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Showing posts from July, 2022

Crisis time - an analysis

 Every software project has crisis now and then. It might be an error in production or last minute issue which is going to derail the plans. Crisis always leaves bitter taste in your mouth.  T0: This is the time when issue is discovered. This is the time when you get that feeling in gut. Something is really wrong and you do not know what to do. It is the time when ... hits the fan. This phase may last for 1 hour to one day. Depends on the team environment and organizational culture. At the end of this phase team informs next level of management.  T1: This is a messy phase. Now issue is escalated. People who do not know anything about the issue are involved and they try to gather information. This can also be called a stampede phase. It is a mad rush with lots of activity. Do this, try this, check this Or checklist followed, process followed etc etc. This is the phase which pulls away key players in different direction. They are not allowed to focus and find a resolution. Towards the en

Learning from mistakes - overrated?

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 People learn from mistakes. Teams learn from mistakes. But they are not the same. Lesson learnt by individual does not have the same value as lesson by a team. Teams tend to learn from the mistakes which they make or experience as a team. These mistakes result in a process to prevent recurrence of the issue. Even if the mistake does not make it to the process it  remains in collective memory of the team. People are cautious of the scenario's which caused it.  Above picture is more opt for repeated tasks and not a good indicator for software development. I have used this picture only to indicate how teams improve quality over time with defined process or team culture.   Teams do not always consider the lessons from the past mistakes. These are treated as lower grade material. These lessons are from another place. Why people tend to discount the lessons from other teams. Probably optimism plays a role here. At this point I do not have a good understanding why people ignore these les

What is on the way?

 What is the next technology that will change our lives?  In year 2000 Java was supposed to take over the world. Vision at that time was to have Java in all devices and it will be interconnected. Your fridge can maintain grocery list and you can place an order from fridge. Your heater can be turned on when you start for your home. Lights can be controlled remotely.  Some of these vision are reality now. It took more than 10/20 years for them to be a reality. There is one more technology coming our way which will change the technology landscape. I am not sure when it will be widely available. I am talking about 5th generation of mobile network.  If we go by the earlier generation it might take more than 10 years. So it might be 2030 when technology based on 5G will be a reality. It took us 10 years to move from 3G to 4G. From the challenges 5G imposes bigger challenge. It requires more cells than 4G. It is harder to have same availability indoors. I think it will be prudent for me to sk