DEV Community

Discussion on: Hello, I'm a junior and I suck at organizing my work, how do you do?

Collapse
 
mnivoliez profile image
mnivoliez • Edited

Well, it's more close to the second point. To get your exemple, let say I have to create a let user navigate around a bunch of option, I fail to correctly express a "dev plan" and to identify step in that plan. More over I fail also to correctly assess risks inside that task, for exemple, the model need to change, the feature will enter in collision with an other feature etc...
Basically my boss told me that as a manager he is very frustrated that I do not achieve to say something like "for task X, I have achieve point a, b, c and I got d,e,f left to do which should take me Y hour".

So I try to structure my work-flow better to meet those expectation. But I feel a little bad equipped right now for that ^

Collapse
 
georgecoldham profile image
George

It sounds to me like you just need more experience with estimation of tasks. Dont be bullied in to rushing something.

I like to break everything into steps and estimate how long I think each step will take. Then I double it and give that to whoever it matters to.

As a developer, especially a Jr developer. It is not your responsibility to make sure there is no feature collision etc. You should have a clearly defined deliverable signed off by the manager. It should meet many criteria before it even reaches you.

  • Designs for every state
  • States for every interaction with the product
  • Huge lists of testable criteria
  • Any technical considerations (provided by more senior devs)
  • Any technical risks (any areas that are connected to the area being changed)

From that list, you should be able to break down your work into steps and under promise.

If your manager is not happy, then its his responsibility to find out why and make amends to the workflow or training. If they are demanding work be done within short timeframes, then they are likely not a great manager sadly. Setting hard limits for all work, is a great way to burn out employees.