New Home

We were having two centers one in HB Estate Sonegaon and one at STPI Sadar and everybody was waiting for shifting to new premises. We shifted to new premises team by team in couple of months to our new infrastructure.
A big building located in STPI parsodi. Now we have Lighthouse, Persistent Systems like software companies around us.
It looks huge starting from the front elevation. The building has four floors and we are accomodated in the first two floors for now. The construction of another two floors is going on war footings.
As soon as we enter the main door we can see the elegant reception area.

The front portion of the building in the reception area is glass. Decorative mural on the walls and decorative hangings.

It feels good just by looking at the building. There is a feeling of pride to work here in the elegant professional environment.

I can see people have started working with increased energy. There is certainly effect of the environment on your working energy. I can see people loving their work environment more that before.

I am loving it.

with regards
Tushar

Task Assigned

When a task is assigned to us it is expected that we will turn up with the completed task and the relevant deliverables at the end of scheduled time. From the time of task being assigned to us and till the the time task is delivered it is our responsibility to execute the task. We are the full in charge for this part of the work and we are the King of the situation.

We have all the powers to make this execution smooth or blow it up. The task can be delivered in time with no pressure or it can get late with lots of pressure from the Project Manager for the deliverables. My point is what will happen with my task is a choice I can make. Yes this is very much a choice!

When a task is assigned to me it is not always completely known to me.

(Image courtesy Josh Russell)

The magnitude of work involved is hidden and the scheduled time alloted to the task is a estimate, which can be a good estimate according to the past experience of the designer or Project Manager. But as soon as I receive that task it becomes my responsibility to make the task successful and for this I must know all the things which must be delivered for this task.

We can do that through study of the task and finding out hidden activities involved in the task. These activities can be easily tracked by reverse engineering the acceptance criteria for the task. many a times the acceptance criteria is not clearly laid out. The acceptance criteria is a vital thing for any task and must be very clearly laid out. If our task has no clear acceptance criteria it is already on a failure track.

To write down the acceptance criteria getting it accepted by the Project manager and then reverse engineering the acceptance criteria will lead us to many hidden activities and constraints we have to encounter while doing this task.

(Image courtesy StormCab)

This was the actual form of the task becomes clear in front of us. Most of the times what we receive and what we derive from it by reverse engineering the acceptance criteria is way too different. Now comes the planning for task execution. If we just start doing the task and believe that it will get completed as scheduled, trust me, it will never happen like that.

The complete task even if it is all clear in front of us still is a vague target unless divided into smaller achievable milestones. So the complete task must be divided into smaller tasks and this becomes our Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

Yes we must also make a WBS out of our assigned task, and start tracking the milestones.

(Image courtesy Michael)

When we have smaller task-lets with us to complete it is easier to target the completion. If we make it a point to complete the schedule task-let in its time and it does not get completed we will have to take extra efforts to complete it. But this extra effort will be less as compared to the complete task getting into fire. This extra effort is required only for this chunk of the task and once it is completed the task is again on track. I call this distributing the pressure. So by making a WBS we not only distribute the task into task-lets we also distribute the pressure it may generate at the time of task getting late.

So even if we get a huge burger to eat, the efficient way to finish the burger is to cut it into smaller packets and eat one packet at a time, celebrate the completion of that part and then move on to eat the next one. Eventually the burger will be done, and the task is delivered as it was scheduled.

All are happy :)

with regards
Tushar

Being SMART with SmartBook

Being CMMi certified makes processes available for most of the tasks we do in our company. When ever I start a new task and I need guidelines I know one important place in our company where to look for help. It is the process documents area created by SEPG. This is an area where the documents are kept arranged according to process areas. There are folders for each process area. Then there are documents for special practices and general practices arranged in a customized manner aligned with the tasks we do in our company.

(Image courtesy Manu Contreras)

The beauty of CMMi processes is we can modify and align our processes according to our needs. I dont know if this is also a part of standards but the SEPG team has come up with a name to the process documents area. We call it our SmartBook.

SmartBook is the area where we can find processes. We can find checklists. We can find guidelines to do our day to day tasks easily and with standards.

(Image courtesy bjortklingd)

Before starting any task I need a checklist for all the items which will be required and all the steps which are a must for the task. I reach immediately to the SmartBook and check if there is a checklist available, a guideline document, a template if available. Most of the times I find a checklist, a template a guideline document available to start with.

Once I thought if there is no checklist available for my task and it has emerged as a vital task then what to so. SEPG told me to create the checklist and submit to SEPG which will get reviewed by some seniors and it will get included in the next version of SEPG. Now that is really cool. The SEPG documents are constantly reviewed and improved by the SEPG team and all the employees of the company in this way. There is an index of all the documents we call it Apex manual. This Apex manual is updated twice a year.

This apex manual also states our Quality Policy. Our quality policy is SMART. I mean really SMART.

Infospectrum Quality Policy

• S - Systematic and disciplined approach in whatever we do
• M - Monitor and control benchmark to ensure quality
• A - Accent on customer needs and quality assurance
• R - Redefine processes that are not producing high-quality products
• T - Training for employees to learn both the importance of quality and how to measure it

with regards
Tushar Joshi, Nagpur

Signed with responsibility

In all the tasks we do in our day we can always find ways to improve the way we do things. It all boils down to defining a process, maintaining the process and keep improving the process for each and every task we do to reach near to idea goal .

There are certain things when I see them I can just say this must be done by a certain person. The way how it was executed many a times shows the person who has done this. There is a sign of the person who did the thing attached with all the things. Whether we do this by our own or not there remains some mark of the doer.

If we understand and take the ownership of leaving that sign we can improve the way it is done. Any thing which comes to my desk shall be done in a certain way and shall leave my desk with my mark on it. Mark of being done with a specified standard.

(Image courtesy Luca Zappa)

This is like applying a checkpost for all the things coming to me and getting delivered by me. If I am delivering something with my name and seal, then it must be of a particular standard. It must not be below that standard ever.

(Image courtesy Curt)

The process is to have a standard first which we can apply on things. Then the next step is improving and raising that standard by constant analysis. The improvement in the standard can be done by acting on the received feedback on the earlier delivered things.

So anything which goes through my review will have a hidden sign "Reviewed by Tushar Joshi" and any thing which is delivered by me will have sign "Made by Tushar Joshi" and others start noticing the quality and standard way of the deliverables automatically.

with regards
Tushar

Personal Standards

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Infospectrum, our company is CMMi level 3 and we are now in the process of getting CMMi Level5. Becoming CMMi certified is all about defining, maintaining and improving processes while working in company.


As with any process the whole thing works only if it starts from each individual contributor. The success of company is aggregation of individual successes of all the individuals working for the company. We can track down processes to the individual levels and follow them. A process is a way to extract out the repetitive task from the brain on paper so we become free to invest our brain in more creative tasks. Once the process is set we can rely on the process to take care of the repetitive things and we have space to innovate.

Our personal standards reflect in our processes. I am referring to personal processes. Shall we have personal processes? Actually we always have them in one or the other way. If we start writing them on paper and explicitly making them visible they will help us simplify many day to day tasks.

One of my personal standard is to provide productive 8 hours to the company. So my process is now starting time + 8 hours + 1 hour lunch time + 30 minutes snacks time, which makes the required time as 9 and 1/2 hours. So with this formula I already know the time which I must invest in office to make it productive 8 hours. This calculation sets the exit time very clear in my mind so it does not distract me for any thing other than project tasks till that time. Sometimes when the scheduled tasks get done early than the calculated exit time, I can plan to complete some of the next days tasks in the remaining hours to utilize the remaining time. This way even if there is time available due to early completion of scheduled task it gets utilized and not lost. This can only be achieved by the internal process of setting the exit time.



As CMMi says having processes defined is the first step and we must keep on improving on the processes. Same applies with the personal standards and process. We must keep raising our own standards and keep competing with ourselves, and keep breaking our own records.

with regards
Tushar

(Image courtesy Callum Alden)

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Fired for web browsing

There is a news about an employee getting fired due to excessive web browsing. Web browsing at work which is not related to the work is really waste of employer's time. With this thought the concept of earning your pay check concept comes to mind again. If we are browsing other than work in office hours then it is just entertainment and that is not what we get paid for.

Main point is that the employee who got fired was having so much time to browse wed sites. Either this means he was not having work or he was not doing his assigned work.

When it comes to our own browsing habits, as soon as we find ourselves browsing anything un-related to work it is time to note that we don't have work assigned to us or we are just not doing the work assigned to us. Both things are bad for us. I agree to one of my friend commenting on browsing habits of software engineers as a royal hideout to run away from the real world.

While browsing the internet as you can control what you want to see you never get bored. It remains interesting all the time and you can kill as much time as you can on internet. It is like a cyber dungeon which can keep you feel you are doing very important things when it actually is just killing your time.

with regards
Tushar


(Image courtesy Paul Sapiano)

Introspection

Exciting fact of corporate life is appraisal. Salary appraisal and performance appraisal. When it is your time HR department starts asking you about what you did in the past appraisal period? What you did which was expected? What you did which was out of the way? What was the value add you have provided in the appraisal period?

If you have not kept a record of the things you have done then this is not a simple task. What you can remember is just the last project you worked on, just the last 15 days of your corporate life. Oh God! How to recollect all the things done in the appraisal period? There must be some things which were done above expectations, there must be certain things done below expectations.

There is one way to recollect these things in an indirect manner. Just fire your email software and start looking at the archives of corporate mail. Fortunately we retain each and every mail we sent and received at least for 2 years. Going through each and every mail you start recollecting the incidences and the projects you worked on. You also recollect the special request you received for attending a client meeting at 10pm in office. You recollect there was a mail asking about the low quality of documentation from SEPG. This opens the whole appraisal period in front of you and you just have to keep noting down the points to elaborate on them and here you go, you have all the data as was required.

But this shall be the last method to do this thing. We must maintain our own track record. Usually as soon as you have gone through one appraisal you already know what needs to be recorded on a day to day basis. We shall have a log book of our highlights and lowlights where we shall log in our accomplishments and also our learning points.

Appraisal is a time when we can introspect our work life. We can think and plan for better productivity and things which will add more value to our deliverables.

with regards
Tushar Joshi, Nagpur


(Image courtesy Justin Hall)

Managing Expectations

As soon as a task is alloted to you to act upon, it is very necessary to understand the scope of the task and also about what is expected out of the task. The important thing to note down is the acceptance criteria. When a Manager or Technical lead assigns a task the acceptance criteria plays a vital role. It tells us what to do and what not to do in the task.

The things to note before the task execution is started are

• Input:
• What are the references?
• What are the assumptions?
• What are the constraints of the task?

• Output:
  
• What are the deliverables?
• The form of the deliverables?
• Scope and depth of the deliverable if it is a document.

If these things are not clear there is no point in starting the task. If you must start this must be conveyed to the Manager or Technical lead and it must be made clear that there can be an impact on the schedule if these things are not made clear soon.

The performance is measured according to how efficiently we manage the expectations of Manager. There may be situations when the assigned task looks simple and doable at first but when we actually start doing, it emerges as a challenge and difficult to complete. This point is the most crucial point of the expectation management concept. The fact that the task has become challenging is a risk item and must be raised before the Manager so it can be escalated or can be managed.

We must clearly state the fact that the task has become challenging and it seems difficult to achieve in the given time. At the most what will happen is, that the Manager will ask us to do our best and come up with the solution even if it takes additional efforts from our side. I agree that we may need to pour additional efforts into the task sometimes but this remains in the knowledge of the Manager that you have done extra work.

If the challenge or risk is not conveyed than the Manager remains with the feeling that the task is progressing and in the end when it is discovered that the task has not been completed then that failure is attributed to the concerned developer. Even if the developer has worked hard to achieve some part of the task somehow, the efforts are not appreciated, instead the non completion of the task is attributed to the developer.

We as a developer has tendency to jump into the coding mode and start coding but this ground work of getting the INPUT and OUTPUT right in front of us is very necessary and are part of expectation management.

A developer who raises flags well in advance in time, who manages expectations is seen as a good performer.



with regards
Tushar

(Image courtesy Stephen Martindale)

People you can trust

What I like most about Infospectrum is it is lead by professionals. Suresh, Jay, Nitin, Anand, Pramod have the passion to run the organization and they provide role model for us.

I experience true flat structure here and find myself talking with Jay many a times casually about work and experience. They are available to us all the time to guide and help when needed. Still they do not come in our way and lead us to live professional life by making us achieve our goals ourselves.

Reporting to people who themselves are techie is a blessing. They know your pain and can provide answers before you ask them. They just know what you are going through. Harsh praised about Infospectrum when I was about to join and I can feel his words were so true.

I have got very good friends like Harsh and Saurabh while I work here. There must be many more kept in the future of Infospectrum for me and everybody.

Tushar Joshi, Nagpur

Making most out of available time

When we talk about 8 productive hours we try to confirm our time is spent towards work and towards earning our paycheck honestly. Thinking about personal goals and planning may not come under this criteria and can be seen as improper usage of time if done in work hours.


Saurabh, Harsh and I have found out a way of spending an hour together talking about personal goals and still making sure that we do not use this one hour from our usual work hours. We do this through lunch meetings. We take lunch together with a predefined agenda about the meeting.

Over the lunch we complete our agenda planned for the meeting which gives us a nice lunch with people we like to work with and also some personal goals and roles planning.

I liked this idea of lunch meeting and investing one hour with friends and making most out of that one hour.

Tushar Joshi, Nagpur

(Image courtesy bandita)

Infospectrum, A spectrum of possibilities

I work at Infospectrum. Infospectrum India Private Limited, is where I work in day time as my main job. This is my first post on this blog (obviously).

I must write the standard disclaimer here before I write anything about Infospectrum that all the views expressed here in this blog are purely mine and my employer Infospectrum has nothing to do with them. Etc, Etc.

with regards
Tushar