INTRODUCTION
Jimoh Nafeesat is python programmer who transitioned into project management. Prior to her transitioning, she has worked as an Odoo developer, ERP solutions provider, operations manager, team manager and customer success manager. She is a problem solver who loves to brainstorm on real life problems and proffer viable solutions to them.
Her main reason for participating in the She Code Africa Contributhon 2022 program is to gain more experience on managing diverse projects. She believes building a skill as a project manager requires working with a diverse team on different types of projects.
She was assigned as a project manager to assist on the 3 Jenkins projects which includes Screenshot Update Project, Inclusive Naming Project and Pipeline Help Project.
Project Management is a newly introduced role in She Code Africa Open Source Contributhon 2022 and in Open Source Contribution in general which she is honoured to be one of the pioneers to set the foundation for project managers in open source community.
Summary of the boot camp
During the course of the boot camp, she started out with attending the onboarding call and getting familiar with fellow mentees that were asigned to the 3 jenkins projects, that is, Screenshot Update Project, Inclusive Naming Project and Pipeline Help Project.
During the first two weeks, she researched more on jenkins and how it works, she also studied each project to understand what it entails and what is expected to be delivered by each mentee assigned to them.
As there were no clearly defined tasks for the project manager, she took the initiative to seek for tasks that she could do to assist the project, the mentors and her fellow mentees. She shared weekly meeting reminders on the Jenkins communication channel. She kept track of other participants’ personal progress file. Acted as a reminder for her mentor @MarkEWaite on the things that might have skipped his mind due to his overwhelming work schedule. She also attended SCA Bi-weekly meetings which was used as an avenue to train mentees on common skills that is needed in Open Source Contribution.
Challenges faced
She started the program with so much drive and determination to participate fully and make positive impact on all of the jenkins projects. Unfortunately, for the first two weeks she was overwhelmed, trying hard to find where she fits in. Being the pace setter for the project management role, there were no clearly defined sets of tasks as there was for other mentees.
Experience Gained
Nafeesat has improved on her use of scheduling tool. It is a known knowledge to her that scheduling tools are great tools for any project manager, but watching her mentor @MarkEWaite handle meeting schedules reaffirms her knowledge that a scheduling tool is an everyday tool for a project manager. Being part of this program has also helped her improve her knowledge on the use of Git and how to create, review and comment on a pull request.
By watching her mentor @MarkEWaite properly document and keep notes on each project has helped her learn more on the use of google apps such as spreadsheet, Docs, Slides and Drive to effectively document and manage contributions and different versions of documents.
Other skills gained are soft skills like being inquisitive, and having empathy (@MarkEWaite is full of empathy for others).
Most of her activities are related to soft skills, hence there isn’t much physical reference, You can check her review on the jenkins blog post here(attach a link
Improvement Suggestions
The following are the things she believes should be included in the task of the project manager:
- Scheduling all meetings
- Hosting all meetings
- Be in charge of taking meeting notes during meetings
- Upload meeting recordings
Next Steps
Nafeesat’s sincere gratitude goes to She Code Africa and Jenkins Organization for this opportunity. This program has opened her eyes to how to be a contributor to open source projects as a project manager.
Going forward she looks forward to seeking more opportunities as a project manager.