After the formation of Team Sahayatri, which means companionship, we were assigned to develop a Patient Navigator and Privacy System for our community partner, Sundar Dhoka Sathi Sewa. As a newly formed team, we initially faced challenges in understanding each other’s skill levels and working styles. However, this experience underscored the importance of clear and open communication.
Following our meeting with our community partner, we collected requirements and worked to understand and empathize with the core problem from their perspective. Using the collected data points, we developed the ER diagram. Through several discussions and iterations, we successfully created the ER diagram for our project, marking a significant achievement.
Once the ER diagram was finalized, we shifted our focus to creating a low-fidelity design in Figma. During this phase, we encountered differing opinions on the design and faced challenges due to varying skill levels in design. Additionally, the absence of some team members during the design phase required extra time for everyone to get on the same page. This experience taught us the importance of continuous and effective communication and the need to align our ideas before starting the actual work.
On September 12, we had our first playback session where we introduced our team, project, and community partners to other teams. During the preparation phase, we collaboratively created the presentation and divided the parts for different team members to present. This time, with proper communication, we excelled in both the discussion and presentation. We also supported each other in improving our communication and presentation skills. This experience not only enhanced our individual abilities but also brought our team closer together, boosting our confidence as we shared our work and ideas with others.
For the next sprint, the team has decided to polish and finalize the UI design that can be properly visualized by the stakeholders. We are also committed to focusing on User stories and empathy maps so as to ensure that our implementation captures all the major pain points and the motivation factors of our community partners and their beneficiaries. Similarly, documenting and communicating any scope changes as well as keeping our community partner in the development loop and progress tracking of the project is also our priority.
From our initial experience, we can say that working in a team is an emotional rollercoaster ride. However, our common goal and the support of our mentors have helped us face challenges, making us stronger and better problem solvers.