Teamwork and Team Dynamics Questions

Situation & Task
At my last role I paired with a colleague to migrate a set of AWS resources into reusable Terraform modules (VPC, RDS, and EKS). The goal was to modularize, enforce tagging, and add CI validation without disrupting production.

Approach & Roles

• We used driver-navigator rotation (30 minutes) during a 4-hour session.
• I started as driver to scaffold the module structure and provider/backend configuration. My partner acted as navigator reviewing naming, policy alignment, and CLI commands.
• Mid-session we swapped: they coded the module inputs/outputs while I reviewed state handling and remote backend locking.

Task Division & Practices

• Branching: feature branch per module + PR template.
• Tests: I added Terratest unit checks; they wrote automated fmt & validate steps in the pipeline.
• We ran terraform plan together, paired on resolving drift and IAM policy least-privilege.

Result & Learnings

• Delivered three modules, CI checks, and clear README/runbook within a week.
• Key learning: live narration + frequent role swaps accelerates knowledge transfer. Small, explicit teachbacks (asking the navigator to explain the state-locking flow) exposed assumptions and improved documentation. Also, pairing revealed subtle environment-specific issues faster than solo work and increased team confidence to reuse modules.