During the past few months, I have been grateful to learn various aspects of software engineering through its inner works. Initially, web development, applications, and programming languages come to mind when I hear or think of software engineering. Not incorrect, such things make up the concept of software engineering its entirety, but bits and pieces of it such as agile project management, coding standards, and design patterns, all contribute to it as well. As someone who enjoys applying things I have learned to the many aspects of my life, there are definitely things I have learned from my journey to becoming a Software Engineer that I have applied to my day-to-day life in general.
Agile Project Management, especially in the style of Issue Driven Project Management, has been something I have slowly began applying into my day-to-day life where I am not in the role of a Software Engineer. Obviously, as a Software Engineer, I have been accustomed to performing tasks that encompass the concept of Agile Project Management. But, how about when I am simply on a day off? Or maybe just doing general life activities such as getting chores done? As Agile Project Management is an approach to managing software development projects that focus on continuous releases and interations, Issue Driven Project Management follows the same concept in the form of having identified issues which are then resolved. Now how is this incorporated into my daily life?
Due to being a full-time student with part-time work and band commitments at the university, I tend to feel burnt out and stressed quite often. However, once I have learned about Agile Project Management and Issue Driven Project Management, I thought to myself, “hey, why not try this out outside of work and school?” Thanks to this, I have developed the habit of creating a To-Do list every night before going to bed for the following day. Similar to identifying issues that need to be resolved in Issue Driven Project Management, I take time to identify things that need to be done, aka “issues”, which I later mark as done on the list or in terms of Issue Driven Project Management, mark as “resolved” or close the issue. Since doing so, I have allowed myself to feel relief and organized. As the workload remains the same and sometimes increases, I find that incorporating such management within my day-to-day life has increased my productivity.
Along with project management, I have also decided to apply the concepts of coding standards and design patterns into daily living. In the world of software engineering, coding standards provide developers with a sense of uniformity and organization by setting various standards to follow during their development process. In what I believe goes hand-in-hand with this are design patterns. Design patterns, just as it sounds, are various patterns that provide developers with a guideline or path for implementing different aspects of their projects. Now, how is this incorporated in my general way of living? As coding standards in the world of development set standards for developers to use, I have followed this concept and provided myself with some standards to hold myself to. For the past month, this has included going to the gym at least four times a week, drinking at least 80 ounces of water everyday, and giving myself one day during the week to take a full day dedicated to rest and leisure whenever possible. These new standards in my life are then implemented by the help of some “design patterns” such as beginning every day with at least 16 ounces of water beofre breakfast, leaving for the gyhm at 8:30pm, and starting new hobbies and interests such as crocheting and the stock market.
As a Software Engineer, Agile Project Management, coding standards, and design patterns are all a part of my daily routine for work and school. But when I’m not working or studying? Well, I’ve decided to apply aspects of my software engineering life into general living and because of it, I have believe that I have started living a better life as a better version of myself. The more I learn, I believe the more I will grow as an individual in various aspects of my life.