Sprint 5‐6 Updates - RutgersGRID/VIDAHub GitHub Wiki

VIDA Project - Sprints 5-6 Update

Sprints 5-6: June 2-27, 2025
Phase: Phase 1 - Infrastructure & Process Development
Sprint Focus: Infrastructure Completion & Stakeholder Engagement

📋 Executive Summary

Major Development Note

Infrastructure development was paused during Sprint 5 due to Rick Anderson (Technical Lead) being out for workshops. Rick has returned for Sprint 6, with his primary focus on testing the automation pipeline from GitHub to AWS. This strategic pause during Sprint 5 allowed the team to focus on stakeholder engagement, project planning, and positioning for accelerated development.

Key Strategic Shifts

During this period, the project management team prioritized:

  • Stakeholder engagement and onboarding with instructional designers and UOES leadership
  • Agent prioritization and requirements gathering through collaborative sessions
  • Documentation and process refinement to support future development acceleration
  • Team knowledge transfer and developer onboarding preparation

Current Project Status

While technical development was temporarily paused, significant progress was made in:

  • Project definition and stakeholder alignment
  • Agent prioritization based on user needs
  • Infrastructure planning and preparation for resumed development
  • Team collaboration and knowledge sharing processes

📊 Sprint Overview

Sprint 5 (June 2-13) Statistics

  • Infrastructure Work: Paused (Rick out for workshops)
  • Stakeholder Engagement: High Priority Focus
  • Agent Planning: Voice Assistant research initiated
  • Status: Sprint goals adjusted to focus on non-infrastructure work

Sprint 6 (June 16-27) Statistics

  • Rick's Return: Back and focused on testing automation pipeline from GitHub to AWS
  • Total Items: 17 active items
  • Current Sprint Status: 15 items
  • In Review: 1 item
  • Backlog: 2 items
  • Primary Focus: Infrastructure testing, stakeholder engagement, documentation

Status Distribution

  • ⚙️ Current Sprint: 15 items
  • 🔍 Review: 1 item
  • 📦 Backlog: 2 items
  • 📅 Phase 1: 13 items
  • 📅 Phase 2: 2 items

🎯 Sprint Goals & Adjusted Priorities

Original Sprint 5-6 Goals:

  1. Complete Phase 1 Infrastructure ⏸️ Paused
  2. Begin Phase 2 Dashboard Development ⏸️ Deferred
  3. Finalize CI/CD Pipeline ⏸️ Paused
  4. User Testing Preparation 🔄 In Progress

Adjusted Focus Areas:

  1. Infrastructure Testing (Sprint 6) ✅ Active - Rick's primary focus on GitHub to AWS automation pipeline
  2. Stakeholder Engagement ✅ Active
  3. Agent Requirements Gathering ✅ Active
  4. Documentation and Process Improvement ✅ Active
  5. Team Development and Onboarding ✅ Active

🔄 Currently Active (Sprint 6)

High Priority Stakeholder Engagement

  1. Meet IDs - App/feature prioritization with IDs

    • Owner: Maka Gradin
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Purpose: Engage instructional designers to learn wants/needs for feature prioritization

  2. HUHY brainstorm with IDs and AM

    • Owner: Maka Gradin
    • Status: 📦 Backlog (Sprint 6 timeline)
    • Purpose: Understand UOES needs and design the HUHY application

Documentation & Knowledge Management

  1. Wiki Review and Update

    • Owner: Kenny Chen
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Focus: Identify wiki pages needing updates for prioritization

  2. Update "Coach" documentation

    • Owner: Rick Anderson
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Purpose: Ensure assistants follow official project rules and processes

  3. Streamlit Secrets - Create 'Secrets management document/guidelines'

    • Owner: Maka Gradin
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Purpose: Establish security best practices documentation

Application Development

  1. Update Objectives Alignment (previously Learning Objectives) App

    • Owner: Maka Gradin
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Story Points: 40 (largest effort item)
    • Purpose: Meet the needs of instructional designers

  2. ALLY Agent Research

    • Owner: Maka Gradin
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Purpose: Understand ALLY system to design the agent

Infrastructure Testing & Deployment (Rick's Sprint 6 Focus)

  1. Testing Deployment from GitHub to AWS 🔥 PRIMARY FOCUS

    • Owner: Rick Anderson
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Priority: CRITICAL - Testing automation pipeline functionality
    • Purpose: Validate end-to-end deployment workflow from GitHub to AWS

  2. Epic 3: CI/CD Integration

    • Owner: Rick Anderson
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Story Points: 20
    • Scope: App registration system, GitHub Actions workflows, cost analysis

  3. Epic 4: Testing and Deployment

    • Owner: Rick Anderson
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Scope: Container testing, AWS deployment, documentation, monitoring

  4. Epic 5: Cost Optimization

    • Owner: Rick Anderson
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Scope: Cost optimization measures, CloudFront caching, cost allocation tagging

Technical Infrastructure

  1. DNS: Integrate DNS name system into emtech cloud

    • Owner: Rick Anderson
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Priority: High for professional system access

  2. Automate SSL certificates for EmTech Cloud

    • Owner: Rick Anderson
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Priority: High for secure app access

Team Development

  1. Eric Development Onboard Session

    • Owner: Eric Yang
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Purpose: Familiarize with dev environment and identify gaps

  2. Sprint Rituals [Running Log]

    • Owner: Kenny Chen
    • Status: ⚙️ Current Sprint
    • Purpose: Plan, check-in, and review sprint goals

🔍 In Review

Project Management

  1. PM/Developer Learning the Development Flow
    • Owner: Kenny Chen
    • Status: 🔎 Review
    • Story Points: 20
    • Purpose: Explore developer start guide needs and PM knowledge transfer

📦 Backlog Items

Future Development

  1. Voice Assistant feature for VIDA apps

    • Owner: Rick Anderson
    • Timeline: Sprint 5 (6/2-6/13)
    • Story Points: 8
    • Status: 📦 Backlog

  2. Mirror Github issues in monday

    • Owner: Kenny Chen
    • Purpose: Better issue tracking integration

🚧 Current Challenges & Adjustments

Resource Allocation

  • Technical Lead Return: Rick Anderson returned in Sprint 6, immediately focusing on testing the automation pipeline from GitHub to AWS
  • Sprint 5 Adjustment: Infrastructure development paused while Rick was out for workshops
  • Sprint 6 Focus: Infrastructure testing and deployment validation as top priority
  • Resource Reallocation: Team focused on stakeholder engagement and planning during Sprint 5 infrastructure pause

Strategic Benefits of the Pause

  1. Stakeholder Alignment: Dedicated time for engaging instructional designers
  2. Requirements Refinement: Better understanding of user needs before major development
  3. Documentation Improvement: Time to enhance project documentation and processes
  4. Team Knowledge Building: Opportunity for skill development and knowledge transfer

🎯 Agent Prioritization Results

Based on stakeholder engagement sessions, the following agent priority order has been established:

Tier 1 Priority

  1. ALLY Assistant - Accessibility-focused tool (highest user need)
  2. Learning Objectives Assistant - Already in development, high faculty value

Tier 2 Priority

  1. Voice Assistant - Enhancing accessibility across tools
  2. HUHY (Help Us Help You) - Supporting specialized instructional design needs

📅 Looking Ahead: Sprint 7+ Planning

Infrastructure Resumption

  • Rick's Return: Infrastructure development resumed in Sprint 6 with focus on automation pipeline testing
  • Current Priority: Testing GitHub to AWS deployment automation as primary objective
  • Accelerated Development: Leveraging planning work done during Sprint 5 pause
  • Clear Priorities: Stakeholder input guiding development focus alongside infrastructure completion

Phase 1 Completion Targets

  • DNS and SSL automation completion
  • CI/CD pipeline finalization
  • Testing and deployment framework establishment
  • Documentation completion

Phase 2 Preparation

  • Dashboard requirements refined through stakeholder feedback
  • User authentication system design
  • Agent development roadmap established

💡 Lessons Learned

Strategic Insights

  • Stakeholder engagement timing: Early engagement provides valuable requirements clarification
  • Flexible sprint planning: Ability to adjust priorities based on resource availability
  • Documentation value: Time invested in documentation pays dividends in development efficiency

Process Improvements

  • Workshop scheduling: Better coordination needed between development and training commitments
  • Stakeholder integration: Regular ID engagement should be built into sprint planning
  • Knowledge management: Improved documentation processes enhance team collaboration

🎉 Achievements During Pause Period

Stakeholder Engagement

  • 🏆 Successfully initiated instructional designer collaboration
  • 🏆 Established agent prioritization based on user needs
  • 🏆 Created framework for ongoing stakeholder involvement

Process Improvements

  • 🏆 Enhanced project documentation and knowledge management
  • 🏆 Improved team collaboration workflows
  • 🏆 Established better project tracking integration

Strategic Planning

  • 🏆 Refined Phase 2 requirements through stakeholder input
  • 🏆 Clarified agent development roadmap
  • 🏆 Strengthened project vision and stakeholder alignment

🔗 Quick Links

For questions about this sprint update, please contact the Project Management team or post in the #uoes-vida Slack channel.

Last updated: June 27, 2025