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Difference between revisions of "IS480 Team wiki: 2015T2 Period Finals"

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===Zhizhong Reflection:===
 
===Zhizhong Reflection:===
*Always be ready for changes and bugs because no application is perfect. There will always be room for improvements
+
We challenged ourselves by taking up a project with many uncertainties. For example, we had to learn a new language that little people can help us with and a topic we have no idea about. I have to admit that we failed several expectations and could have done better in many instances. However, what I have learnt from this project, is the importance of attitude. Obstacles and failures are just part and puzzle of life, but what keeps the team going, is the right attitude. It is the attitude to be positive, to be willing to learn and to put in your best that defines your experience. In terms of skills, I have surely learnt more about handling a full-fledged project. Everything we have learnt, from IDP, SE, PMSB, AA, are all put into use. In addition, I have also learnt to use new softwares like POP, iTunes Connect, xCode and Testflight. I have learnt to work with a team with different dynamics.<br>
*Though documenting is tedious, it is essential to ensure that the team stays on track and that functionalities are aligned with the client’s requirements
+
 
*Be critical and constructive. That is the only way to improve
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In all, FYP was a challenge. It showed me the difficulty of creating something that looked so simple to me previously. Most importantly, it showed me that it is not about how hard you fall, but how fast you get back up.

Revision as of 15:16, 19 April 2015

Phome.png Home Poverview.png Project Overview Pmanagement.png Project Management Pdoc.png Documentation Pteam.png The Team
Mid Term Wiki

Powerpoint Slides

Please find our mid terms presentation slides here.

Project Progress Summary

Current Iteration: 10 (13/04/15 - 24/04/15)

  • Overall Project Progress: approx 90%
  • Currently performed 2 User Tests
  • In the midst of attaining approval from app store

Project Highlights:

User Test 2

Objectives

  • To compare the time users take carrying out the tasks, to the time of our experts
  • To identify tasks that take a significantly longer duration for users as compared to experts
  • To detect issues that users face in using our application
  • To learn more about the good and bad aspects of our application
  • To gather feedback regarding the usability of our application
  • To further improve our application based on the test results

Key Findings

Onboarding

Ut2onboarding.JPG

For the Onboarding process, we can see that many testers had issues with the scroller for the cycle length choice. They found that the scroller was hard to use and not sensitive.

Home

Ut2home.JPG

For the Home page, we can see that many testers found the home page rather messy and overloaded with information.

Calendar

Ut2cal.jpg

For the Calendar page, many users pressed the "Add Period" button and expected a period to be added. However, our application is designed such that users must select a date first.

Me

Ut2me.JPG

Overall, there are no issues with this page.

Changes from UT2

1. To automatically select a date for the user
Most testers click on the "Add Period" button first, expecting an event to happen to allow them to add a period. However, our application is designed such that users have to select a date first, before clicking on the button. Due to that, our team have automatically selected today's date for users to add a period. Thus, this will prevent users from tapping on the button first, without selecting a date.

Calbeforeandafter.JPG



2. Allow the adding of period in "Period Log" page
Most testers head to the "Period Log" expecting to add a period there. However, our previous design did not allow users to add a period on that page. We have decided to include the adding of period functionality for the "Period Log" page.

Logbeforeandafter.JPG



3. Reduce words on news feed to avoid clustering
Many testers find the news feed very clustered and some could not find the feed because of that. To solve the issue, we have decided to limit the header to just one-liner concise sentences. With that, the news feed will not appear so clustered anymore.

4. Reduce lag on application
Many testers find the loading of the application rather slow because of the news feed. With this, our team developers have reviewed our codes to make it more efficient and thus, reducing the lag for the application.

5. Include a spinner for loading of news feed
While waiting for the news feed to load, testers wanted a spinner to at least show that it is in process of loading. With that, our team will be implementing a spinner for the loading of our news feed on the Home page.

Homebeforeandafter.JPG



Difficulties Faced

  • Uploading our app the the Apple app store required our app to comply to many various rules. As a result, we failed on 3 attempts.
  • Duration of vetting by Apple takes approximately 1.5 weeks each time we uploaded our app to the app store.
  • <zach calendar>

Project Management

Project Scope

Final Scope.png

  • Due to the shortage of time, we were not able to implement the "good to have" portion of the scope
  • We have however, put in place some simple and basic google analytics for tracking purposes and as evidence of usage by users

Milestone schedule

MidTerms
Milestone Schedule v4.png
Finals
Milestone Schedule v6.png

Timelines

Planned
Planned Timeline.png

Actual
Actual Timeline.png

Project Schedule (Plan Vs Actual):

Iterations Planned Actual Comments
1 2 Sep 2014 - 3 Oct 2014 3 Sep 2014 - 9 Oct 2014 -
2 6 Oct 2014 - 5 Nov 2014 6 Oct 2014 - 5 Nov 2014 -
3 10 Nov 2014 - 5 Dec 2014 10 Nov 2014 - 5 Dec 2014 -
4 8 Dec 2014 - 9 Jan 2015 8 Dec 2014 - 11 Jan 2015 -
5 12 Jan 2015 - 23-Jan 2015 12 Jan 2015 - 13 Feb 2015 Delay due to complexity in building calendar module
6 26 Jan 2015 - 6 Feb 2015 26 Jan 2015 - 6 Feb 2015 Reduced scope for Profile development to focus on completing calendar
7 09 Feb 2015 - 20 Feb 2015 15 Jan 2015 - 22 Feb 2015 Used buffer time to catch up on functionality builds
8 23 Feb 2015 - 6 Mar 2015 23 Feb 2015 - 13 Mar 2015 -
9 9 Mar 2015 - 20 Mar 2015 13 Mar 2015 - 10 Apr 2015 Delay due to Calendar Module
10 Apr 2015 - Apr 2015 Apr 2015 - Apr 2015


Schedule Metrics

Schedule Metrics Iter9.png

Iteration 8:

  • Delay caused in finishing build of calendar in order to upload to app store
  • Delay due to rectifying changes from comments during Mid Terms, integration issues


  • Iteration 9:
  • Delays caused by issues that require rectification
  • Code clean-up to continue in iteration 10

Bug Metrics

Num Bugs Iter9.png Bug Score Iter9.png

  • No testing carried out in iteration 7 as there were no programming tasks
  • More critical bugs were found after integration resulting in app crashes

Project Risks

Top Risks.png

Technical Complexity

Swift
Swift.png
Swift is a new language for building iOS applications. We chose to build in Swift to keep up with new trends. However, learning and developing in Swift pose a challenge due to the limited resources available.



Keyboard Algorithm
During the development process, we realised that at some of the views, the keyboard will cover some of the text entries. This will be especially true for iPhone 4S because of the different aspect ratio (iPhone 4S uses 3:2 while iPhone 5 onwards use 16:9). In order to mitigate this problem, instead of just removing the development entirely for iPhone 4S, we developed an algorithm to allow the top of the keyboard to reach the bottom of the text field.

The process in developing the algorithm:

  • Find the height of the screen.
  • As the keyboard is defaulted, there is no way to change the animation of the keyboard, as such, the only way is to shift the background.
  • As such, the amount to shift depends on a key ratio.
  • To calculate the key ratio, we have to conduct the following mathematical study of the different screen sizes

KeyBoardAlgo.png
To calculate the amount to be deferred, the universal formula that we derived is Screen Height/The y-coordinate of the active text field. After translating the algorithm to codes:
Keyboard algo.png


Period Forecast Algorithm

  • To forecast when is the next period, using the most recent period data will be most appropriate.
  • We used a simple weighted moving average formula to forecast the next period
  • The formula uses the 3 most recent period data, the most recent one has a weight of 0.7, second most recent one has a weight of 0.2 and the 3rd most recent one has a weight of 0.1
  • Our algorithm also removes all the outliers within the data. In this case, the outliers are cycle lengths which are <25 and >40

Forecast algo.png

Cycle Stage Algorithm

  • To know which cycle stage the user is currently in, we need a algorithm to be able to calculate. The algorithm is explained using the table below, accompanied by 2 scenarios

Cycle stage algo.JPG

Auto Layout feature

  • Designing for different screen sizes poses a great challenge to all mobile developers. In iOS, we are required to use the 'Auto Layout' feature which uses 'Constraints' to position the various elements to fit different screen sizes.
  • Unlike a web platform, we are unable to specify the height for a particular element to be for example 50% of the screen. Therefore, we need to create our own grid system, which is customized for different views of the application
  • To create a proper grid in a view, we have to use constraints to set it in the way we want it to be. After which we can then put in our elements.
  • The picture below shows a rough guide on how to define the grid, putting in the elements after that, as well as the constraints that we need to create in order to create the view.

Autolayout.png

Reflection

Team Reflection:

As Swift is a very new language, the team had a tough time trying to find the proper resources to learn from and to find out the 'right' practices. In order to fully understand the code and framework, the team took an entire winter break to learn more about Swift. Two of the more reliable sources that the team was studying from is provided by Stanford University and Apple's Developer Guide.

Gabriel Reflection:

  • Learned the importance of understanding technical tasks and planning according to its complexity
  • Have a better gauge of how long to plan for various activities for a more accurate schedule
  • Had a first hand experience of the effectiveness of managing stakeholder and changes through formal means

Teng Yu Reflection:

  • It is extremely important to plan, even though nothing goes according to plans.
  • As a team, when problems kick in, we need to ensure that the mitigation plans kick in and someone will be there to cover for the other member. There is no such thing as “this is not my job”.
  • Code as though the users know how to code.

Terence Reflection:

  • In a project with a huge scope such as IS480, it is equally important to pay attention to the larger picture such as project management on top of the smaller tasks
  • Designing an iOS app possess a different challenge compared to a web application. In particular, designing for different screen sizes and managing the huge amount of interactions between the user and the application

Zachery Reflection:

  • Coding in both Swift and Objective C and bridging both languages together
  • Understand and learn more about the Cocoa Touch Framework

Zhizhong Reflection:

We challenged ourselves by taking up a project with many uncertainties. For example, we had to learn a new language that little people can help us with and a topic we have no idea about. I have to admit that we failed several expectations and could have done better in many instances. However, what I have learnt from this project, is the importance of attitude. Obstacles and failures are just part and puzzle of life, but what keeps the team going, is the right attitude. It is the attitude to be positive, to be willing to learn and to put in your best that defines your experience. In terms of skills, I have surely learnt more about handling a full-fledged project. Everything we have learnt, from IDP, SE, PMSB, AA, are all put into use. In addition, I have also learnt to use new softwares like POP, iTunes Connect, xCode and Testflight. I have learnt to work with a team with different dynamics.

In all, FYP was a challenge. It showed me the difficulty of creating something that looked so simple to me previously. Most importantly, it showed me that it is not about how hard you fall, but how fast you get back up.