It’s a text book success… :-)

GSAT-12 riding on PSLV-C17

 

ISRO press release states that the LAB has cleared the launch. The countdown began 53 hr before the scheduled launch ! No surprises for such a massive delivery. Let’s wait for the launch - 16:48 hrs (IST)

PSLV the work horse launch vehicle of ISRO was originally designed for, as it’s name suggests Polar Satellites which are generally low weight and put in low earth orbits. It’s 17 continuous successful flights have helped it mature to set Geo-Synchronous satellites too. Eagerly waiting for the GSLV to start carrying GSAT & heavier class satellites in future. It had failed last time around, still hunting for the post-mortem report :) Currently we mostly courier our fat satellites to get in orbits using Ariane launchers from Guiana.

Chandrayan-II on track despite crash on Christmas Eve

 

(Source : YouTube)

While I was still waiting to view the complete analysis of the failure last time around (Posted in April - “Cryogenic Cries”), this festive season at the end of the western calendar saw another glitch, this time in the first stage which is by far the most proven stage. What’s exciting to read in this article is that a 4 plus or minus degree of tilting due to unknown reasons is actually controllable.

ISRO chief U R Rao’s words confirm our moon commitments though.

Cryogenic cries !!!

The maiden flight of GSLV used an indigenous Cryogenic Engine. A first fully integrated field test for the engine. Once an intellectual mind of the scientist gets a set-back in the experiments he is charged 200% to deal with the gaps in the combination of the input ingredients. There is no look-back only the required level of post-mortem. The sensors must have actively collected the live data. It will be analyzed in detail, and a test routine probably added to the checklist to ensure the reason of dysfunction is permanently avoided. The incident gives if analyzed effectively would bring in innovation that takes the Quality paradigm in Space Research itself to a new level.

All the very best to the Cryogenic Team. The Cyrogenic incident(which is not yet fully analyzed) of yesterday signifies to me the the cries of the Infant. He’s born and now needs food to develop his brain and brawn.

The qualified analysis of the incident are what we should look forth to learn from. It would be great if ISRO could publish the methodology in which the country’s top minds crack this one. Many industries will learn from it. History doesn’t need to be repeated always, it’s learnings are to be turned into stepping stones.

Agile Coach Camp 2010

http://agilecoachcamp.org/tiki-index.php

The unconference for agile coaches begun this year at Durham, NC, USA. It will pass through Goa, India during April 17-18. To attend the same, scrum coachs will need to request for invitation by filling up the necessary details which also ask for expectations. So it’s more of a community effort.

http://www.agileindia.org/coach-camp-2010/acc2010-potential-topics

The link above sites the potential topics based on feedback from registrations. Naresh Jain (Agile protagonist) posted this just recently. It mentions topics like “Induction of waterfall guy to an agile environment.” to “When to stop making a team agile/When to give up on a team?” and of course the most wanted ones like “Meeting business goals and the myth that Agile - ‘means we don't have to commit to a delivery’ ”.

 

“oPEN Communication” over “oVER Communication” !!!

The difference is evident in the spellings itself. The 2 phrases differ by “pen” & “ver”.

“pen” stands for Silence.

“ver” stands for Verbose.

In other words “pen” suggests the expression using the EAR rather than the MOUTH. It gives more weight to LISTEN than to TALK. If everyone in the discussion group follows this philosophy, the ideas/views are transmitted in the least time possible.

Whereas the “ver” suggest the vice-versa. It culminates in adding to the prevailing confusion and creating more complex environment which hardly sees the goal in it’s distant.

The PEN, EAR or the MOUTH aren’t meant literally, but they provide simple folk analogy for tools that aid communication. So for example ranting more on this topic would label me as an “oVER Communicator”.

Bawarchi, a film by Hrishikesh Mukherjee

The last day of the PMP training focussed on the study guides. Along with it we discussed literature and media which helped groom a Project Manager be a true Leader of circumstances rather than just another PMP certified agent. Here Sameer Kamalapurkar, well-known PMP trainer, mentioned Bawarchi along with the Laggan and others.

Got a copy of this classic style movie from Hrishi-da @ http://www.shemaroo.com/

The movie is very clean and is meant to be viewed by all the family members together. It presents the hero, the savior Bawarchi(Chef/Cook), as the leader who devices smart plans for quick bonding and team-spirit within the family members. Starting off with simple techniques like drinking tea together, engaging members in their own vocational habits for self-enjoyment to letting subtle understanding of team/family goals, the movie sets its mark as an educational video to understand family values. It enables family members to enjoy life and create happiness by helping others and praising their successes.

The Bawarchi simply says, “It’s very SIMPLE to be HAPPY, but very DIFFICULT to be SIMPLE”

Next watch : Gol Maal :]] :P

Let the crow relax !!!

My bro narrated this story :

A rabbit came searching for some fresh grass outside it’s brow. It came hopping to a nearby tree very carefully. The rabbit with it’s long ears is sensitive to sounds and vibrations, so that it can secure itself from being preyed in time. It chewed a few grass and sighed relief when it saw a Crow relaxing on the branch of the tree. It became jay. “I too should relax”, the rabbit said to itself. So it collected thick grass around and made a hump, layered some soft grass ahead of the hump and lied(is this spelling correct, i mean lye not lie) down.  The hump acted as a head and upper back rest. The crow cawed for a few times and then cawed loudly as if warning the rabbit. The rabbit could understand the crow’s language and really got pissed off when it heard “Lazy bum get back to your brow and hide else you will be roasted here”. The rabbit really irritated by the cawing, closed it’s ears using a winding of some soft grass and stuffing it inside both the ears. The crow stopped cawing and left the tree. Soon came a fox and picked up the soft rabbit smoothly with it’s mouth and gave a good crunch so that a few bones here and there break and the rabbit doesn’t run even after putting it on ground. A veggie like me won’t love to delve further into the art of tearing apart a live being and savoring the soft  flesh of the poor rabbit.

Let’s put a corporate context to this one. A team member always feels that the Leaders in form of Managers & Above are always relaxing on top. And now does the team member understand why it’s so dangerous to relax, especially when one is a rabbit rather than a crow :)

Rabbit : Vulnerable, insecure, angry young man types

Crow : High position, can anticipate problems in advance, knows only to caw (doesn’t initiate remedy by self), doesn’t bother if the Rabbit dies(“I always warned him at the first place” type responses)

Conflict Resolution

This is one of the first in series of Leadership qualities. I will share the tricks and trade I learnt from my God Fathers on my way. I have hardly learnt from anything inanimate. All the bests !!!

When it rains, all birds fly for shelter, but the EAGLE avoids the rains by flying above the clouds. – courtesy SMS from Vaibhav, the experiential guide

Through out the ages, while working with people and interacting with them, I found that the easiest way to resolve a conflict to take the conflicting parties to a context higher than the one they are fighting on. Of course this doesn’t guarantee that the 2 parties won’t collide on the next level, but it gives ample time within which the 2 parties get used to each others attitudes, ego, likes & dislikes. The chances of further conflict greatly reduces. And if at all the 2 parties collide on the next level after a certain time, there is always a way to reuse the same mechanism and take them to the level next to this one and so on till a point that their egos find no meaning in fighting it out.

If you have reached this far, it shows you are looking for the examples below :

Using Carrot to resolve conflict : Avish & Rita are module leaders of a project. The company believes that it has placed these equals at equal positions. The project manager to whom Avish & Rita report is handling multiple projects. After about 3 months of close monitoring the project following Agile methodologies, he is now letting Avish & Rita to follow suite. As anyone can expect, both fight to show that they are leading the whole effort. One day it blows out verbally infront of the whole office. The PM picks up both Avish & Rita and asks them to leave the campus immediately and even signals the security to kick their buts. Both get scared watching the security on the way and leave gently saying the ifs-and-buts which the PM isn’t wanting to listen. They are out. PM cools the rest of the team, tells them that he hasn’t given them a break from ages. They need some vacation now. PM shares his own experiences with the team, the team has a big laugh and gets an assurance that Avish & Rita will work together in future. After an hr, Avish & Rita are called in a conf room with just 3 seats. Both take positions and the PM is staring at them. They laugh at each other and then the PM asks them to put their positions forward. Within 15 seconds they start the BLAME-GAME. PM says you have 2 choices either to fight and resolve the conflict among themselves or discuss and let the PM resolve it for them. They oblige. Rita starts speaking and Avish interrupts, the PM says ladies first. Avish is disturbed (salary aur appraisal dete vakt bhi ladies first hai kya?). Then PM empathizes with Rita and asks her to give Avish too an opportunity like she got. Avish blasts out and then silences. PM asks Rita to lead the teams and assures that Avish will not come in her way. Rita is happy and leaves the cabin – she is the boss now. Avish is shattered. He too leaves. PM calls on Avish in the evening at tea-time and asks him if he can join him to the nearby restaurant. Avish cries out his position and says that he hated my decision. PM emphathizes with him and tells him that he needed Avish to fill the centre of excellence position vacant in the service line. The position gives lots of exposure the marketing division which Avish is very kicked about. Rita never would have been happy with such a position. Both leads have a sound sleep that nite. The PM has a much more sounder sleep :)

Using Stick to resolve conflict :  High pressure situation in a labor intensive service industry. Two sections within the same department need to coordinate for client delivery. Outputs from both the sections are collected by the Boss and delivered to the client. Section –A finishes it’s job and the lead Chaudhari (typical show-off category) pushes the delivery to the Boss without coordinating with Ansari(typical process freak), the lead from Section-B. Ansari is ready and is waiting for Chaudhari to give a heads up so both can deliver a full solution together. The Boss is finicky since the deliverable from Section-B hasn’t yet arrived. Boss catches both the leads by their collars and is asking the reason for the half delivery. Ansari is blaming Chaudhari for not communicating and violating the SOP. Chaudhari is pointlessly arguing his position. Boss combines the delivery and makes sure the client isn’t waiting for long. Boss asks Ansari to get out and take a break to cut out the conflict instantaneously.  Within an hr the Boss gets both the leads together and sensitizes the fact that this incident is worth being documented in the Personal File of the employees. This directly affects the appraisal and the employee linked benefits like bonuses. Both said sorry to each other, shook their hands and parted for a better coordinated effort.

Size Vs Duration

So what’s the difference between sizing of a project and it’s duration. Simply put size is how big or small the work needed to complete the project is and duration is given the resources and external conditions how long is it going to take to complete the project. The first step in scheduling is to find the size of the project and then using it to find the timelines(duration).

Example :

Mini Project with 2 developers of equal experience and expertise.

(A) No. of Stories : 10 stories

(B) Each Story estimate : 5 story points in size

(C) Total Effort required : (A x B) = 10 x 5 = 50 Story points

(D) Story Point : Man Days :: 1 : 3

(E) Total Man Days : (C x D) = 50 x 3 = 150 days [NOTE : both developers are of equal capabilities]

(F) Iteration size : 2 weeks

(G) Working days per Iteration : (F x 5) = 2 x 5 = 10 man days

(H) No. of developers : 2

(I) Man days available per Iteration : (G x H) = 10 x 2 = 20 man days

(J) No of Iterations anticipated as of NOW : (E / I) = 150 / 20 = 7.5 = 8 Iterations

GSLV Mark III

The GSLV Mark III launch in 2011 pushes ISRO fully to be self reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class, which weigh 4.5 to 5 Tonne into Geosyncronous Transfer Orbit (GTO)

Buffer over Pad

 

When one of our ex-VPs suggested me to read THE GOAL and tried to explain me the importance of a schedule/project buffer rather than task buffer(read padding), I failed to understand the importance of it. This resulted in a fixed % padding for each micro task. The law of karma forced me to pay a price :) Let us not be over enthusiastic in reinventing the wheel every time or go by our presumptions of Project Management skills. The first lesson on Project Management I learnt is that it is an “Art which is Practiced”. Lets see what truly successful projects<writeup very soon> have adopted.

We will discuss here the scientific way of buffer management which has passed the field tests.

Chapter 17 : Buffering Plans for Uncertainity under Part IV : Scheduling of Agile Estimation and Planning by Mike Cohn (to buy, you may search it here) is more than sufficient to understand the what/why/how of buffering to kick start.

To give you a gist, insecurity breeds the tendency to PAD whereas open and professionalism culture breeds the tendency to scientifically buffer. And when you scientifically buffer you are not only securing DELIVERY but also wining the confidence of the stake holders and further making them part of the decision by clearly presenting the scientific methodology adopted. You need to be suggested for communication skills training if even after this your client or higher management is unhappy with the project plan. Such is the beauty of this scientific method. Further we need to understand that buffer is a requirement, so when it’s not required it’s not present or tends to zero. For eg. in a project of say a few stories spanning across a single iteration of a couple of weeks, who needs a buffer – each task can be detailed effectively considering all the risk factors.

The next paragraphs below put up the gist.

Go by the 50% & 90% estimate funda given by Mike Cohn. Meaning you give 2 estimates for each story. The first one is a very very optimistic one and the other one is a very leisurely one. To quantify it the first estimate tells us that the story will finish in this time with a 50% probability or in other words 7 out of 14 developers available can complete the story in less than or equal to this estimate. Apply the same principle to the 90% or the leisure buffer.

While we are giving the 50% probable estimate and moving on to calculate the 90% probable estimate, what needs to be noted is that more higher probability of finishing the story is making sure more and more risks are mitigated. This means for a particular story - “Create a screen to enter demographic information” could have an estimate of 5-9 story points in the 50-90 category, whereas another story “Create the login page” could have an estimate of 4-20 story points following the same analogy, since I feel there is a prominent risk that the part of the security architecture dealing with Authentication could need amendments, like the ready-made framework designed may not have been tested yet so I need more cushion here on the leisure estimate side.

You tend to lose your credibility with a pure 90% estimate and you tend to lose accountability with a pure 50% estimate. And don’t jump to conclusions, we are not going for a mean (50+90) / 2 :) The SRSS methodology is to be used to arrive at our required estimate. This estimate now is cushioned with a buffer.

One of the most important points mentioned by Mike Cohn is to is to openly declare(or unhide) the Project/Schedule buffer to all stake holders. In this regard, majority of managers or project leads miss out one of the most important stake holder of the Project that is the TEAM<writeup very soon> (specifically the ones who are sculpting out the software piece). The reason most of the time is either fear of misuse or mistrust or non-confidence on the maturity levels and many times a subtle hunger to project on-time delivery to the client and higher management but underachievement to his/her own TEAM. This behavior is not only unfavorable to the TEAM but directly affects the Quality of Delivery<writeup in near future>. This could further ignite non-transparency and violate the agile manifesto.

Agile Comments from Sampat

 

Sampat Somani, one of the most dynamic of the young generation at our firm sent me an article from Devdutta Patnaik (Chief Belief Officer at Biyani’s enterprise). Sampat has keen interest in the financial world and tracks closely the movements in Indian economic. We share a lot of conversation over the one hour travel time together. Devdutta, in the Corporate Dossier of Economic Times under Management Mythos,  describes the significance of the HKC offering (Haldi-Kumkum-Chaval – turmeric-red powder-rice) used at auspicious occasions in India. Further he uses the analogy to the industry.

Extract from Devdutta’s article :

Often, for want of time, people go straight for the kill. Quick introductions are followed by a clarification of the agenda and the meeting starts immediately. Meetings then become a process and not a meeting of hearts and minds.

<permissions granted to publish extract>

Sampat’s comments :

This IT industry is full of Egos and occupied by money. Number of Divorce are increasing because of pressure of Time and Money. People go straight forward. Scrum calls are done within 15 minutes but do you pay attention to all the members really?  Please match the wavelength with team members and then start the conversation. You only make profit.

 

Agile Development Hitting the Mainstream

 

The stats are now pouring. eWeek’s posting puts in Forrester study that ‘Scrum method of Agile development is the most popular of the Agile methods’.

Tweet from @mikewcohn

According to eWeek "#Agile is Hitting the Mainstream" with 45% of developers doing agile: http://bit.ly/bVHXI6

Agile Estimation & Planning

 

 

Mike Cohn has in a very simple language put across the most simplest of Project Management strategies which works – AGILE Framework. Specially liked the chapters on Estimation with the Poker exercise. Good Read for Agile Evangelists.

http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/

http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/training/140-certified-scrummaster-training

Just found from his Blog that the 2-day scrum-master training course counts for 15 Professional Development Units (PDUs) from PMP.

This is what you get for the $1300 course fees, apart from earning the PDUs :

• High quality training from an industry expert
• Recognition by the Scrum Alliance as a Certified ScrumMaster after passing a short certification exam
• A continental breakfast buffet, a hot lunch buffet, an afternoon snack, and continuously replenished drinks
• A 1 GB USB drive containing a PDF of the course materials, relevant articles by Mike Cohn and others, sample chapters from Mike's books, and other information
• A one-year membership in the Scrum Alliance, a $50 value
• A printed and bound copy of the course materials

Wish this was conducted in Mumbai too.

The PUSH

Watch this video

"Even Eagles need a PUSH"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ap8u-xD8xc

Is it really a PUSH in it's true sense?

I was thrilled to see this video. A typical trainer speaking on leadership would focus on the concept of how we all need a PUSH at some time or the other and how it's also important for us to PUSH others. The video brings out the concept vividly.

Incidently, we had a naturalist with us who was well versed with most of the stuff we have been watching on Discovery & Animal Planet only. She continued to let us know what happens next with the young eaglets. One of the parent(mostly the father bird) dives down, slides below the young eaglet on it's first flight, picks it on its back and brings back to the nest. The pushes continue till the parents are confident of the wing strength and boom the young ones fly the full flight on their own.