Day 44: After-Hours Bombshell

🗓️ Date: 4 Dec 2025

📌 Title: After-Hours Bombshell

Task Description

Day 44 came with an unexpected shock when I received a last-minute email from the UK Business User, proposing a meeting from 8–9 PM, which is well beyond working hours for the Malaysia team. The meeting was arranged without prior discussion, and my SV was not included in the email loop. I immediately informed him, and he stepped in to question the arrangement with the UK side, raising concerns around time zone consideration and professionalism.

Despite the disruption, work continued on ongoing projects. I continued brainstorming Cash ISA Transfer-In problems, diving deeper into edge cases and user journey gaps together with IT and my SV. We discussed further refinements to the flow, validating assumptions and identifying areas that still required clarification from the Business User.

In parallel, I also worked on additional amendments for the iFAST Pay Back Office project, making incremental updates based on earlier discussions while waiting for further confirmations.

Challenges & Solutions

The biggest challenge was balancing unexpected after-hours demands with ongoing project work. Escalating the meeting issue early helped protect team boundaries, while continuing collaboration with IT and my SV ensured momentum wasn’t lost on active projects. Breaking work into manageable pieces helped me stay productive despite the mental distraction.

Key Learnings & Skills Gained

I reinforced the importance of setting boundaries in cross-region collaboration, as well as the value of continuous iteration—even when requirements are still evolving. Ongoing discussions with IT also helped strengthen my understanding of system constraints and real-world implementation considerations.

Reflection & Next Steps

Day 44 highlighted that not all “bombs” are technical, some are organisational. Even so, pushing forward with Cash ISA problem-solving and Back Office amendments kept progress moving. Next steps will be to continue refining the Cash ISA flow once alignment is reached and to close off remaining Back Office changes once confirmations are in.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1: Getting Started at iFAST!

🗓️ Date:   6 Oct 2025 📌 Title:  Getting started at iFAST! Task Description Today marked my first day of internship at the company. The day began with a newcomer briefing where I was introduced to the company, its structure, rules, and employee benefits by 3 HR staffs. Following that, I set up my Face ID for office access and went on an office tour to get familiar with the workspace. Before getting assigned to my desk, I was given a work laptop and asked to set it up, which included configuring my Outlook email, accessing the company intranet, and setting up iFast chat for communication. Additionally, I completed onboarding formalities such as checking emails, submitting required documents, and complete some mandatory quizzes like PDPA Training and  IT Security Awareness Onboarding Training. Toward the end of the day, I received my first task: Converting web screens into mobile app screens for the iFast Global Bank Cash Dropdown feature. I also attended the weekly Monday...
Read more

Day 6: Monday Chaos!

🗓️  Date:  13  Oct 2025 📌 Title:  Monday Chaos! Task Description In my second week of internship, I continued working on the  Fixed Deposit (FD)  and  Notice Deposit (ND)  UI enhancement project. My supervisor had provided several  comments and suggestions  based on last week’s progress, so my main task was to  review, refine, and amend the designs accordingly . The goal was to improve layout consistency, alignment, and overall visual clarity to ensure a more polished and user-friendly interface. During the week, our team also held a  weekly meeting  to update one another on current tasks and project timelines. I was assigned to  prepare slides and present my updates , which was my  first time presenting during the internship . Although I felt nervous and uncertain at first, it turned out to be a valuable learning experience thanks to the constructive feedback I received from my supervisor and seniors. Challeng...
Read more

Day 41: Brainstorming and Braincracking

  🗓️  Date:  29 Nov  2025 📌 Title:  Brainstorming and Braincracking Task Description I started the day by discussing the recent Cash ISA meeting outcomes with another IT team member who was on leave, updating him on the latest requirement changes. Following that, I brainstormed together with him and my SV on the new flow for Cash ISA Transfer-In, now that partial transfers also need to be supported. Initially, I was expecting Joanna to send over the updated flow for this change, but since it hadn’t come through, we decided not to wait and risk delaying the project timeline. Instead, we proactively moved forward by coming up with a proposed new flow ourselves. Given the uncertainty, we chose to create a wireframe in FigJam rather than jumping straight into high-fidelity mockups, as we wanted to avoid double work if changes were still needed. We then scheduled a meeting with Joanna at 6 PM to walk her through the proposed flow first, before presenting anything t...
Read more