Lightning Talks Day 2

by Alina Leskova

Overview

In her talk titled "Fixed Blockers - Fast and Stressless," Alina Leskova, a Ruby developer from SoftSwiss, shares insights on effectively addressing critical blockers within a content management system. She provides a real-world example that underscores the importance of quick problem resolution in a high-stress environment, especially when faced with client issues.

Key Points

Understanding Blockers: Alina emphasizes that a blocker is different from a bug. A blocker can significantly impact the client’s operations, such as the inability to upload files in a content management system, which can lead to financial loss.
Client Communication: The talk begins with a situation where clients reported issues with the file upload functionality. Alina asks why this is critical and elaborates that without the ability to upload, clients cannot update content, which is essential for their businesses.
Investigation Process: Alina details her investigation into the issue, where she took screenshots of different applications of their system. While reviewing, she acknowledged that the issue seemed isolated to Chrome on Mac systems, raising suspicions about permissions rather than a systemic bug.
Team Collaboration: Alina describes her teamwork with testers, developers, and the product owner in identifying the solution. They discovered that the drag-and-drop upload feature still functioned, which was an essential lead in problem-solving.
Final Solution: By advising management to check the user permissions in Chrome, Alina and her team found that the issue stemmed from system settings. This collaborative approach led to resolving the problem in less than 15 minutes, showcasing the effectiveness of teamwork and communication.

Conclusions and Takeaways

Acceptance and Proactive Solutions: Alina stresses the importance of accepting blockers as stress-inducing challenges while remaining proactive in seeking solutions. She advocates for asking the right questions and working closely with management to communicate issues effectively to clients.
Collaboration is Key: The talk underscores that resolving blockers efficiently involves the whole team working together and leveraging diverse insights from members, which can lead to swift and effective solutions.
Invitation for Further Engagement: Alina concludes her talk by inviting the audience to connect with her for questions or further discussions, emphasizing a community-oriented approach in the tech field.

00:00:07.439 Hello, everybody! My name is Alina Lova, and I'm a Ruby developer from SoftSwiss.

00:00:10.719 Today, I have a topic to discuss: Fixed Blockers - Fast and Stressless.

00:00:13.719 This topic is a reference to today's speech about 'Being Like a Data Scientist', and I will provide you with a real example of how we can fix blockers quickly and without stress.

00:00:20.279 Imagine a situation where our clients come to us saying that they cannot upload files. You might ask, 'Why is this a blocker? Isn't that a normal situation?'

00:00:26.360 However, our component is a content management system. If users cannot upload their files, they cannot update the content. Therefore, the inability to upload files is a critical issue that needs to be resolved immediately, as our company is losing money.

00:00:34.760 Clients also reported that when they click the upload button, nothing happens at all, leading to increased stress among the management team. After watching their video, I discovered that the drag-and-drop option was still functional for file uploads, which could provide an alternative way to address the issue.

00:00:48.760 So, let's consider my investigation notes. I took screenshots from two different applications of our content management system, which are different from each other. There was something peculiar about the issue since I didn't want to dive into the codebase to fix it. I proposed that the problem might not be on our side. Our testers investigated whether the issue existed across all browsers and found that it only occurred in Chrome and specifically on Mac systems. This was odd, and we suspected it might not be a CAU issue after all. Our product owner also recommended that the clients try using the drag-and-drop feature, which worked. We seemed to have found a clue.

00:01:31.959 When using the Mac operating system and trying to access the file system through Chrome, it appeared that there was no option available. This led us to believe that the issue was related to permissions. So, I decided to make a straightforward request. I asked our management if they could check if users could choose files in Chrome. I received a response that validated our hypothesis.

00:02:00.400 I forwarded this information to our management, suggesting that they check their system preferences. Fortunately, this proved to be our final fix and was approved by our team.

00:02:12.200 I absolutely love my team; we worked closely together, including testers, developers, and even our product owner, to ensure the solution was effective. We resolved this issue in less than 15 minutes.

00:02:21.160 In conclusion, if you face a blocker, it's essential to understand that it's different from a bug. First, you need to accept the situation, as it can be quite stressful. Then, you should propose any potential solutions to your management, who can suggest these options to the clients. Asking all the necessary questions will help ensure that the issue is resolved effectively.

00:02:48.600 That's all from my side. If you'd like, let's stay connected, and if you have any questions or comments, I'm ready to discuss.