At the end of my contract with AKQA an the opportunity came up to work on the Savings Calculator for the New Nissan Leaf Car. It was a very small project which required one developer (me). This was the first time I had taking on a project of this nature and I was keen to show off my skills.
At first the project was simple and straight forward. Build a form component that took in known data & calculate the results with Material UI. However when the designers requested to add animation to the user experience. I quickly found myself in deep water.
I spent all day and night for 2 days trying to get the animation to work & at the end I was causing the project scope to be delayed. I raised my concerns with the team informing them to look for talent that could complete the animation aspect of the project & told them I would complete the remaining components of the project.
I wanted to share this project because it highlights that sometimes as a developer you don't have the skills to complete the task. Rather than holding onto the project tightly causing further delay we need to raise the concern promptly. Yes I'm disappointed that I was not able to complete the project to expectations, however I'm am proud that I notified the team professionally.
This project also gives an insight into recruiting talent.
When developers are given a bland job description it doesn't help us or the client. Something as simple as animation can trip up a developer. We want to exceed expectations & it's very difficult to do this if we don't know up front what is required.
On this project I knew there would be a small amount of animation upfront. I thought I could handle the up skill faster than required and this is why I took on the project. On this project I however I was clearly wrong & called it out once I knew that.
Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to take on this project. Your constant strive to exceed client expectations and push the industry forward still inspires me to this day!