IT Project Management: 2012

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Dictionary of Management Jargon

Words and Phrases

A

Accommodate concerns: 1 Make room for opinions 2 Make an allowance for a preference 3 Tolerate a different point of view; "We will try to accommodate your concerns"
Accountability: 1 Responsibility for the progress of a project or the progress of the firm 2 A lack of progress may not lead to any disciplinary action; "We are going to build in accountability"
Address: 1 To provide words on a topic which may have little or no meaning; "He will address us on the topic"
Aggressive quote: 1 A low bid to produce a good or provide a service; "We can get it with an aggressive quote"
Ambush marketing: 1 To tie a firm's name to its competitors advertising; "They are using ambush marketing by naming the stadium ..."
Anecdotal information: 1 Scattered stories and or reports 2 First information from the field 3 Not scientific or definitive; "Your use of our product provides anecdotal information to us"
Arrows to fire: 1 Points to mention and/or tactics to take; "He ran out of arrows to fire"
At some juncture: 1 Some unspecified point in time in the future; "At some juncture we will decide"
At this point: 1 Now; "At this point we have begun"

B

Band aid: 1 A quick temporary fix which when the fix works, is frequently ignored because of the higher expense to permanently fix the problem; "Can we put a band aid on the problem"
Bandwidth: 1 Capacity 2 Maximum amount; "We do not have the bandwidth to accommodate your request"
Bearish on: 1 Against 2 To assert a belief that something will decrease; "I'm bearish on the economy"
Believe in: 1 Behind an idea or in favor of something; "I believe in our marketing"
Benign report: 1 A harmless document when it could have been detrimental to the firm; "The benign report is not a problem"
Bounce an idea off someone: 1 To get someone's initial impression of an idea they have not heard before; "Can we bounce an idea off someone today"
Bring them along: 1 Give a slow introduction over time 2 Incrementally spoon feed small amounts of possibly misleading information until the whole concept is accepted 3 Withhold distasteful information; "We must be careful to bring them along"
Brush fire: 1 Out of control 2 Growing wildly; "Lets stop these reports before they grow into a brush fire"
Budget: 1 Projected dollar amounts estimated ahead of time for a project 2 the company's overall costs and revenues 3 Any estimate before or after any or all facts are known; "Let's revise our budget after the project starts"
Bullish on: 1 In favor of 2 To assert a belief that something will increase; "I'm bullish on our sales"
Bushit: 1 Great lies told by a great authority 2 Overly exaggerated claims of validity about a heterogeneous collection 3 Giving assurance with a quick smile and a chuckle 4 Claiming new information is true because it is common knowledge; "I know better than to believe his bushit"
Business case: 1 A multiple year estimate of a future projects costs and revenues; "Can we make a business case for your project"
Buy in: 1 Agreement 2 Commitment; "We need manufacturing's buy in before we go ahead with this"
Calm market: 1 A steady price; "We are experiencing a calm market"
Cash burn rate: 1 How quickly liquid assets are being spent 2 The number of dollars of cash flow being lost each month or quarter; "Let's get our cash burn rate under control"
Cash flow benefits: 1 Either increase in revenue or a decrease in costs 2 A decrease in costs caused by a more efficient production method 3 A production method that requires fewer employees and/or less plant and equipment; "Your idea has some interesting cash flow benefits"
Clamp down: 1 To reduce 2 To slow to near zero 3 To spend very little; "We must clamp down our expenses"
CNBC: 1 Conservative National Bushit Conference 2 Nonstop radically conservative propaganda; "I am watching CNBC because they think they are right."
Commitment: 1 The act of standing behind a policy whose value ends when the policy is concluded; "We made a commitment to this"
Company policy: 1 A written or verbal statement of a firm's stance on a topic; "Ours is a very good company policy on that"
Compelling case: 1 A winning argument 2 Overwhelmingly persuasive; "You make a very compelling case"
Competitive analysis: 1 An investigation to find out if others are already doing the same thing; "We need a competitive analysis before we begin"
Confidence in the future: 1 Assurance that a plan of action will work out 2 To imply prior knowledge of future events; "We have confidence in the future"
Consolidation: 1 The firing of employees and/or the reduction of plant and equipment; "Our consolidation will close one store"
Cost containment: 1 The firing of employees and/or the reduction of plant and equipment; "Cost containment will lead to a profit"
Cost management: 1 The firing of employees and/or the reduction of plant and equipment; "We need to exercise some cost management"
Create value: 1 Make a better product or service 2 To increase a customer's perception of something's usefulness; "This will create value for our customers"
Crisis management: 1 To control and limit the impact of major unforeseen problems 2 A management style that only acts after a crisis has occurred; "We need to exercise better crisis management"
Corporate culture: 1 Acceptable behavior at a company; "It's within the bounds of our corporate culture"

D

Deal with: 1 Handle and/or dispose of something in such a way that it may not solve and/or answer anything directly 2 A postponement and/or avoidance; "We will deal with that when the time comes"
Decisive action: 1 A change by the firm which will effect its future performance 2 A deterministic stance; "This requires decisive action"
Dehire: 1 The firing of employees; "We had to dehire your friend"
Detailed: 1 Provide another level to a description 2 Very little extra substance when the starting level is high enough; "Send them the detailed report"
Down size
Downsize: 1 To fire some employees and/or reduce plant and equipment; "The firm will soon down size their production"
Drill down: 1 To increase the amount of detail about a topic, the amount of additional detail is relative to the starting level; "The report will drill down into the issue"
Drive home a point: 1 To emphasize 2 Repetition used instead of additional information; "They will drive home the point"

E

Effect the production: 1 To reduce output 2 A reduction in output that is not desired; "The weather may effect the production of corn"
Empowerment: 1 To give responsibility and some authority to one or more employees. The amount of authority may not be sufficient to fulfill the responsibility; "His empowerment is over this product"
Expense management: 1 To limit wasteful spending 2 To keep a record of what is spent; "We must exercise more expense management to make a profit"
Extended price: 1 A high price 2 A price that may be reduced in the future; "The extended price will soon fall"

F

Feel good about: 1 Optimistic 2 Can accept; "Your must feel good about our future"
Financial drag: 1 Expenses that are higher than desired; "Waste is a financial drag on us"
Focused on: 1 Give a great deal of attention to 2 The attention given by some to one of many things; "He is focused on the problem"
Follow up on: 1 To check on progress at a later date 2 To not promise to take any corrective action in the future; "I will follow up on that"
Fox News
FoxNews: 1 Propaganda for the radical right 2 NonStop Republican spin 3 The religious right 4 The more conservative the better; "No one is more conservative than Fox News"
Free seminar: 1 sales presentation; "Come to our free seminar to learn how to buy our product"
Fully paid moving expenses: 1 Pay for some part of each major expense incurred for employee relocation 2 Pay only the minimum fees for services such as moving insurance; "We offer fully paid moving expenses"

G

Get a handle on: 1 Investigate and learn about something when very little is known before hand; "We will respond when we get a handle on that"
Give a comment: 1 To provide words on a topic that may have little or no meaning; "They need to give a comment on that"
Give a talk: 1 To provide words on a topic that may have little or no meaning; "Will you give a talk about your area"
Given a mandate: 1 Told to do something with few employees or resources assigned to the task; "I was given a mandate to do this"
Go a long way toward: 1 Get a good start on; "That will go a long way toward solving this"
Good meeting: 1 A discussion with nothing unexpected happening 2 A uneventful meeting; "That was a good meeting"
Going forward: 1 In the future; "Going forward sales will be up"
Granularity: 1 Detail; "We need to see these reports with more granularity"
Great confidence in: 1 To have a belief that something is likely when little proof may exist; "We have great confidence that you will finish"
Growing: 1 An increase in sales or an increase in the number of employees; "Our firm is growing"

H

Has far too much time: 1 Not busy; "He has far too much time"
Health care delivery system: 1 The medical services (doctors, nurses, hospitals, clinics, equipment, and medicines) available to an employee and the method used to pay for them; "We are currently evaluating our health care delivery system"
Heritage: 1 A firm's traditional lines of business which are rarely abandoned; "We will stick with our heritage"
Hired gun: 1 A consultant with an expertise who may or may not have better knowledge than almost any employee; "Do we need a hired gun"

I

In Depth: 1 To some degree of detail; "It is an in depth report"
In some sense: 1 Partially 2 Related in some way; "We are in some sense better off"
In sourced: 1 Use resources owned by the firm to produce a good or provide a service; "It was in sourced because we had the people"
Interact with: 1 To be in physical proximity to or connected to over some communication medium 2 Some amount of talking with; "They can interact with us"
Internal efficiencies: 1 Reductions in the cost of production whose cost savings may come from a the firing of employees and/or the reduction of plant and equipment; "We have experienced some internal efficiencies"
Is hot: 1 Current and up to date 2 Topical in the media 3 A growing field; "Email is hot"
Issues: 1 Questions 2 Problems 3 Points of disagreement and/or other assorted topics that can be brought up but are rarely disposed of satisfactorily; "These issues need to be handled"

J

Jettison employees: 1 The firing of one or more employees who will not be hired back; "We must jettison employees to reduce costs"
Job ready: 1 A prospective employee with all the required skills 2 Older and more experienced workers 3 Retrained workers; "The applicant is job ready"

L

Lay off
Layoff: 1 A permanent firing of one or more employees 2 A temporary firing where the employees may be hired again; "We lost some good people in the last layoff"
Leaner: 1 A firm with fewer employees and/or less plant or equipment 2 To produce the same amount with fewer people; "We are a leaner company with fewer employees"
Leverage: 1 To use a firm's knowledge to produce a related product or service 2 Attempting to produce more without more plant or equipment; "We can leverage our new knowledge into a new line of business"
Long haul: 1 An extended period of time 2 A period of time long enough to allow a good bit of uncertainty 3 A year or more; "The firm will be better off in long haul"
Long term: 1 An extended period of time 2 A period of time long enough to allow a good bit of uncertainty 3 A year or more; "Invest for the long term"

M

Major player: 1 A firm, union, or other participant which is involved or has some influence; "The firm is a major player in their field"
Makes sense: 1 A logically correct assessment 2 Within the realm of possibilities; "This decision makes sense"
Manage expectations: 1 Limit enthusiasm 2 Prevent over hype 3 Warn customers that their needs may not be satisfied; "We must manage expectations better"
Market research: 1 An investigation of the participants in a market 2 Get some idea of which way trends are headed 3 To find out who else is doing the same thing; "We need some market research before entering that line of business"
Market share: 1 The percent of total market sales 2 A high percent of a market, determined by a more restrictive definition of the market; "Our market share is growing"
Marketing department: 1 A subgroup of employees in a firm which invents strategies for selling the company's products; "Salesmen get their best ideas from the marketing department"
Matrix management: 1 Many employees report to more than one manager allowing each manager to have more employees reporting to him; "He reports to three managers thanks to our matrix management"
Measured: 1 Small 2 Steady 3 Predictable; "We must be patient because of our measured growth"
Milestone: 1 The completion of a part of a project that may be needed by some specific time 2 A point in a project to be reported to management; "We must meet our milestone"
More competitive: 1 To reduce costs by either firing employees and/or reducing plant and equipment 2 A lower price without less profits; "We have become more competitive by cutting costs"
Move on: 1 Take action 2 Put something behind 3 Go on to the next thing; "We need to move on these new contracts"
Mushroomed: 1 Grew large quickly 2 Grew out of control; "We lost control when sales mushroomed"
Multi billion dollar firm: 1 A business with sales of at least two billion dollars 2 A firm with sales or assets of over a billion dollars 3 Any large firm; "More large multi billion dollar firms are moving here"

N

Negative comments: 1 Derogatory statements which are not used or appreciated by management; "Keep your negative comments to yourself"

O

Office politics: 1 The day to day maneuvering to enhance one's position which can lead to favoritism; "He got his promotion due to office politics"
On target: 1 Costs are close to projected costs and/or revenues are close to projected revenues; "Sales are on target"
Opportunity: 1 A problem which does not have a clear solution 2 Someone's assignment; "I gave him an opportunity"
Out placement services: 1 A bundle of services which can include: resume preparation, letter writing, interview training and job opportunity identification; "We provided out placement services to the employees we fired"
Out sourced: 1 Use of resources not owned by the firm 2 Services provided to the firm by suppliers, consultants and temporary employees; "We are producing more because we out sourced"
Overview: 1 A general description of the topic whose goal is not clarity; "The president will provide us with an overview"
Over time: 1 During the next period of time 2 In the future; "Our sales will grow over time"

P

Paradigm shift: 1 A change in the well known typical example 2 Any major change in the generally accepted point of view; "This new product will cause a paradigm shift"
Pare down: 1 The firing of employees and/or the use of less plant and equipment; "We must pare down because of the tight market"
Partner with: 1 A linkage between two firms; "We need to partner with more sales firms"
Pass back to shareholders: 1 Use money to either buy the firm's stock, pay dividends, or in some other way increase payments to the stockholders; "We can pass back to shareholders some of this money"
Payroll orphans: 1 Employees that were fired; "We created several payroll orphans in the last layoff"
Perspective: 1 A point of view; "That's true from your perspective"
Ping: 1 Discuss 2 Mention 3 Verify 4 Notify; "Go ping the accounting group to make sure they have what they need"
Play a role: 1 Take part in 2 Have some influence on 3 Be included; "He can play a role because of his experience"
Position: 1 The firms point of view which usually changes over time; "It has always been our Position to train our employees"
Position a product: 1 An attempt to convince customers that this product will satisfy their desires 2 To differentiate a product from competitors products; "We will position a product at the high price end"
Positive comments: 1 An upbeat view 2 optimistic statements; "We like your positive comments"
Positive tax benefits: 1 A reduction in tax payments; "The new law saves us money because of its positive tax benefits"
Proactive: 1 A step taken before something happens; "We can prevent this by being proactive"
Provide an employee benefit: 1 Give employees something of value. Some are paid for by the firm, the employee, or both. Some are paid by the firm and taxable to the employee. Some are chosen by the employee; "We can provide an employee benefit by allowing our people to buy group life insurance"
Push for: 1 Recommend 2 Suggest to management; "I will push for your promotion"
Put a spin on: 1 Modify a story to make it more favorable; "How can we put a spin on that to make us look good"
Put forward: 1 Assert something as factual; "We can put forward these new statistics"
Put off of work: 1 The firing of employees who may be hired back again; "He was put off of work"

Q

Quite some time: 1 An extended period of time 2 A period of time long enough to allow a good bit of uncertainty 3 A year or more; "It has been quite some time since last years product introduction"

R

Ramping down an operation: 1 The firing of employees and/or the use of less plant and equipment in a particular part of a firm; "We are ramping down an operation to save some money"
Reductions: 1 The firing of employees and/or the use of less plant and equipment; "Our office is experiencing some reductions"
Right sized: 1 The firing of employees and/or the reduction of plant and equipment; "We must right size our operations"
Right questions: 1 Current unanswered questions which may impact a decision 2 Questions that will not be answered at the present time; "Your are asking all the right questions"
Rising tide raises all boats: 1 If the overall picture improves then everyone will benefit, yet some of those on the lowest levels have difficulty identifying their benefit; "Everyone will benefit because a rising tide raises all boats"
Reluctant: 1 Not willing to do something but still open to ideas; "We are reluctant to make any changes"
Renege on: 1 Unable to fulfill a promise 2 To do the opposite of what was promised; "They had to renege on that promise"
Resource: 1 Either an employee or a piece of plant or equipment; "Another resource will be assigned to the project"
Respond: 1 Provide words with little or no meaning as an answer; "We will respond to all your questions"
Responsiveness: 1 The amount of delay before any action is taken 2 An action taken that need not be informative or definitive; "Customer support needs to increase their responsiveness"
Restructuring: 1 The firing of employees and the reorganization of those remaining 2 Some reductions in plant and equipment; "Restructuring will lead to some cost savings"
Rethink: 1 To review a position or policy 2 A possible change in the firm's position or policy 3 A new position or policy; "We will rethink our stance"

S

Sacrifice: 1 The firing of employees and/or the reduction of plant and equipment; "Some sacrifice is needed to increase profits"
Sales department: 1 The subgroup of people in a firm which executes the marketing departments strategies. This group frequently values incentives and rewards; "The sales department must know about our new products"
Share with you: 1 Tell you something 2 Give information that is for you only; "I will share with you my secret"
Shelved: 1 Put away 2 Not used 3 Not under active consideration 4 may never be used; "We have shelved your project"
Short term: 1 A short period of time 2 A period of time short enough to give reasonable assurance of stability; "We will use that in the short term"
Significant Rigor: 1 A non trivial examination; "That will be looked at with significant rigor"
Sit down across a table: 1 Have a possibly confrontational meeting 2 A meeting where some work is planned; "It can be worked out when we sit down across a table"
Situation: 1 A development that is hard to explain away; "We have a situation here"
Speak on a topic: 1 To provide words with little or no meaning on a topic with some minimum amount of time set for this activity; "He will speak on a topic for ten minutes at the meeting"
Spin off: 1 The sale of a part of a firm to new shareholders or to an outside firm; "We will spin off the division to raise money
Squeaky wheel gets the grease: 1 A vital employee can get a raise by asking for it; "He got another raise because the squeaky wheel gets the grease"
Stay abreast: 1 Keep up to date; "Please stay abreast of developments"
Stay on task: 1 Continue on a path toward an objective and not get distracted; "Your can finish if you just stay on task"
Stick to your knitting: 1 Staying with your main lines of business while other lines of business may suffer cutbacks in employees and/or plant and equipment; "We can become profitable if we just stick to your knitting"
Strategic decision: 1 A major choice, usually about what market to be in; "We made a strategic decision to enter that market"
Strong market: 1 Price is rising due to a large or rising demand; "It is in a very strong market"
Substantive: 1 Reality as seen by an unbiased observer and not just the official view of the management; "They have substantive reasons"
Successful meeting: 1 Productive discussion 2 An uneventful meeting 3 A concluded meeting; "We had a very successful meeting"
Supply-Side: 1 The rich and powerful
2 The upper class: 3 High income earners
4 The wealthy: "Supply-side tax cuts benefit the well off and my trickle down to everyone else"
Surplused: 1 The firing of employees and/or the reduction of plant and equipment; "The firm surplused several people"
Suspend Operations: 1 The temporary interruption of normal business activity 2 The permanent closing of an office or plant; "We will suspend operations for now"
Switching gears: 1 Changing the pace 2 Changing the topic; "Next week we will be switching gears"
Synergy: 1 A common attribute 2 The combination of two things could produce more with fewer employees and/or plant and equipment; "The synergy from the merger will lead to some savings"

T

Take care of your concerns: 1 To overcome objections and/or questions 2 Explanations suffice in place of answers; "Let me take care of your concerns"
Take charge of: 1 To take responsibility for an activity 2 To guide the activity; "Please take charge of this project"
Take a position: 1 Have an opinion 2 Have a point of view; "We will take a position on that issue"
Take questions: 1 Listen to questions from one or more people 2 Some response may be offered to each question but none is promised; "I will now take questions"
Task force: 1 A group of employees given the responsibility to research some aspect of a firm's business; "The task force recommended this change"
Team player: 1 Someone who goes along with policies and gets along with others; "He is a good team player"
Termination: 1 The firing of an employee who will not be hired back; "He was given his termination"
Tight supply and demand: 1 A rising price due to both a high demand and a low supply; "We can charge more because of the Tight supply and demand"
Timely: 1 At a time anywhere near when it is needed; "It is a very timely report"
Title sponsor: 1 The firm after which something is named. Firms frequently attach their name to buildings, stadiums, tournaments, and other structures and events; "They are our title sponsor"
Top line: 1 Gross revenues to a firm; "We need to grow our top line"
Track the project: 1 Keep management informed of progress made. Management may feel that the project may not be completed on time; "We must track the project until completion"
Tremendous contribution: 1 Great help in the accomplishment 2 Help from someone who may have been one of many in a group; "Thanks for your tremendous contribution"
Trim costs: 1 The firing of employees and/or the reduction of plant and equipment with a minimum reduction in production; "We need to trim costs"
Trim fat: 1 The firing of employees and/or the reduction of plant and equipment. These were non productive inputs; "We can trim fat to increase profits"

U

Use it in conjunction with: 1 Compatible to some degree 2 Not a seamless integration; "You can use it in conjunction with our product"

V

Value add: 1 Benefit 2 Help; "Where is the value add in having purchasing's opinion?"
Vesting period: 1 The number of years before an employee owns his employer paid benefit 2 The percent owned by the employee that grows over the entire period. This increase is rarely steady and can be from 0 to 10 years or more; "The 401k has a 7 year vesting period"
Viable: 1 Able to last for a least a while; "It is still viable "

W

Want you to feel: 1 Ask you to believe 2 A desire to be believed with little evidence offered; "I want you to feel this"
Weak market: 1 Price is falling due to a low demand; "We can not sell more because of the weak market"
Well behaved price: 1 Stable price 2 A price that is little changed 3 A price which is not falling or rising over time; "We can predict our costs because of the well behaved prices"
Well positioned: 1 Desired by customers 2 A claim to satisfy customer's needs; "Our product is well positioned"
Whittle a department away: 1 Slowly close a part of a firm 2 To gradually fire all the employees in a section of the firm; "We must whittle a department away to save money"
Wider context: 1 A broader point of view 2 Looking at other related topics.; "It is not so important in a wider context"
Work to make it happen: 1 Do all that is necessary to obtain the desired result 2 Do what little may be needed to be done 3 Do nothing to prevent the desired result; "Let's all work to make it happen"

Y

Your take: 1 Opinion 2 Point of view; "Give me your take"

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

A teacher from Primary School asks her students to write an essay about what they would like God to do for them...
At the end of the day while marking the essays, she read one that made her very emotional.
Her husband, who had just walked in saw her crying and asked her: 'What happened?'
She answered, 'Read this. It's one of my student's essays.
"Oh God, tonight I ask you something very special: Make me into a television. I want to take its place. Live like the TV in my house. Have my own special place, And have my family around ME. To be taken seriously when I talk.... I want to be the center of attention and be heard without Interruptions or questions. I want to receive the same special care that the TV receives when it is not working. Have the company of my dad when he arrives home from work, even when he is tired.
And I want my mom to want me when she is sad and upset, instead of ignoring me... And... I want my brothers to fight to be with me... I want to feel that family just leaves everything aside, every now and then, just to spend some time with me. And last but not least make it that I can make them all happy and entertain them...
Lord I don't ask you for much... I just want to live like every TV."
At that moment the husband said:- 'My God, poor kid. What horrible parents!'
She looked up at him and said:- 'That essay is our son's!!!'

Think about this before its too late. This can happen to anyone of us. Take good care of the most beautiful gift that god has given to Human Being. Your Child!!!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

SOA: Overview

A service-oriented architecture is essentially a collection of services. These services communicate with each other. The communication can involve either simple data passing or it could involve two or more services coordinating some activity. Some means of connecting services to each other is needed. Service-oriented architectures are not a new thing. The first
service-oriented architecture for many people in the past was with the use of DCOM or Object Request Brokers (ORBs) based on the CORBA specification.
ServicesIf a service-oriented architecture is to be effective, we need a clear understanding of the term service. A service is a function that is well-defined, self-contained, and does not depend on the context or state of other services.
ConnectionsThe technology of Web services is the most likely connection technology of service-oriented architectures. Web services essentially use XML to create a robust connection.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

How to move to consulting?

Once I was interested in consulting and started thinking to join any consulting organization. During course of the finding the nature of a consultant, I came to know following stuff which are basic requirement of becoming a consultant
You have to become an expert in your subject matter, Take on challenging projects, and Become creative in finding solutions to problems. Attend courses in areas you feel you are deficient, read up on the blogs, get involved in forums, read pdf / books on consulting (i.e. The McKinsey Way and Trusted Advisor, Dangerous Company on “infamous” cases by leading consulting firms.
Take a look at past project documents in your organizations. Look for the original request for proposal (RFP), your company’s response to the proposal and the final solution documents. Try to understand what the challenges were , how they were solved and what the client feedback was.
Work with your business analysts to see how they are capturing client requirements and how they are working with clients to get more information on areas that need digging deeper. Get involved in pre-sales activity such as preparing proposals, meeting clients along with the sales or account teams. Volunteer yourself in writing proposals to get some first hand exposure to “understanding what clients want, formulating a solution and influencing them to buy form you”. These are key skills. Read, understand and practice the 10 important attributes of a consultant. Network in your organization at company events and seek out consulting practice delivery managers. Tell them about your interest in consulting and tell them how what you have done to prepare yourself.
Look at job listings in your company jobs database and apply. However, reaching out to practice leaders may be more effective.
Have a good future in consulting job!

Friday, August 24, 2012

Documentation as one of your deliverables

Document these sorts of things

Requirements (features): Early on in the project, you should define what the client wants the product to do in specific terms. You can generate some requirements initially from brainstorming, but you should also engage your client in nailing down specific use cases to ferret out more detailed requirements. Also, explore all of the edge cases and exceptions that you can. This document should evolve with the project, because you can never know everything up front. Make sure you keep it up to date, because it should serve as the basis for testing and user documentation. The requirements doc can usually become the system documentation at the end of the project.
Constraints: Make sure to express the limits imposed upon the project. What won’t it do? What minimum versions of other software does it need? What features that similar systems might provide are being intentionally excluded from this one? You can often include these constraints as part of the requirements doc.
Commitments: The project schedule needs more than a verbal OK, and so does the allocation of resources. Write it down, whether it’s your commitment or theirs. You don’t necessarily need a formal document — email can work, as long as you can verify receipt and keep it organized for quick retrieval.
Implementation: You should comment code, but only comment the non-obvious. You should assume that the person reading the comments is capable of reading the code, and avoid explaining commonly used algorithms or features of the language (unless they’re esoteric). You should explain “tricks” that might deceive the reader, and algorithms that may be difficult to understand. Most importantly, you should document your intentions — the “why” instead of the “what” or “how”.
Documentation: Yes, you should document your documentation. Provide a map, so when the next person comes looking for something, they’ll know where to look. This can be as simple as a single web page that links to all of the project’s related documents.

What thorough documentation provides you and your client

You know what you’ve got and what you don’t have.
You’ve set clear expectations, so you reduce or eliminate unpleasant surprises.
When someone comes along later to add a new feature, they can tell what’s going on (even when that someone is you).

Include documentation in your contract

Documentation doesn’t magically appear by itself, and I’ve never seen any evidence of the rumored Documentation Elves. So you need to allocate time in the project for writing documentation at all stages. Your client needs to be on board with that resource commitment, so include documentation as one of your deliverables in your contract. It’s a vital part of the product.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Six keys to achieving excellence

We IT people, spends lot of time in front of the Screen, and thereafter, we start to forget small noticeable change in our attitude towards our work with clients which lead to non performance and less opportunity. Here I have identified 6 keys which will help to achieve excellence. I have found them most effective with my clients:

Pursue what you love. Aha, everyone says the same, however it is true that passion is an incredible motivator. It fuels focus, resilience, and perseverance.
Do the hardest work first. We all move instinctively toward pleasure and away from pain. I have found something which is called, delay gratification and take on the difficult work of practice in the mornings, before they do anything else. That's when most of us have the most energy and the fewest distractions.
Practice intensely, without interruption for short periods of no longer than 90 minutes and then take a break. Ninety minutes appears to be the maximum amount of time that we can bring the highest level of focus to any given activity.
Seek expert feedback, in intermittent doses. The simpler and more precise the feedback, the more equipped you are to make adjustments. Too much feedback, too continuously, however, can create cognitive overload, increase anxiety, and interfere with learning.
Take regular renewal breaks. Relaxing after intense effort not only provides an opportunity to rejuvenate, but also to metabolize and embed learning. It's also during rest that the right hemisphere becomes more dominant, which can lead to creative breakthroughs.
Ritualize practice. Will and discipline are wildly overrated. none of us have very much of it. The best way to insure you'll take on difficult tasks is to ritualize them — build specific, inviolable times at which you do them, so that over time you do them without having to squander energy thinking about them.

That’s all from me for this week.

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