Geek and Poke
Really nice comics blog about day-to-day weirdnessadventures of software and IT people: Geek and Poke.
I just love this – Simply Explained: Checked Exceptions.
(discovered via Slava Pankratov)
Do you have a vision?
If your business is in any way supported by IT, vision is an invaluable tool for you to succeed with implementation any enterprise-level project, be it a major enterprise transformation undertaking or deployment of new version of operating system on office computers.
Cheshire Cat
Whatever you do, there will always be a question: “What’s next?” If you can not answer this question, then how you can be sure that what you are doing is for good? That it advances you towards the goal?
Do you remember this dialog between Alice and Cheshire Cat?
`Cheshire Puss,‘ [Alice] began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it’s pleased so far,’ thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?‘
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
`I don’t much care where–’ said Alice.
`Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
`–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,’ Alice added as an explanation.
`Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.’
The same thing with products and projects: if you do not care, what you build, then it, of course, does not matter how you do that. But when you know what is your goal, you can then build strategies, roadmaps and plans to answer the question of “how”.
The product roadmap should describe the path from where you are now, to realizing the vision you have spelled out in your product strategy. You do have a product strategy, right? If not, your product roadmap has no real context, and that’s a serious problem.
Marty Cagan in Product Roadmaps
Vision enables you to talk about the future and create it in the end of the day.
Vision ties your team together and enables individual contributors to achieve and overachieve.
Vision builds trust between you and your partners and allows you to focus on what you do best.
In: Software engineering · Tagged with: Product management, Requirements, Requirements management, Roadmap
Wimbledon – perfect uncertainty management
New roof at Wimbledon
For years I’ve been using Wimbledon tournament as an example of really good uncertainty management: with all those games taking very different amounts of time, unpredictable rains (in 2008 man’s final was interrupted twice) – it is a scheduling nightmare. Yet, man’s final always happens on the 2nd Sunday of tournament (except for 2001 when it was raining on Sunday and final was delayed till Monday).
Wimbledon is scheduled for 13 days, beginning on a Monday and ending on a Sunday with the middle Sunday a designated rest day. The five main events span both weeks, but the youth and invitational events are held mainly during the second week. Traditionally, there is no play on the “Middle Sunday”, which is considered a rest day. However, rain has forced play on the Middle Sunday three times in the Championship’s history: in 1991, 1997, and 2004. On each of these occasions, Wimbledon has staged a “People’s Sunday”, with unreserved seating and readily available, inexpensive tickets, allowing those with more limited means to sit on the show courts. Additionally, if the tournament is not completed by the end of the second Sunday, all remaining matches are postponed until “People’s Monday”.
Tight rules, uncertain conditions – great execution!
Now the problem with rains is fixed at its roots: roof at Wimbledon’s Centre Court. This does not fix the problem complete, as other courts are still under open skies, but weather area on Wimbledon’s home page gradually becomes less relevant.
In: Management · Tagged with: Planning, Project management, Scheduling
Getting new Moleskine
I’m rather new to this whole Moleskine thing, but that does not mean I do not want to improve 
. If you like me, try to save your eyes from computer at least for some time and want to have a writing appliance that you’ll want to return to again and again, I hope you’ll benefit from something I’ve read recently.
Is it all about the Moleskine? Not really.
- Black Cover Archives. There are many of notebooks out there.
- Proving Moleskine Is Just A Style: The Piccadilly Notebook – can be a particularly good alternative. I want to get one next time I’m in the US.
- Field Notes. Some people like these.
- The Perfect Little Non-Black Book: The Rite in the Rain Notebooks. These are nice too. See how it works
You’ve got one. What do you do now? You hack!
- Definitive Collection Of Moleskine Hacks, Tips And Resources
- Moleskine Notebooks: The Ultimate Guide
- More Moleskine Hacks
- and finally The Monster Collection of Moleskine Tips, Tricks and Hacks
I did not try that all, but you can
In: Productivity · Tagged with: Moleskine, Notebook, Tips, Writing
Don't be a manager like that
If you are a manager, you’ve got everything to prevent this sign from ever appearing near the entrance to you department’s area.
In: Management · Tagged with: Management, Motivation, Teamwork
Professionals are always around you
Today I had an inspiring chat with one of fellow QA engineers about one of the systems we recently developed. I had a new requirement in mind that triggers complete re-test of the system.
Me: How long does it take to re-test our solution?
QA: Any new features or components?
Me: No, “just” another communication protocol.
Great job!
QA: Give me 10 minutes, I’ll consult with the Test Plan and Design.
Me: …Ok.
And if initially I was going for really quick and dirty estimate, I just could not make myself ask for that. I’ve got my needs under complete control of a professional.
Professionals feel responsible for everything they say to you, their internal code of conduct just does not allow them to fool you or compromise quality of their advice, even if you ask for it.
Professionals, unlike amateurs, will always ask you for what they need to deliver you the best possible result.
They are near you, just look around.
In: Behavior · Tagged with: Professional behavior, Teamwork
Be reasonable
Be reasonable with your requests. Be reasonable with your responses.
Human actions (at least, in professional and business fields) are mostly driven by reasons. People never (or very-very rarely) do something out of spontaneous wish at work.
Yes, you can have a spontaneous idea, but it, anyway, will serve some particular purpose. Idea tries to solve a problem, and the is the reason why you do that – you want right the wrong or make something better.
Often times in order to do what you want to accomplish, you will need to request something from your fellow colleague. Usually, you will need to have it done by certain deadline. This is where the interesting part begins.
You know exactly why you want something to be done by certain date or time. But are you sure your fellow colleague, from whom you request, comes to know that by reading your e-mail? Does he get why this needs to be done today? Is it in any way more important than what he is working on now? Unless he is a powerful mind-reader the answer to all such questions is “No!”. E-mail just does not bear with itself enough of the mental energy to discover all of that!
Do you want you request to be handled in the best possible way? I bet you do. So, be reasonable. Write you request in a best possible way. Explain why there is a need to do something and why deadline is such as it is. Do not send unreasonable requests!
Same line of thought applies to responses. And even if you receive an unreasonable request – there is a reason why it went out. Help the requestor. Ask him questions. Unreasonable response will just turn into a dead-end. Often quickly bricked up behind your back while you drive there.
Do your best to explain your reasons and understand reasons of others. If you are not sure if you were understood correctly – follow-up your e-mail with a call.
And be reasonable with what you write and what you say.
In: Behavior · Tagged with: Behavior, Management, Professional behavior, Teamwork
Less is more
Some time ago I’ve posted a couple of ideas around productivity and distractionless computer environment. Since then I continue trying to optimize my computer experience here and there.
It is always interesting to know what ideas others have about problems you are thinking about. So it was very interesting for me to read how Leo Babauta of Zen Habits approaches his computer experience. A lot of good ideas there:
- Iconless desktop. Great idea! Desktop is not a junkyard. On Windows XP it is as simple as right-click on the desktop -> Arrange Icons By -> Show Desktop Icons.
- “Light” menubar. Now I switched from autohiding my Task Bar to completely removing it from the screen: only 2 pixels at the top of the screen. No more annoying appearances of the Tool Bar when your mouse is near the edge. You can still use Win-key to access the Start menu and Alt-Tab to switch between windows.
- Keyboard shortcuts instead of icons. Brilliant! This is something that I started adopting very actively. On Windows XP you do not even need to install additional software tools: right-click on the icon in the Start Menu -> Properties, click in the Shortcut key box and select shortcut for an application.
Find your way to effective computer experience.These and other small tricks can take you one step away from chaos and give you some precious time to do what you do best – create!
In: Productivity · Tagged with: Computer, Distractionless, Productivity, Software, Tips
Use time wisely
Could not resist posting this quote by Lee Iacocca:
“The ability to concentrate and to use your time well is everything if you want to succeed in business – or almost anywhere else for that matter.”
(via Happy-PM)
In: Productivity · Tagged with: Management, Productivity, Time management
Critique is not easy
When people communicate they exchange facts, ideas and opinions.
When they hear something which is not a sure fact like “At present, Earth orbits the Sun” they will either agree or disagree. As Paul Graham suggests this is a natural behavior. But disagreeing itself is somewhat simple: nothing remains after the conversation except for changed or not unchanged mind of participants.
Opposition
When people hear idea or proposal it is another beast. Something is going to remain after the talk is finished and that is a decision whether to proceed with presented idea. And that decision, be it positive or negative, is going to affect everyone involved in a conversation. As Paul noticed
Many who respond to something disagree with it. That’s to be expected. Agreeing tends to motivate people less than disagreeing. And when you agree there’s less to say.
Only very bad ideas will not ignite discussion. If the idea is worth at least something the conversation will start. The conversation will start with disagreement and critique and will revolve around the problem idea tries to address and the idea itself.
The worst form of critique which often can be a “discussion killer” is when the reply is “This is not going to work” and nothing more. There can be several cases why one would say that and actual meaning of that response can range:
- from “Hey man! You are so stupid to propose this. Your idea is not even worth discussing.”
- to “Dude, I had thought this idea in and out and you really do not want to implement it” and “The problem you are trying to solve isn’t really a problem. Let’s move on to the next item.”
No matter what the actual meaning is expressing it with “This is not going to work” is wrong. You must uncover reasoning for “not going to work”. Such unsound responses kill all the constructive outputs that can arise as a result of conversation on the topic. Such responses create forces which oppose to development of better outcomes for the concern raised.
Good response would be something that will help arrive at conclusion that will be both acceptable and accepted by all the parties engaged in the conversation. Something that will prompt for further discussion is already good enough, e.g. “I do not clearly see the benefit of implementing this. Can you please explain in more detail?”.
When discussion starts it is important to distinguish two things about the proposed idea:
- problem the proposal tries to address
- the idea itself
First of all there should be an agreement on why dealing with the problem is or is not important. With readiness to attack the problem you can move on to define a solution to that starting with proposed idea. Once the problem is revealed a solution should be found. The solution might be completely different from what is proposed now, but there should be one. And only constructive dialog that gradually improves currently proposed idea can deliver that.
Jim McCarthy calls this a “better idea” approach. To quote Jim:
An accountable “No” is respected, but it’s got to be accountable.
You can say “No”, but no, you can’t go away without a better idea. Because if you don’t have a better idea, then that’s the best available idea and you always act on the best available idea. You can always change it tomorrow, or next week if better ideas come around. But, by definition, if you don’t have a better idea, you have to vote “Yes”. So when you stop the show you are expected to carry the next vote, which happens immediately. And this makes people say “No” much less.
Mind how you respond to ideas of your fellows and be accountable for what you say. Let ideas emerge and be implemented.
In: Teamwork · Tagged with: Behavior, Professional behavior, Teamwork
