announcement when an assignment that has a further out due date is released. I sometimes miss release dates for multiweek assignments because I organize myself primarily by the due dates and announcements that are made.

Project Progress

Going into winter break, I find myself at a good point to sum up the project progress so far. I have spent a lot of time writing and formatting all of the documents that were put together to plan the project. I would say that writing is just as if not more important for this term of class than knowing about technology and coding is. This term laid the majority of the groundwork for the project. We spent time researching the problem of wine fraud. I found there are some starts at solutions but they are all very segregated by region and there is no similar technology in the Northwest. The team produced well rounded documents on the project requirements and design. We also spent a decent chunk of time researching blockchain technology and getting a handle on what to expect as we roll into next term.

Finally Finals!

As the term comes to a close, I feel good about everything that has happened. I have had a few wrenches thrown in my direction, such as my support for the fire fighting efforts and the extension to my trip out of state due to a broken aircraft. This term I am fortunate enough not to have any finals, but with that has come a lot of projects. I know this term has left me with a lesson in time management if nothing else.

And Waiting for Peer Reviews

This week we got some basic wireframes prototyped and presented to our sponsor. It was nice to get a visual of some of our front end designs figured out and feedback received from our sponsor. Two of us presented him with a total of three design options, mine were focused on the visual design using wireframes of a few different potential screens. He responded with preferences for one over the other that included a home screen. Having that visual aspect gives a good frame of reference for how the team will proceed with the front end of the product.

Feedback? Feedback.

We have been working on a design document for our project for a few weeks now. I know that the first draft for my team was rough around the edges and needed a lot of work. I ended up spending quite a bit of time rewriting and reformatting the design document that our team turned in. The team then turned around and came up with some in depth questions for the team review. There was a little bit of confusion getting connected with the other team but I gave some feedback to the other team that I felt was well thought out. I have noticed some feedback starting to appear on our document now. Getting feedback on the design document helped the team come to a couple conclusions for our design.

What’s Next?

Working to implement a functional prototype of a section of our project in next on the agenda. My team and I still need to discuss what we are going to prototype and get it working. It will be a nice change of pace to work on some code and a little less writing for a week. I look forward to making more progress and staying on top of everything coming up!

Looks Like We’re Back

Back to quarantine that is. With the rise in Covid-19 cases our state has shut back down for at least a couple more weeks. It’s been a wild ride figuring out the work cycle while working and going to school from home. It presents new challenges to the average person. When initially going into quarantine back in March I did not feel that it would make much impact on my daily life. In fact I enjoyed that I could work on things from home without worry.

At this point in the quarantine – and with it coming back in force – I have learned a lot. As in introvert it is convenient to have more time alone; however there is a lot that makes it difficult. A big factor is work life balance. I have struggled with this before quarantine with school as sometimes projects and assignments can take 60-70 hours a week or more by themselves. Add an extreme workload to always being home can make a person feel guilty for trying to take some time to themselves.

I also find myself sitting at my computer most of my waking hours during the week. Watching lectures takes up about 10 hours a week, but working on writing and coding assignments rapidly increases that time. When all of my socializing is not mandated to occur online – there goes the rest of my day. I feel fortunate that I have platforms that work well for me to interact with my friends and play video games – as I started playing them earlier this year.

This resurgence of quarantine has required me to set some personal goals to accomplish outside of sitting at my desk and school. I have been working to stay on top of my activity – getting outside and moving most days. I also have started to pack my apartment in anticipation of moving this spring. That will be yet another thing to keep me busy while I am trying to stay on top of school work! This school year may turn into one of my busiest even without all the trips I had planned to take!

Catching Up

This week has been a rush of trying to catch up on everything from while I was gone. Unfortunately I am working again this weekend which gives me a tighter schedule for getting this week’s tasks done as well. I have finally gotten all the assignments due last week caught up on and have been scrambling to finish as much as possible before leaving for work this week. Luckily the structure of this class as well as the support of my group has allowed me to stay on top of everything for this class without an issue. As such I have spent a lot of time watching lecture videos for my Defense Against the Dark Arts class. It’s a very interesting but time intensive class.

Mockups and Prototypes

This week I started to look into potentially mocking up some samples for the project. This came up during our weekly meeting with our project sponsor and I got a recommendation of looking into Mockingbird as an option for quickly drafting. This is a tool that our project sponsor likes to use and will be easy to learn with the low learning curve for initial design mockups. I also plan to use Adobe XD later on in the drafting process to create some functional prototypes. Making mockups and prototypes are essential for ensuring the product we produce throughout the year is what the sponsor truly wants. I plan to get started with minimal mockups next week.

Time Management

Something I have really struggled with these past few weeks is time management – which I typically excel at. It has been an interesting run to see how I can deal with unexpected changes to my schedule (such as being gone for an extra few days for work). Typically this term I have been working on a couple assignments a day (some of them being worked on for a few days) to stay on top of numerous Sunday deadlines. Having less time has still required me to work with prioritizing what I can and cannot get done on time. I have never been a fan of letting things be turned in late or asking for extensions. These past few weeks has thrown a wrench in that. Asking for help (and extensions) is hard to do but important for success when a conflict arises. That is something I have to remind myself of sometimes and these past few weeks were a great reminder.

Another Week Away

Now that I am finally home I can talk a little bit about what I did while I was away! I was a part of a fly over for the Nascar race in Texas. Our group flew down to Fort Worth, Texas to support our aircraft in completing some training – flying with different types of aircraft – and doing the flyover. We ended up with some rainy weather that caused the pilots to be a little late on the flyover – so it was not broadcast on TV like planned. The rain also cancelled the race but it was a cool experience and gave our pilots some extra training. On the way back, one of our jets broke and landed in Utah – as maintainers we headed there to repair the jet.

Our original flights home were cancelled and off we went to Utah to diagnose and repair the jet. We ran into some challenges as the base did not normally support F-15’s – causing a scramble for parts. After some coordination with our base out in Portland we managed to get the jet up in the air by Thursday to fly home. We packed up and headed home ourselves on Friday.

Technology Research

While I was gone I started researching the technology for the aspects of the project I am responsible for. To start I was tasked with how to deploy Flutter onto both iOS and Android devices – including getting them onto the proper stores. Next I checked into some options for prototyping our application from wireframes to functional prototypes – and decided to settle on Adobe XD. Finally I assisted with some research into blockchain options. The most sensible option seemed to be Hyperledger Sawtooth as it is used for tracking food lifecycles already – making it easy to see how it can be used to track wine lifecycles!