Tag Archives: Thoughts

Celebrating Awesomeness

Mindfireans, Organizations and Leadership, Thoughts, , , , ,

Microsoft MVP


Let us meet someone interesting today.

One of our software engineers at Mindfire, Tadit Dash, was recognized by Microsoft this week as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for South Asian region. His Microsoft MVP profile is here. You can read about Tadit’s journey here in his own words. On tech side, Tadit does his stuff on ASP.NET web development and Dynamics CRM.

It is wonderful to observe Tadit’s enthusiasm and vibrant participation in the global developer community – mostly at CodeProject and also on StackOverflow. Excellent.

Tadit has done all of this while being on projects constantly, and with continuous happy delivery for all projects he has worked on. Brilliant.

When desire and direction combine, time bends to the will.

Tadit is a great example of the type of people we want and love at Mindfire.

People who love technology, people who want to connect, people who want to carve an identity for themselves, people who are responsible, people who are passionate. People who are bound to their own work and talent and reputation and identity – not within the boundaries of an organization or role, but floating on the unchained melody of the unbounded universe.

People who intuitively understand the obvious – things like companies and designation and salary and teams and projects will come and go – what stays with you for your life is the knowledge you gain, the reputation you build, the well-wishers you have, the abilities you possess.

People who see beyond, and rise above. What fate and fortune give, they multiply.

I have never met or spoken with Tadit.

His story inspires me. Coming from the small town of Nayagarh, Tadit joined Mindfire at Bhubaneswar 3 years back. After proving his worth at work, his voluntary energy led to  responsibility for “extra non-work stuff”, and subsequent awards, at Mindfire. He moved ahead to receive a CodeProject MVP award few months back, and now he has received the Microsoft MVP recognition. That’s not all.

He is not only Mindfire’s first Microsoft MVP, but also the first Microsoft MVP from Bhubaneswar, a city with 10,000 software engineers! Wonderful.

If Tadit can do it, so can you and me.

Be awesome. Be Tadit. Look beyond today – build a brilliant tomorrow using today.

Let us think about this story over what is, hopefully, a happy and inspiring weekend.

Cheers!

 

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Reflections on “Queen”

Organizations and Leadership, Thoughts, ,


QueenMoviePoster7thMarchAs with every good movie, the story and characters of “Queen” have subtleties you can reflect on, in different contexts. If you have watched the movie, read on!

Right Person in the Right Place
Whether it is casting Kangana Ranaut as the innocent yet liberal Rani or Lisa Haydon as the wild yet affectionate Vijaylakshmi, or Rajkumar Rao as the suave yet creepy jerk – each actor has been hand-picked to fit their role perfectly. This meticulous job at casting does half the director’s job, with each actor naturally cut out for their character. Actors can adapt, but with natural fit one can get a sense of comfortable flow.

The Past Casts its Shadow
We come across characters whose thoughts and behavior today are driven by their past. Rani goes into her own past often, and learns about past lives of several characters. Taka’s attempts to forget, Oleksander’s desire to do his own bit, Rani’s suppressed self and the joy of new-found freedom – characters perceive and respond based on their past. The past is a prism on to the present.

People and Circumstances
While going to visit Roxette in a shady area of Amsterdam, Rani comments that this is perhaps the wrong place – obviously a little unsettled by the environment. Once she meets Rukhsar (aka Roxette), she recognizes a person making a living the best way she can. And in that moment, she understands in her liberal mind that the person and place are different. Circumstances are not the same as a person.

Life has to Go On
An individual, a family, a team, an organization, a country – every now and then each of these have to leave the past behind and move on. The plastered hostel walls are a way for residents to leave a piece of their soul behind when they vacate, so that they may move on and renew their soul without any baggage of the past. You have to respect yet bury the past when it is time to change.

Accepting Differences
Rani meets people who are very different from herself. The bohemian free-wheeling Vijayalakshmi, the pole-dancing Rukhsar, the male friends who live with her and accompany her to a kink shop – these are all new people from a very different world than hers. Yet she connects with them at a deeper level. The people she rejects are the socially acceptable superficial people she knows since years – Vijay and the rest of his clan. Shared human values triumph over language and nationality and other artificial differences.

Craftsmanship
The Italian chef, Marcello, treats his food as his creation, one that has his spirit and soul. It is work born out of love, not for money alone. Rani’s attempts to change it to suit her taste causes him to react strongly – he loves his creation so much that he cannot tolerate disrespect or disfigurement! You react only when you are emotionally invested in your work, else you are indifferent to opinions. Craftsmanship and pride go together.

Money and Value
Marcello does not want Rani’s money for food she didn’t like and didn’t eat. He tries returning it right away, unsuccessfully, but remembers and returns it next time he meets her. Money that comes without any value being delivered is just money, not worthy money. Whereas money is just money when it is used (as Roxette expresses about the money she sends home), it may or may not be worthy when received. To desire only money we are worthy of, and truly earn and deserve, is character.

Quality Speaks for Itself
When Rani’s gol-gappas become a hit, one can trace it to one individual asking for a trial. And while the immediate reaction was disappointing, he goes on to enjoy it – so much so that he asks for repeats. Quality speaks for itself, and is helped along by word-of-mouth, and soon her stall is thronged by customers. Sounds far-fetched but anyone who has had gol-gappa/puchka/gupchup) will agree whole-heartedly! Good stuff can stand its ground.

 

Now let us take our musings one more step. If you were leading an organization, a team, a mission, yourself…
How would you ensure people are in just the right role where they can bloom and flourish?
How would you appreciate people better based on their past life experience?
How would you separate your view of people from circumstances?
How would you shed the past when moving in a new direction?
How would you recognize and accept people very different from yourself?
How would you build a desire for, and a sense of, pride in work?
How would you create a sense of self-respect – money is to be earned not received?
How would you make quality stuff the world wants more of?

And if you could succeed at the above, wouldn’t you have built a superlative unit?

 

Enough said, hope you just enjoyed the movie!

 

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Common Sense vs Bureaucracy

Thoughts, ,

An organization gets bureaucratic with age. Meaningless rules and policies are thrown around, often ignoring common sense. I came across an instance recently, and wondered what we were thinking.

One of our years-old, loyal clients worked with a specific team for few months. Things were done and sealed, and when they shifted their back-end from a local server to the cloud (who isn’t doing that nowadays?) some things stopped working. The client reached out to the technical lead they had interacted with.

He was met with a curt “the developer is working on something else” – and of course policies forbid us from having him help on anything else. No remorse, no work-around, no investigation, no solution. More importantly – no empathy or understanding of the customer situation.

Obviously the irate client voiced his displeasure. Things were done and all it took was a couple hours. But it left a very bad taste in the mouth.

Why was this necessary? What was on the minds of people? That once a project is over we are not responsible? That a customer should be made to pay for every small thing? That avoiding a headache is better than understanding what the problem was? That policies are useful to throw around as excuses?

Why am I relating age to this? Well, think of a young group of hungry people. Would they dare to imagine saying a curt “No” to a loyal past (and potentially future) client? Or would they go out of their way to fix the problem at hand?

Often, clients prefer Mindfire due to our age (almost 15 years!), our stability and proven delivery. Buf if we lose common sense – the hunger to do the right thing – clients should go to younger hungrier (albeit riskier) companies!

Of course we don’t want one customer to pay for time that goes toward solving someone else’s problem. But isn’t it common sense that if something has gone down, a solution has to be found promptly? But do we have strait-jacketed developers who won’t put in an extra couple hours (night? weekend?) to help a situation? Or will the current customer say no to some hours being transparently redirected, with appropriate discounting if necessary?

Solutions are hidden in plain sight. Excuses are also conjured out of the same thin air.

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Software QA Engineers

QA Persona

Software Quality, , , ,

Does designation define personality or  personality defines designation ?  Confused? Either ways you think, you are absolutely correct. Every professional in this world has some sort of personality that differentiates him/her from the crowd. The reason for this may vary, either they have made themselves to appear so or their profession demands it. In this modern IT market, software QA engineers are the demand of the growth made in this field. They need to possess most or all of the following traits to be highly successful in this field.

“WHY” factor

QA TestingI strongly believe that ‘if you have the strong sense of WHY, you can create a beautiful result. Always possess a mind of valid WHY, you should not merely accept anything served in your plate. Try always to clear your WHY card, if that is done you can come up with productive ideas and solutions. You should not pretend as if you are through to any concepts or knowledge transferred, just to leave an fair impression. You should understand that you are here to add value to the project. Ask yourself until you get familiar with every aspect of the project you are assigned with. Remember this simple WHY as the capability to unearth a whole lot of information.

Assumptions:

QA Testing

A software QA engineer never assumes anything while performing his task. So he never make an ASS out of U and ME because that is how it is spelled. Since childhood we are used to assume some facts in order to proceed with the problems, even the world’s greatest theorems are formulated on assuming some facts. Let me figure out the things a layman assumes while filling up a simple registration page

  • Name text box should contain only alphabets
  • Mail ID should be in a proper format([email protected])
  • Fields marked with asterisk(*) are mandatory to be filled.
  • Address line should be separated by using comma or space.

A layman simply applies the common sense which is still not common to find. But just think if the application accepts invalid email ID, mandatory fields can be left blank or if the date of birth accepts future date and many more. This all can lead to troublesome situations. A product is made for the market and you cant expect that he will have the required common sense to use the product. Thus a big question mark arises for the quality of the product, you need to put yourself into various categories of user’s shoes so that you can test the product in all aspects.

Down to Earth

A software QA Engineer is supposed to be unpretentious, approachable and genuine. S/he understands that s/he is the voice of the end users. S/he is here to make the software better. There are often situations when s/he needs to go against a team of developers. If s/he stops reporting a set of bugs with a assumed notion that development team wont put an eye upon them, then it may lead to troublesome situations in a long run. So in order to deal with such situations he needs to possess strong convincing skills so that he can convince the developers and sometimes clients for the changes to be made in the project.

Eagle’s eye

QA TestingThis analogy works well with software QA engineer,he needs to possess eagle’s eye to become super star in the field of Quality Assurance. Many a times most severe bugs surpass our eyesight if we just have an overlook of a product or application and thus risking the product’s quality. As an QA engineer we need to deeply investigate the project in every aspect. We need to uncover the hidden bugs which can have an severe impact later on if it is not fixed in the initial phase of the development cycle. So he needs to be in proper sync with the development cycle so that bugs cannot be carried forward.

Strong Communication:

A software QA engineer needs to communicate with various individuals involved in software development cycle in day to day agenda. S/he is involved in communicating the bugs discovered, the enhancements required etc not only to the development team but also to the client. In his day to day curriculum he needs to prepare Test Cases, File and report bugs. So he needs to be strong in written communication. If in any situation there is a deviation from this then it may lead to Communication Gap and thus ultimately risking the product’s quality.

These are the traits which I find most important to be there in an QA engineer. S/he is supposed to wear several hats while working. S/he is the Quality manager, customer service, tech savvy user, non tech savvy user, angry user, lazy user and last but not least the quality assurance engineer. Many a times s/he has to change her/his thoughts mid-stream, and adopt a different point of view in order to get the job done properly. To most extent a company’s brand solely lies upon her/him. So, above all s/he has to work keeping in mind the company’s image.

 

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Testing at Mindfire

When in Testing do as the Testers do!!!

Software Quality, , , , ,

Its high time to bridge a gap between theoretical knowledge and real world implementation.
If you are new to testing domain and just trying googling out the real meaning and approach of testing below are few points which I feel will be handy for a beginner.

– Prepare test cases or a checklist for the project you are assigned in. Include all the test scenarios you can think of. Yes you are thinking right!

 

P.S. All the positive and negative scenarios. 🙂

For beginners – Test a simple ’email log in’ page!
What all scenarios you guys can think of!Yes you are going on right track.. whatever weired comes to your mind..Just do not stop playing around.

P.S. Let the application crash!!! 🙂

– Start performing tests , find and report bugs but hang on always remember there’s no end to bugs i.e. you can never say ‘This application is bug free’!!

P.S. Cant help it! 🙁

– Step into Customer’s shoes ; feel like a lay man and you will be amazed to see the number of bugs you come across.

P.S. Do not end up stepping on toes! 🙁

– Be Creative in your approach ; while writing test cases or preparing a check list. Do not assume.

P.S. Assumptions is the mother of all mistakes! 😉

– Start Suggesting ; Dig into the details and get to know the product’s functionality and general behaviour. This will enable you to add value and suggest new features and enhancements to your product.

P.S. A smart move it is! 😉

Last but not the least..

– Follow Processes ; Stick to the organisation standards and guidelines and process of QA testing.

P.S. Follow the process and find as many bugs you can..after all we are a part of software QA testing team !! 🙂

Happy Testing!!! 😀

Author – Anisha Nayak

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I am in Mindfire Solutions and I am a Winner

Software, Thoughts, , , , , ,

Winning is a special thing. In every aspect of life winning gives a satisfaction, endless happiness and helps  prepare a path by showing a ladder of success to the next level. And of course , winning moments are the best moments in life. It has been more than a year since I am associated with Mindfire Solutions and I feel like a winner. Because being a part of a winning team makes you feel like a winner and Mindfire Solutions is a winner for 2012. It is not just me and my co-workers saying it, leading management consulting firms and industry leaders say it too.

Continue reading I am in Mindfire Solutions and I am a Winner →

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Why Do You Do Things You Do?

Few things to consider before testing any application

Software Quality, Thoughts, , , , ,

I have a wall-pWhy Do You Do Things You Do?aper on my desktop which says: – “Why Do You Do The Things You Do” which forced me to write something like this which i feel should be considered before testing any application: –

1. Learning: – Analyze your test results thoroughly. Do not confuse yourself with ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ but finding the root reason of ‘fail’ or ‘pass’ will give you an idea for the solution of the problem. Testers knowledge increases by sending solutions for the problem

2. 100% of anything is not possible so having 100% test coverage is not possible but we can try to touch 99% of perfection.

Continue reading Few things to consider before testing any application →

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decision making

Nature of Decision Making

Thoughts,

decision makingDecision making is believed to be an art than a science. The reason is that very fundamental decisions are taken at the planning stages which are difficult to conceive and later implement.

One cannot lay down a structure and say this is how you can solve a problem. In fact the nature of decision, the circumstances in which these are taken and the variety of ways in which these can be implemented are so spread that we can pinpoint certain aspects to think in decision making. The endeavor of this is to build a structure around decision making so that one can understand its nature, function and implementation more clearly and help in decision making.

Some of the guidelines of decision making are listed below: Continue reading Nature of Decision Making →

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