Benjy StantonGitHub, Jira and stars
- Author Benjy Stanton
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Getting stuck into GitHub and Jira is not the most creative way to work, but it's a good way to get things done.
GitHub
I merged my first pull request into our core prototype this week. It was the fiddly little change that I mentioned last time. But the interesting bit was learning about the journeys within the prototype and how the data and routing files work to create realistic scenarios. I'm feeling more confident that I can take on bigger changes now.
I also did some code reviews on content updates to our user-facing guidance sites. I'm enjoying the work! The UCD (user-centred design) team feel close to production. And a trusted, integral part of delivering improvements to users.
Not sure why I get a kick of working in GitHub. I guess it's a combination of working in the open, and getting to follow what feels like a pretty mature iteration procedure (for a UCD team).
Jira
Spending time writing Jira tickets might not feel like a particularly creative design task, but it's often the best way to make improvements to a service, and almost always worth the time spent.
I captured a couple of bugs and put them in the backlog. One was picked up by a dev and built without me asking. It was only a little design-debt type ticket. It was definitely worth doing, but I think if I'd "asked for permission" for this to be added to the sprint, it might have been disregarded as low priority.
If the ticket is well described and ready to go, then it's very easy for someone to pick it up, especially if they have a little downtime between bigger tasks.
I also wrote up my accessibility review from last week and captured a few tickets in the backlog. Because I'd labelled them up well, they were found by our assurance tester who is going to put them in his report.
Eclipses, meteor showers and sunsets
We walked up a hill near our house to watch the eclipse on Wednesday evening. We luckily had some glasses, my brother-in-law Matt ordered a few pairs before they all sold out.
Later on, we stayed up late with the kids to watch the meteor shower from the back garden. I think that was more impressive than the eclipse to be honest, there were 1 or 2 really impressive shooting stars at about 1am. I'd like to head somewhere darker next year.
Didn't manage to take any good photos in the dark, so here's a sunset shot from a dry looking Rhossili from Friday evening.
