Tag Archives: Project

5 benefits of indulging yourself in pet projects

You have every right to question my proposal – haven’t projects at work already tamed our lives for the worst? Well, yes definitely. But I’m not talking about work-related projects, or even the side projects that your cool workplace encourages. I’m talking about every other little project that needn’t advance your career or make you money (at least to begin with). The reason I’m distinguishing this from hobbies is because a hobby can keep you amused for an entire life-time – like numismatics for me. Projects on the other hand will usually have an end-result.

Courtesy: drrajivdesaimd.com
Staying the grey zone

The result is what is crucial to creating a sense of achievement & satisfaction. It is only one of the benefits you would you see while engaging yourself in a pet project. Here are some more:

1. Sense passion and purpose

The monotony or stress at work takes a hit on passion. A project with the right amount of challenge can bring you back in the grey zone and you will experience passion. Additionally,
Continue reading 5 benefits of indulging yourself in pet projects

The Top 5 Deterents to Agile

The beauty of Agile is the fact that its just about a few principles. – which we also summarized in a few words. Everything else is under your control. And on your way from classic waterfall practices to adopting those principles, you are likely to encounter some serious blockers. I’m attempting to list out the top 5 along with the Agile principles that they block.

1. Large teams

Blocks: Velocity, Working together

Scales of Agile (Courtesy: ebizq.net)
Scales of Agile (Courtesy: ebizq.net)

It is uncommon to have a cross-functional team of teams with 30-50 folks working on the same product. While the Agile deliverable is a few days of work, large teams working on a single release will generate a huge deliverable that is more coupled, has wider impact and demands extensive testing.

2. Fixed-scope planning

Blocks: Working software, Simplicity, Accepting change

Courtesy: 352inc.com

Teams that have a fixed-scope mental block start off by committing a scope for the next release, and then estimate a future release date. Since estimates are often incorrect, the release is delayed to deliver the committed scope – which is just not Agile. Forget about changing requirements, folks won’t even drop a few stories or acceptance criteria at the very end, to meet the committed date (time-box) – at the cost of Continue reading The Top 5 Deterents to Agile

Our interpretation of the Agile manifesto

As part of a recent Agile training, we were asked to summarize the basic tenets of Agile in 3-4 words. Our group,  with Mahesh, Yuti, Apeksha, Shahdab, Dhwani, Jay, came up with the following:

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

Deliver value to satisfy

2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.

Accept changes willingly

3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

Prioritize, Breakdown, Deliver frequently

4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

Close collaboration, daily

5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

Continue reading Our interpretation of the Agile manifesto

Don’t be desperate to crash time

Everyone in the software industry, has at some point of the other, been part of a delayed project. The result is often a war room where all the big shots put their heads together to save face. Imagine one such meeting where everyone is focussed on crashing time. Management is willing to compromise margins and the project manager has been given the authority to do anything it takes to deliver the project sooner.

All eyes are on the development team to see what they can do to expedite. Desperate, the project manager thinks he has an offer the Dev manager can’t refuse. He takes pride in offering to add more resources to the project. The Dev manager, however sane otherwise, goes ballistic on hearing this and yells out: ‘9 Women Can’t Make a Baby in a Month’. There is a moment of silence. Then, the noobs giggle, the big shots calm down and the PM walks out of the room.

9 mothers can't make a baby in a month
Courtesy: piedtype.files.wordpress.com

This is Brooks’s law, and every software engineer gets exposed to this mantra/joke – whichever way you take it – in the very first years on the job. If Pressman was as bold as Fred Brooks, he would’ve added it to his Software engineering bible. This is 100% true Continue reading Don’t be desperate to crash time

Automated Report Template for BITS DLPD Dissertation

This is not a blog post, but just sharing the report template used for the final semester dissertation/project at BITS, Pilani. I guess this is common to MS SS & MM courses offered by DLPD (WILPD). This is the result of the numerous email that keep floating during the semester, only adding to the confusion. So I created a Word template that one can use right away, for lazy bums like me who start late. Just define custom properties, and the report template will automatically fill itself up.

Usage:

  1. Download the file from either of the 2 links:
    DocStoc (latest)
    Box.Net
  2. On Windows, right-click, go to ‘Properties’, then the ‘Custom’ tab
  3. You will see all the fields used in the document like Report Title, Mentor Name, Student ID, etc.
  4. If not, in MS WORD 2007, go to ‘Prepare’ > ‘Properties’ from the OFFICE menu. Then ‘Document Properties’ > ‘Advanced Properties’ on the yellow band and ‘Custom’ tab on the pop-up.
  5. To modify a value,
    – Click on the field name in the field list
    – Change the ‘Value’ above
    – Click ‘Modify’
    – Repeat this procedure for all fields
  6. Do not delete any of the fields.
  7. Open the document now, select all the text (CTRL + A) and press F9.

I have taken care of the fonts, page numbers, table of contents, etc. You can copy-paste one of the existing chapters to create a new one. However, if something is missing as per the checklist, please bring it to everyone’s attention. We can discuss this via comments below.

Wishing you all good luck without your report & viva!

This intelligent template is dedicated to Sonal Purandare who motivated me to get started on the report and offered immense support in difficult times.