How to grow step by step at work?

foreword

As a front-end developer, we always hope that we can grow rapidly. From needing someone to lead, to growing to be able to independently develop projects, then to lead others to develop projects, and then go further...

writing purpose

This article summarizes based on personal experience. I hope that through this article, you can bring some reference and thinking, so that you can better complete the project development and grow in the process.

Stage 1: Follow others to develop the project

Most people come out of the campus, and when the company first participates in the project, they need someone to take them with them. In addition to being familiar with the company's environment, they are more familiar with the project, starting with small tasks and growing step by step. Independent project development. So, at this stage, what should we do to grow better?

• Understand the process specification of project development. Each company has its own development process specification. Following the same process specification can avoid some unnecessary mistakes and improve the development efficiency of the entire project team.
• Supplement your basic knowledge and expand the knowledge points encountered in the project.
• Learn more about why you do this, see how other people deal with problems when they encounter problems, and absorb some of the better ways to deal with problems.
• After completing the project, give others a review to see if there are any shortcomings or better solutions, and gradually accumulate experience.

Stage 2: Independently develop the project

At this stage, we need to have the ability to independently develop projects. If it is the first time to independently undertake the development of the project, then don't be afraid. When your leader or senior brothers and sisters assign you this task, it means that in their eyes, you already have this ability.

How to do it?

The whole project development cycle can be divided into 3 stages and 1 summary: the beginning stage , the execution stage , the closing stage and the review summary .

Initial stage

• Fully understand the needs and understand what the product is trying to do. For supplementary requirements, there may be a situation where the product logic function is missing, and it is proposed as soon as possible to avoid finding that the product logic is not perfect until the end.
• Technical research/selection: Can this function be realized, what technical solutions are there, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each technical solution?
• Clarify the interaction mode and scope of responsibilities between the front end and each end (server, client).
• Fine-grained task splitting, it is best to split it into one task for one day (this will make it clearer about the workload of the project and easier to control the progress). Do not count overtime in the schedule, but count it as normal working hours.
• Identify deliverables, delivery criteria, and deadlines (know when and what to deliver so that delivery is complete and on-time). It is best to organize a delivery inspection list, and a delivery inspection process document.

execution phase

• Strictly follow the project development process to develop.
• The day's work will be completed on the same day, and the daily tasks should be guaranteed to be completed.
• Communicate in time and expose risks as soon as possible (so that everyone can help solve the risks together and ensure progress)
• To strengthen the ability to solve problems, especially the ability to debug, it is necessary to precipitate a set of methodologies for solving problems by yourself. For example, don’t be preconceived and always feel that there is no problem with the code you wrote. You must confirm it step by step to ensure that the code logic of each step is correct before positioning.
• Uncertain issues must be communicated in a timely manner.
• In the process of doing the project, you can think more about the shortcomings of the current project development process, or what can be improved, and then go to the project leader with the solution.
• Add code comments or development documentation. Such as how to develop, debug, test and launch. It is convenient for subsequent development and maintenance.
• Think deeply about the original requirements of the project. After the development of the current project is completed, can the problems to be solved by this requirement can be solved, and whether there is anything that needs to be supplemented.

closeout

• Self-test (guarantee the quality of the test): Check whether the items to be delivered are complete and meet the delivery standards according to the checklist before delivery.

Review summary

• Think about where you got stuck when developing the project before, and how to improve your development efficiency (for example, if you have the same project next time, how to shorten the development time of the project).
• Whether there is anything to be improved in the process to improve the efficiency of the team and improve the quality of the overall development.
• Think more about problems from the perspective of others, and see how to cooperate more smoothly and efficiently. If conditions permit, you can help others solve problems and increase your influence.
• Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of the current project, extract the experience and reuse it in the next project, it is better to complete the article or share it with you.

Core point: On the premise of ensuring the completion of project development, improve one's own ability and influence.

Phase 3: Take others to develop the project

In the case of being able to independently complete the project development, the next step is to act as the interface person for the business and lead everyone to the development of the business.

The ability that business interface person should have

• Familiarize yourself with the business you support and know what the goals of the business are.
• Having a clear goal plan lets the rest of the team know what they need to do.
• Technology selection, program customization, customized development process and specifications.
• Have the ability to tackle tough problems and be able to solve the key and difficult problems encountered in the project. Develop appropriate tools for your own projects and problems to improve team work efficiency.
• Resource coordination and good communication skills (cross-departmental collaboration requires resource communication and coordination).
• Handle risks and control progress (solve problems encountered during development).
• Outcome inspection (guarantee delivery quality).

How to do it?

The entire project development cycle can also be divided into 3 stages and 1 summary: the beginning stage , the execution stage , the closing stage and the review summary .

Initial stage

• Fully understand the business, discuss the rationality of the requirements with the product manager from the business point of view, and express your own views and opinions.
• According to the needs, analyze the key points or difficulties of the project, and customize the solution. If necessary, make a small demo and do a technical preview.
• Determine the structure of the project, and divide the modules and tasks.
• Sort out the external resources that need to be relied on in project development, and communicate and coordinate in advance.
• Custom development process and specifications.

execution phase

• Synchronize the development progress and problem points before get off work every day, assist in solving key and difficult problems, and try to solve the problems of the day as much as possible. If it is an urgent project, after the progress in the team is completed synchronously, it will be sorted and summarized to the project leader or leader.
• Pull through the cognition and keep everyone's understanding of the project and needs consistent at all times.
• Maintaining a good communication atmosphere can improve development efficiency or find problems in time.
• Risk management: risk acceptance (knowing the risk and accepting it), risk avoidance (avoiding the risk by other means), risk control (using strategies to mitigate the impact of this risk).
• Conflict resolution: Human conflict, priority conflict, technical insight conflict, etc. If you can solve it yourself, you can solve it. If you can't solve it, you can let a third party intervene to solve it (such as other colleagues or leaders).
• Important technical solutions and key issues are recorded in a unified form for everyone to see.
• Assisting in solving problems is mainly based on guidance, helping other members to improve their problem-solving skills.

closeout

Integrate the project and do a self-test/rehearsal to confirm that there are no issues before delivering.

Review summary

After the project is delivered, make a summary by yourself, and then take everyone to review it together. Don't be too formal, everyone has a chance to speak up and say what they want (best to give everyone time to think, write on paper, and speak one by one). Finally, summarize, extract the experience, and form a document for filing together.

Reflections on Self-Summary:

• Did the project achieve the expected results? If not, what is the reason.
• What is the tacit understanding of team development efficiency and cooperation? Can it be improved further?
• Is the development process complete? Is there anything that needs to be added or improved?
• What are the benefits of team members? What is rewarding and growing for them?
• How to expand the influence of the team while serving the business well?

Core points: overall planning, business understanding, project management, team growth

concluding remarks

Being proactive is the best way to grow, and no matter what age we are in, it's not too late to keep growing and progressing. In addition, communication and expression are very important in the workplace. Don't be bound by the label of "programmer", communicate and express boldly, there will be unexpected gains.