DormU: Final Project Effort Estimations
12 May 2025
Contributions and Roles
Throughout the DormU project, from Milestone 1 to Milestone 3, I contributed to both the design and development of the application. In the early stages, I focused on creating mockups and sketches to help shape the overall layout and flow of the site. As the project progressed, I worked on building key pages such as the Profile, Calendar, and Messaging pages. By Milestone 3, I focused on more complex features like implementing the Mealshare page and updating the homepage. I was also primarily responsible for the visual design of the site, handling CSS and UI adjustments to make sure the application looked polished and was easy to navigate.
Estimation and Tracking Practices
To estimate and track my effort, I used Google Stopwatch for coding tasks and my phone stopwatch for non-coding tasks. This system helped me reflect on how close my estimates were to the actual time spent. For example, I originally estimated 120 minutes for the Mealshare page, but it took 180 minutes due to difficulties with writing the database schema. I had to figure out how to structure the data for tracking meal counts and connect it properly with the form and server-side logic. It required more time than expected and taught me to be flexible with my estimates.
Effort Distribution and Project Impact
Most of my time was dedicated to coding and front-end styling, while a smaller portion was spent on design planning and user reviews. I worked extensively on the visual and layout aspects of the site, focusing on consistent styling using CSS and Bootstrap. I made sure the pages were responsive and had a clean look, especially the Profile, Calendar, and Mealshare features. During deployment, we faced problems with Vercel not connecting to the correct database. We also ran into issues with migrations failing, which were caused by unexpected errors related to database access. Because of this, we were unable to add data to our database or implement the messaging schema as planned. These setbacks limited some of our intended features, but we discussed ways to resolve them if the project were to continue.
Reflection and Takeaways
Working on DormU helped me better understand the importance of accurate time estimation and how to adapt when unexpected problems come up. I learned that backend development, especially tasks like writing schemas and debugging deployment errors, can take more time than expected. Although we could not finish the messaging functionality or properly populate the database due to access issues, we have a clear idea of how to approach and implement these features in the future. I also improved my design skills by focusing on the user interface and styling of the application. Overall, this project gave me a chance to grow as both a designer and developer, and I am proud of the progress I made and the final product our team created.