Xingxin on Bug This week brought a lot of stress. I feel like I’m working on a thankless, arduous task.
Remark
Ultimately, this all stems from the fact that my PC doesn’t have a GPU!🤣
Because my code requires a GPU, I was tasked with creating a Docker environment to run it on a remote server. The goal was to finish within a week, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to. Reflecting on it, I can see there were clear areas for improvement.
What Went Wrong
The biggest mistake I made this week was overlooking the deadline reminder from JIRA. I was aware there was still a lot of work left, but I didn’t proactively communicate this to my professor.
This led to 2 main issues:
- We had underestimated the task’s complexity. A significant amount of effort was required just to refactor the existing codebase.
- We had a mismatched in expectation for the task. This created a frustrating situation where he was unsatisfied with the progress, and I was feeling burnt out.
The Action Plan
Ultimately, the issue could have been solved with proactive communication. It’s especially frustrating because communication is a skill I was confident in from my past career. How did I miss this?! It’s unacceptable.
My new plan is simple: regardless of whether a task is going well or not. I will initiate a quick catch-up with my professor twice a week. This is obliged.