This is the first in a series of blog posts covering Holoseat’s development. Look for one at the start of each sprint covering where we have been and where we are going.
The Big Picture
Sprint 1 of 2017 is off and running. Each sprint builds upon the work of the last to move Holoseat closer to our annual goals. For 2017, the goals are to finalize the v0.4 hardware and to set up Holoseat’s beta testing (see the last blog post for more details about the 2017 goals). Our previous sprint was Sprint 6 of 2016. Leading up to Sprint 6 we had some scheduling setbacks. We decided to work on a more focused set of objectives for Sprint 6, with the goal of completing all unfinished documentation for v0.3 in order to have a strong foundation for the development of v0.4. Our yard stick for completing our documentation was submitting v0.3 for certification as Open Source Hardware (OSHW).
How We Did Last Sprint
So, how did we do? I am happy to report we completed all Product Backlog Items (PBIs) for Sprint 6. In even better news, the Sprint 6 work also resulted in v0.3 receiving its certification as OSHW. Not only does the work publicly demonstrate our commitment to open source hardware, it also taught us invaluable lessons about the state of the project. We learned what features are ready to go (e.g our cadence calculation algorithm). We also identified the features which need some tweaking (like the logic voltage bug with our sensors). Finally, we discovered which features need significant development for v0.4 (the most critical of which is the controller hardware).
Fix for Logic Voltage Bug – SparkFun Logic Level Converter (CHIP Pro for Scale)
And what lessons did we learn during Sprint 6? One of the major lessons was that we got a little lucky. Life finally settled down for both of us after the insanity that was Sprint 5, which was a significant part of why we were able to complete all of our PBIs. But, we also recognize we planned well and that going forward, solid planning would be key to successful sprints. That is why we took our time in developing the road map for 2017 and preparing the Sprint 1 plan.
What We Are Doing This Sprint
Speaking of 2017’s first sprint, let’s take a look at what is on the plan. Sprint 1 started on Feb 22 and runs through April 19. The sprint covers administrative items necessary to keep Model B running, development items to address the highest priority questions about v0.4, and planning items for the beta testing crowd source campaign. That sounds like a lot, but we measured twice before committing to the sprint plan and we feel confident this list is just the right size. You can see the full list of PBIs on our Sprint 1 plan (click the Sprint 1 tab) and our complete backlog (click the Backlog tab) in our 2017 planning document.
As always, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to keep up on all things Holoseat. And you can follow the week to week details of this, and future sprints, on the Holoseat project News page (Atom feed).
