I’ve just finished my fifth week at Brightpearl. It’s been pretty full on, as is usually the case starting a new job.

Looking back at my previous post, I am far away from a week note cadence. But I did manage to speak to lots of other people, and deliver value like I wanted. Well I think I have… I’ve received positive feedback so will take that as I’ve done something right.

Highlights

It’s hard to remember every positive thing that has happened but a few themes stick out.

Team stuff

I’ve helped the team with test approaches for stories in recent sprints. I have some experience with the task and have been able to provide useful information to help the move forward. I’ve even done some testing!

I had a smooth time as acting scrum master for a week to cover leave. It’s been a while since I’ve done that, and the induction included some great refreshers for me.

SDET Guild (Community of practice)

The guild is settling into a solid way of working. We’ve got regular time together and with our main sponsor. That’s leading to useful conversations and actions. I’ve facilitated our meetings, and some with other groups. Getting into a good habit of note-taking, capturing actions and decisions. This has been really useful during the summer leave period where people can get an idea of what they’ve missed while on leave.

Code review, approaches, standards and documentation are all maturing as we do and learn more.

Upcoming Goals

I had encouraging conversations about goals with my line manager. I have my own goals and shared team goals, which is an approach I’ve not seen before. I think it’s great to have support in doing things, and my own goals align nicely with what the team needs, and areas I want to develop. It sets out a nice roadmap for me, and has already proven useful when I need to take a breath and ground myself. There’s always so much to do, and I can prioritise on things that support my goals, and deliver value.

Accessibility conversations

Unsurprisingly I’ve opened my mouth and started asking around. Thankfully I’ve been directed towards helpful people in the organisation, and some interested groups. I’m going to deliver an intro / overview session to interested parties soon to push that conversation forward.

Great people

I’ve been meeting more people. Either in the course of doing work, or in randomly paired coffee chats via donut. Everyone has been great, and I can’t see that changing. It’s been fun getting to know more about people. I’ve had some great chats with people in Austin, and I can’t fault the initiative. I now know that a campervan is the most convenient way to enjoy Yellowstone national park. And, that you want to fly from Austin to California, the drive is insanely long.

Next steps

In between some leave, I’m planning to learn more about Gatling and RestAssured. They will align with upcoming team and personal tasks. I also need to keep chipping away at general induction, but I think I’ve a good balance at the moment.

Week summary

Quick notes for my own sake

Week 2: WC 12/07/21

Induction stuff, dev cluster setup, guild meetings and facilitation, team ceremonies, lastpass doc, OWASP basics.

Week 3: WC 19/07/21

Scrum master cover, lots of kube learning, LM conversations & feedback, more induction tasks.

Week 4: WC 26/07/21

Guild work: on standards, my own actions, and updating docs. Setup to test stories.

Week 5: WC 02/08/21

Testing and pairing. Accessibility conversations. SDET docs and ideas about approaches.