Tuesday, 10 April 2007

Leaders are honest

With Regards to my earlier Post on Leader's or Manager's I thought I would also introduce you to something called as true values for the Ultimate Leaders...

Yesterday's Interview with Pranab was one such experience where you identify how true leaders think.... when asked about why he does not want to be a People Manager his answer was "I can't show the Path to my collegues which does not exists" which means that "I can't lie them about their growth prospects when I dont know much about it".... This is where you see leadership quality... I felt nice when I heard this honest statement...

True Leaders dont want to show Mirage to the Team or rather give false or faulty assurances... this is the last thing they would want to do... I have seen Managers who make false promises just to get the work done or to manage the time... they just cant be Leaders.... they can satisfy one or some but cannot be an Ideal role model...

Leaders need to Honest... they need to show the way that can be achieved and they need to know what it will be like ahead.... You Dont know You shut your mouth and look for answers is the right attitude...

Hope we generate more leaders and leaders with right attitude in this industry...

Regards
Sameer Shaikh
http://sameer-shaikh.blogspot.com

Monday, 9 April 2007

Going Digital

Finally I found the resource who will convert my first 100 pages to a digital form... I mean convert my book to a ebook by End of April or Mid of May.... this resource is a girl who just finished her 10th Grade exams and will be free for the next 2 months ... ofcourse her Mom and Dad promised that they will review the Book as well ;)

I should have thought this earlier ;)

Thursday, 5 April 2007

Enthusiasm at Work?

I was reading through a document that we use as a Template to set the KRA's for every member of the Team... one of the points this template carries is "Entusiasm at Work" unfortunately after so many reviews and revivals there is still lot of confusion in minds... I thought I would really define what it means when you say "Enthusiasm"

For me Enthusiasm at Work means:

1. Finishing the work in given time rather than being on time at work..
2. Calling in to say that "I want to come to work today because I like to work here" and not calling in to say "I will be late since I am not well but I will be in office today" ;)
3. Enjoying what you do and letting others enjoy what you do.. not letting others do things just to enjoy it.
4. Creating Humour rather than cracking jokes
5. Listening others rather than doing all the talks
6. Lifting the SHIT than distributing Sweets.. (Martin that's for you ;))
7. Sometimes sitting idle and quite and watch others... than quitely watching others sit idle
8. Sharing the experience for others to learn than letting others share their experiences only
9. Running around the office just to breathe the fun than going around to keep an eye on others.
10. walking to the desks than sending emails or chat msgs.

All but a few can be put up here.... since I am blogging right in the heart of peek work hours...

Keep bruising....

Values and Goodwill

"30-40% of the Reason why I joined the Company was because of Vipin" said Savio..
"And why is that?" : Me
"He told me about about the people and organisation and the values of the people working here... and it wasnt difficult to make a decission, specially when you know that a Security Guard who is on Contracted work is so happy the Employess must really be Happy too... and the organisation really has something in it.. " says Savio...

I am sure when the values are clear and the principles been set, the Goodwill and Success is just the next automated step... I am Glad that I am getting to work with a Team who has a great Value and leaderistic principles...

Regards
Sameer Shaikh

Friday, 30 March 2007

Leaders or Managers?

A few months ago we had a huge long discussion between Kari and Me on the roles and qualities of the Managers or Leaders.... honestly here we were talking about the combinations we always wanted to have in the Sr. members of our Team or empower them to achieve those combinations...

Though Kari had a broad vision about Who , How and When? I estimeed it to be a task to identify the right skill with the right quality that can Grow the Team... I am sure you will agree with me that "Team Building" is no more a task now(specially after 1 1/2 yrs)...

Here are the Best ways to differentiate the Leaders and the Managers in your Team...

Managers
1. They Manage (themselves, others, expectations and results ) ;)
2. They provide the vision
3. They Monitor they need to be have a control
4. They facilitate
5. They Mock the process
6. They show the way

Leaders
1. They Drive (themselves and others to success)
2. They create or share the vision
3. They do things and let others do the same
4. They act and react
5. They practice the process
6. They create a way

Not that I am saying that the Managers or the Leaders are good or bad .. you definately need certain combinations to get out of the way towards sucess...

Wednesday, 28 March 2007

Principles and Practice

Yesterday I heard the Lift Man in the office premices talking to one of the collegues on how to operate a lift.... whoa one lesson a day, and I know some operations already ofcourse with some access keys ;)

So the point here is how we confuse or differentiate in the 2 so very easy and often used terms called "Practice" and "Principles". Too often we don't understand what they mean and quite oftenly we derive them as we want... Now why the Hell is this topic in the PM Blog?? of so here is the reason why... 3 things I always feel are very important part of the Agile Teams... 1. Practice 2. Principles and 3. Values.Lot of you might or might not agree, but honestly I have heard wrong meanings so many times... I thought I would really clarify what it means: ...

Practice :- Something that we follow as routines, tasks that are repeated again and again and again ...

Principles :- Something I would say a set of ethical actions or laws defined ... obviously the dictionary.com would mean it as a Leader .... but the context we are using it doesnt really fit that to be described as a leader ;)

OK... so coming back how does the marriage between them works? So a practice is really something that is being carried on the basis of a defined principle... dont understand? To make sure you get the work done complete and in time you define a set of rules that needs to be carried away (that's principle !!!! Now you know?) and to achieve this goal of completing things on time you make sure you practice the principles that are laid down...

Now why I thought of writing this? Today I was trying to ask Savio about using the DB Units or Cactus with our application (they are extended from the JUnits and something we are trying to move towards to achieve the test Driven Development) and he made a statement that really triggered the feeling that there is something missing... I am copying the chat as it is
"Savio says : If we are thinking seriously of get the unit-tests working, then we need to first move the unit-tests to use a DB and to get rid of the mocks..."

It might not make right sense to you if you read it as it is .. the meaning has a deeper breadth.... To me it means that if you want to Practice the Unit Tests correctly .. you need to define the principles correctly .... Wow... what a success this is... The Fact that such a tricky thing is understood in such a clear word... what he said later is below:

"Savio says Only after that should we think of moving up stream and getting extensions like dbUnit and Cactus into the picture..."

Now it probably makes it clearer.

So the Rule of POLY BOLY says that Practice the principles and make sure that the principles are evaluated... only then Practices can produce something that can effect positive values...

Regards
Sameer Shaikh
http://sameer-shaikh.blogspot.com