I was sketching on a blank paper – a book, few pens and a lit candle with slogan “Knowledge is Power”. I posted it on soft board over my desk. Next day, my boss saw the sketch and said, “Knowledge is of no use without actions. Action is more powerful.” Note: A mini saga is a […]
Early start of the project always results in late finish – a lesson I have learnt specially for software projects which heavily depend on ones knowledge and understanding. It pays to spend quality time on understanding the project, the business need, the client and deciding the overall execution approach (externally with client and internally with […]
Stickyminds.com is running an excellent article on understanding introverts and extroverts by Naomi Karten. Project teams often have both these types and managing them requires us to understand each of these personality traits and manage them accordingly. My comments on Naomi's article as on Stickyminds.com: One of my introvert team member came up to me […]
People need to know what is expected out of them. Expectations from them are usually communicated verbally in one to one meetings or team meetings. However, as soon as they are back their day to day activities these expectations loose visibility. It helps to document performance expectations or Key Result Areas (KRA). My first introduction to […]
Projects often comprise of team members and managers who work differently. Diversity in work patterns of team sometimes brings out best and often the worst. For a car to move smoothly all four wheels have to rotate at the same speed. Same might not be fully applicable to software projects, but project teams have to […]
"Adapting Your Requirements Practices" by Ellen Gottesdiener is the current article on Stickyminds.com. Requirements management is core to software development activity and requirements management approach differs from project to project. Ellen says, "Some amount of requirements growth and change is normal. The practice of "playing around" with a product is an excellent way to explore […]
A few years back I was pulled into a huge and troubled documentation project. Since the project involved massive documentation effort and some Liasioning with government agencies and external consultants, no one was keen on taking up the work. Initially I was scared and confused on my abilities to work on such a huge documentation […]
For members of test team, it is very important to raise the alarm bells at right instances. With right instances, I mean that test team should raise the alarm bells well in advance even if they have slightest of apprehension about the product quality and resolution of bugs therein. Raising alarm bells is a very […]
In an overly software dependent world, software quality has been more critical than ever before. Just came across an article in Baseline Magazine listing the "Eight Fatal Software-Related Accidents". Of them, the most devastating has been a software bug which hobbled a radar causing a Korean Jet crash killing 225 people in 1997. On similar […]