QA Heaven

If Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Larry Page & Steve Jobs were Sri Lankans

2011-10-06T08:39:00.000+05:30

By age of thirteen I queried my then science teacher, can’t we use the running trains produce electricity. My question was based on few things;

I saw the dynamo’s attached to foot cycles generating little electricity to lit lamps
I knew that turbines at the hydro power plants too having a same mechanism
Most of the Sri Lankan trains ran with either one or two engines wit 6 – 12 passenger cars by that time, my whole idea was to attach super efficient dynamos to these cars and generate enough electricity to power the engines

By hearing this idea, my science teacher laughed at me…

He said it can’t be done and it’s not practical…

But I am glad to see hybrid vehicles running on the roads…

By age of sixteen, I queried my computer tutor whether we can host a website using a dynamic IP… with a smile, he mentioned the fact that we can’t and it need a fixed IP and blah.. blah.. blah..

In 1999 world saw the first router with the Dynamic DNS support and it answered my question…

When I was doing the A/L (by age of 18), I’ve asked my Chemistry and Physics teachers, whether we can use radioactive materials (either Thorium or Uranium or Plutonium) to run passenger vehicles… Again the answer was very simple and said “No”… Their answer was, “Can you fix such a large reactor to a car?”…

But this too seems possible thanks to the extensive research - http://www.caradvice.com.au/132921/the-thorium-powered-car-eight-grams-one-million-miles/

These are just examples of “How lack of research support affects the futures of different countries”. Some countries and individuals are so lucky and having the access to all the supportive sources while others are not.

Now he country talking about a “Knowledge Economy” and ”One Billion Dollar” revenue within few years time. Sadly there is no support to the young entrepreneurs or to the IT/IS industry.

None of the Banks or the VC funds locally yet to grant a startup capital to the IT/IS segment
Country’s only incubator facility non functioning after - 3 years of operations
Laws and regulations affecting the real estate’s too hurting the entrepreneurs (Banks are valuate the lands and properties using centuries old calculations. Say you bought a property worth 15 million and reach the bank next day to mortgage it. They will value it at well below the 10 million and then check your credit worthiness before granting the loan. If this property comes under vihara devala act, your luck will be “0”.
Then let’s talk about the stock market. Everyone knows the secret of Warren Buffet’s success is from the stock market. IN Sri Lanka, this sector too corrupted and full of cronies. If a dictator (someone dictates the CSE) notices someone (a new comer) gains sharply, there will be a master plan to chase him out from the market.

Let’s get back to the topic. If these guys were Sri Lakans, none of them would achieve their goals and would become success stories.

Do you beleive "Agile" for everything?

2010-02-06T03:44:00.001+05:30

Agile? Agility? Scrum?

Hmm…

These are the words in most of the software professionals’ mouth in these days…

Better to know what it is and how to apply it… Else story would be similar to this…

I still feel that people should know when to apply agile concepts and when it should not…

Just see the video… You can get an idea about the whole point…

Lets start the conversation trail from there onwards….

BAs Adding Value to Projects

2010-01-20T01:59:00.005+05:30

Nice article.

Decided to share it with my friends.
Especially with the those who willing to pursue a career in Business Analysis, Consultancy and Testing.

Written by Ian Partridge

I'm sure there must be a thesis somewhere on this question: How do you know whether a specific decision or action definitely influences the actual event? I like soccer analogies - in a pre-World Cup game against Argentina, Sven-Goran Eriksson then manager of the English national team, was praised for his tactical decision to bring on Peter Crouch and the 3-2 victory that resulted. Yet, Eriksson was slated for poor substitution decisions during the actual tournament when those decisions did not lead to a more positive outcome. In truth, can you really prove these decisions have either a positive or negative outcome? England may have beaten Argentina without the introduction of Crouch and, during the World Cup, the outcome of the games could have been even worse if the substitutions hadn't been made!

I would like to think deliberate decisions and actions can influence a positive outcome, and I especially believe this is the case when business analysts work on projects and are able to play an effective role.

Too often I have experienced misunderstanding of what the business analyst role is and what it can add to a project. This article looks at how business analysis activity can have a massive impact on the outcome of a change program.

Context and Challenges

Following an earlier company acquisition, a leading telecommunication company initiated an IT project to decommission a legacy billing and customer care system and migrate to the company's strategic systems.

Similar projects in the past had taken at least 18 months to complete, were poorly managed, and had run over time and budget. This particular project had been initiated twice before, had not progressed, and there was no documented output. However, expectations had been set by IT that the project would be completed in five months.

Contractual arrangements with the vendors of both legacy and target systems were driving accelerated delivery time scales, and a staff rationalization program was underway in the impacted business area in preparation for the new system.

No resources had been allocated to the project - apart from me, the lead business analyst.

I am a strong advocate of best practice; however, proven methodologies, training and technical skills very rarely provide a ready guide for dealing with challenges such as these!

Scope of the Project

The company's project methodology was to undertake an initial feasibility phase or, what it was to be in this case, an unfeasibility phase! There was a view among senior management that the changes would impact about 5,000 customers and could be achieved by manually keying customer details from one system to another. In fact, the scoping activity completed as part of the analysis made clear that this was a business transformation project, migrating systems that were at the very heart of the acquired company, and involving very significant changes:

100,000 customers would be impacted, and nearly every interaction they had with the business would change: changes to bills and billing dates; the company brand they were familiar with; changes to the TV channels they received; and other services gained or lost
The opportunity to adopt a standard operating model - based on virtual contact centers, centers of excellence and consistent national processes.

Managing Expectations ... or Trying To

At a meeting to discuss the way forward that involved senior stakeholders and the recently appointed project manager, I highlighted the issues regarding scope, risks regarding previous projects of this type, and the opportunities the project provided. Although the stakeholders took the issues on board, the time constraints remained, and it was agreed to undertake a five-week impact analysis.

It would be nice to recount that the business analysis view was readily accepted, but this wasn't the case. Often, the task-focused, project management view of implementation conflicts with the business analysis objective of a quality implementation that delivers value and business benefit. This was the case here. Again, best practice would say that success factors would be agreed upon and defined at initiation, yet this had been ignored The first two bastions of project management - time and cost - were being pushed hard with little consideration being given to the third - quality!

With business analysis resources increased to three and a remit to engage technical staff, a framework was agreed upon to carry out a gap analysis between target and source systems. An aggressive schedule of workshops was planned, and senior managers across the business were consulted to ensure the project scope fully addressed the benefit opportunities and business goals. This also provided the chance to get commitment from areas supplying subject matter experts (SMEs) to the project, as well as re-setting expectations around required activity and timescales.

A key success for the gap analysis was fully engaging the SMEs attending workshops. The approach we took was to be clear about:

The drivers of the project
Why we were doing this work in a tight timescale
Why we needed their involvement

This simple, yet often overlooked, approach had immediate benefits: contact center staff were surprised at the high cost of extending the support of the legacy billing system. They thought the motive for the change was purely headcount reduction. Involving staff in the decision-making reduced resistance to change and led to more motivation and commitment.

The output of the gap analysis highlighted two things:

The impact of replacing these legacy systems was extremely broad and deep. More than 100 sub-systems and interfaces would need to be changed or decommissioned. No simple keying of customer details!
The work was estimated to take 10 months to complete.

Business Requirements and Detailed Analysis

I'm still surprised that in many organizations, and on many projects, the benefit of doing analysis and undertaking requirements is not better understood. I won't go into the pros and cons of various techniques other than recommending that the activity needs to be:

Fit-for-purpose
Appropriate to the organization
Communicated, in terms of its value, to relevant stakeholders

The output of doing this work on a major project is, undoubtedly, documentation. There were two main concerns we had to counter: the perceived lack of value of the analysis, and that this was seen as the reason to extend the project timescale by five months. I have often seen that tight project timescales lead to under-analysis; business managers sometimes prefer "doing" to understanding the "what" and the "how." I'm sure many people have experienced solutions to problems that weren't properly understood, or delays due to extensive change requests. Moving to "doing" too quickly only creates a false sense of progress. With good analysis, you reap what you sow.

The concerns were addressed by briefing the main project stakeholders on what we were doing and why, covering all the detail that would underpin the project plan and providing visibility of the work to be carried out. We also highlighted how independent research supported the link between clearly understood requirements and success - especially for complex projects.

Documentation

We couldn't avoid the fact that a reasonable amount of documentation would be produced due to the breadth of work. To make this as pragmatic as possible, a document template was defined from scratch to ensure that only the relevant information was captured, that it was easy to populate, and that it would be consistent and easy to read. The format was agreed upon by major stakeholders, ensuring expectations were managed and avoiding resistance to receiving documents.

As for the gap analysis, we were to engage many SMEs and would need to cover a fair degree of technical input. The work was divided into workstreams, each assigned a lead BA and a lead technical analyst (TA) with my role as an overarching lead. Excellent relationships were fostered between the BAs and TAs, helped by the co-dependence of our roles, to make the work a success.

Relationships

I have always believed the softer skills are a far greater asset to a business analyst than the more technical ones. Interpersonal skills make the difference when resolving issues, managing conflict, communicating, influencing, etc. Active relationship building proved really effective on this project. Just as engaging workshop attendees had encouraged participation, and two-way communication helped address resistance to change, good relationships with TAs helped gain more buy-in from SMEs. In the end, more than 100 SMEs contributed to this phase of the project. I have seen situations where BAs and TAs do not work well together and have even heard a TA accuse BAs of "sucking out what we know and then documenting it." This is perhaps a little extreme, though there is some truth in it when you consider what BAs do in terms of facilitating understanding.

The lead TAs on the project were given joint responsibility on authorship of documents produced. This was not only to address the workload but also resulted in their feeling fully bought into the analysis work and championing the output. As well as being another benefit of having a clearly agreed and pragmatic template, this also really helped in achieving sign-off for the work.

Sign-Off

Whilst communicating the template and approach for documenting the analysis, I also defined and gained acceptance for a sign-off process from the managers who were acting as operational sponsors. They were the people who would be committing their resource to the project, would be receiving the change into their areas, and their approval would be the measure as to whether the analysis was fit for purpose and a success. Attitude to formal sign-off can vary greatly within organizations, even where this is part of the internal governance of project methodologies and frameworks. I really believe that without proper sign-off you don't have commitment, true buy-in or a proper baseline to manage further change by.

Reviewing the sign-off process led to a better understanding of the issues faced by sponsors, principle of which was the appearance of large documents in their inboxes with no real clarity of what they were really being asked to sign off, little understanding of impacts and insufficient time to review. The answer was a clear schedule of when each output document would be completed. The schedule had been agreed to by the BAs and TAs to ensure it was realistic but challenging, with each document being completed in three stages:

A final draft, quality reviewed with the document authors and workstream leads
A structured document walkthrough with BA and TA leads and nominated SMEs and managers
A final issue for sign-off by the sponsors

This proved really effective for the following reasons:

Everyone was focused on delivering work to meet the timescales in the schedule. Involvement in planning this and agreeing to it achieved commitment from everyone.

The quality review sessions made sure work was a good standard, consistent across all the areas, and that there was acceptable coverage of analysis.
The structured walkthroughs ensured all feedback was captured together and facilitated challenge and understanding of different viewpoints. You knew everyone had read the document as you were going through it with them.
Sponsors signed off documents quickly as their direct reports were heavily involved in agreeing to them during the walkthrough sessions.

Summary

Following the approval of this phase, the project moved into development and implementation and went live over a weekend with no problems of any significance. Although it was a month late due to data migration issues, it was described as the most successful migration project undertaken by the company.

A review of lessons learned highlighted the appropriateness of the approach taken to analysis. The effectiveness of working relationships between BAs and TAs, clarity of scope, division of work across functional areas, and the actual documentation were credited as contributing to project success.

The company used the analysis approaches described above as the blueprint for a subsequent migration project that had been on the back-burner for a number of years, and without doubt, the experience of this project gave the company the confidence to undertake it.

Given the opportunity, business analysts can make a real difference to the projects they work on, and the success that follows is no accident.

Don't forget to leave your comments below

Ian Partridge is an experienced BA manager and business change professional. Currently working as a contractor/BA consultant, Ian has more than 12 years of experience, including media, asset management, telecommunications, banking and retail. For more information visit www.2broconsulting.com.

Ian can be reached at ian@2broconsulting.com and ianbpartridge@blueyonder.co.uk.

Are we gathering or eliciting the requirements?

2009-07-01T00:40:00.002+05:30

Most of the BAs using the term "Gathering" against the requirements. The exact term is "Requirements gathering". While reading some articles, found an interesting article on the "Requirements gathering". Here the author is arguing against the term gathering. According to Jill Liles we are not gathering but eliciting the requirements.

This was on the BA Times web site. I am adding it my blog post to save your time from log in to BA Times and search for the same.

Methods for Eliciting - Not Gathering - Requirements
Written by Jill Liles

The word "gather" does not truly communicate the nature of the Business Analyst's (BA) job. You do not gather requirements-they are not just lying around on the ground waiting to be picked up.

The word "elicit" more closely matches the job, because it connotes a more active role for both the BA and for those with whom the BA works. The dictionary defines elicit as:

To draw forth or bring out (something latent or potential)
To call forth or draw out (as information or a response)

There are many ways to elicit requirements from your stakeholders. A BA should be proficient in all of these: interviews, workshops, focus groups, brainstorming, observation, and surveys/questionnaires. While all of these methods involve three basic parts: preparation, conducting, and follow-up, they do have differences.

Interviews

Interviews, either with an individual or with a group of people, offer the opportunity for rich, detailed communication.

Prepare

Define interview goal: Determine exactly why you are holding the interview and what you want to achieve in it.
Select participants: Decide who needs to be involved in the interview in order to achieve that goal.
Determine logistics: When and where will the interview be held, and how will the interviewees be invited?
Design the interview: Decide on the format that is most appropriate for the interviewees and the goal. Should it be structured with a detailed agenda and formal set of questions, or unstructured with a looser agenda, depending more on ad hoc interaction? Should the questions be open-ended requiring sentences or paragraphs to answer, or closed-ended requiring short, even one-word answers?

Conduct the Interview

Take time at the beginning to ensure that the interviewee(s) knows the purpose of the interview, who you are, and what your role is. Wrap up the interview with questions like "Is there anything else you would like to add?" and a hearty "Thank you!"

Follow up

Like any other meeting, interview minutes should be published. This allows the interviewees to see what you learned in the interview and validate that what you heard is what they intended to say.

Workshops

A workshop is a structured method for interacting with a group of people. Workshops can generate much information quickly if well facilitated and if participants are active.

Prepare for Workshop

Define purpose: Determine exactly why you are holding the workshop and what you want to achieve in it.
Select participants: Decide who needs to participate in the workshop in order to achieve that purpose. Make sure to consider the personality types involved and ensure that you'll get participation from the entire group, not just a few dominant people.
Determine logistics: When and where will the workshop be held, and how will the participants be invited?
Conduct preliminary interviews: Some workshop methods include collecting some information from the participants before the workshop to provide a starting point. Such methods provide specific guidance about what preliminary information should be collected.

Conduct the Workshop

Be sure to accurately capture all of the information that the workshop produces. Depending on the size of the group, you may want to assign a record-keeper so you can focus on facilitation

Follow up

Some types of workshops result in the assignment of action items to the facilitator or participants, in which case, they must be managed to closure. The workshop results should be published so the participants and other interested parties can see what you learned in the workshop.

Focus Groups

A focus group is an interactive session with a carefully selected group of people designed to capitalize on the synergy of a group.

Prepare for the Focus Group

Select participants: Decide who needs to participate in the focus group in order to achieve its purpose.
Define roles, topics, and logistics: Define who (among the people running the focus group) must do what, and the specific topics that the participants will discuss. Also define the basic logistics such as when and where the focus group will be held, and how the participants will be invited.

Run the Focus Group

Carefully facilitate the group to ensure free and open interaction among the participants. Participants must feel free to interact openly or the focus group could fail.

Follow up

The focus group report records what was learned, including both agreements and disagreements among the participants.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a method of quickly generating many creative ideas from a group of people.

Prepare for Brainstorming

Define topics and time limits: Define precisely what will be the focus of the brainstorming session, and how long it will be allowed to go on.
Select participants: Decide who needs to participate in the brainstorming session in order to achieve its purpose.
Determine evaluation criteria: Decide how the ideas that come out of the brainstorming session will be judged afterward. Be sure that the evaluation does not go on during the brainstorming session.

Conduct Brainstorming

Encourage a free flow of ideas. This requires careful facilitation to ensure that participants feel comfortable with adding any idea to the list, and that no criticism or even discussion of the ideas goes on during the brainstorming session.

Follow up

Apply the evaluation criteria to the ideas that were generated to reduce the list to only those ideas that are reasonable or viable.

Observation

Observation is watching people as they go about their jobs. Observation can be an effective way to gain a realistic and detailed understanding of how work is done in the production environment; however, it is time consuming and may disrupt work.

Prepare for Observation

Define goals and individuals to be observed: Decide what you are trying to accomplish in the observation and who you should observe in order to achieve those goals
Decide on mode: Observation may be done in either of two ways:
- Passive/invisible: Observing in a way that does not disturb the workers. "Invisible" refers to the fact that the workers are not even aware that observation is taking place.
- Active/visible: Interacting with those who are being observed. For example, asking questions and having them describe what they are doing and why.

Observe

If people believe that they are being evaluated, they are likely to do the work "by the book," instead of the way they normally do it. So those who are being observed must be assured that the observation is not for the purpose of judging them. As the observation goes on, keep detailed records of what is observed and questions that must be answered later.

Follow up

After obtaining answers to any remaining questions, publish the results of the observation.

Surveys/Questionnaires

Surveys allow you to collect information from many people in a relatively short period. A survey can be an effective way to collect quantitative information; however, writing the questions requires great skill and care to avoid ambiguity that could compromise the utility of the results.

Prepare for the Survey

Define purpose, target people, and logistics: Decide what you are trying to learn from the survey, who you should target in order to achieve those goals, and how the survey should be distributed (for example, paper, e-mail, internet, telephone).
Choose survey type:
- Open-ended questions vs. closed-ended questions: Open-ended surveys are more difficult to analyze, yet closed-ended surveys limit the responders' options.
- Anonymous vs. signed vs. optional: People may be more forthcoming if they do not have to provide their names, but anonymity does not allow for any follow-up questioning.
- With vs. without pre-survey or post-survey interviews: Pre-survey and post-survey interviews increase the valuable data that you can get from the survey, but add significant effort.
Define target response level and follow-up activities: Getting many people to respond to a survey is difficult. If you are expecting more than a small minority of the target people to respond, it will require follow-up work beyond merely distributing the survey.
Write questions: This step is more challenging than it sounds. Writing questions that cannot be misinterpreted (resulting in misleading results) requires great skill and concentrated effort.
Test the survey: Because it is so difficult to write questions well, it is advisable to test the survey to see if people misinterpret any of the questions, and to see if it provides the information that is sought.

Distribute the Survey

Get the survey into the target people's hands, and encourage them to respond. If follow-up activities are planned to increase the response rates, do them.

Follow up

After the response period has ended, analyze the data, and summarize and report it to the appropriate people.

Jill Liles is the Senior Product Marketing Manager at Global Knowledge, where she primarily focuses on marketing activities for Cisco training courses. She also coordinates all marketing for Canada. In her spare time she volunteers with her local Susan G. Komen Foundation affiliate and crafts jewelry. This article draws from Global Knowledge's Requirements Development and Management course.

Combine BA/PM?

2009-02-18T10:37:00.006+05:30

This is my second article on the same subject.

Yesterday I was going through Business Analyst Times and came across with some interesting facts about the so called PM/BA role.

Some people might take this as a direct attack to their practices and so called best processes throughout the years and might take it personally.

My first question is, is it fair enough to ask for a person to bare both the roles on a project?

These two are against to each other.

Good BA should look at the customer’s needs and should be able to convert them in to format which ease the life of the developers and the testers. He should be able to list down and develop all the requirements from the customer’s side. In some cases he should be knowledgeable enough to figure out the customer’s needs and propose something workable for them. He should be smart enough to identify the priorities and develop requirements accordingly. Then the developers can identify the customer’s needs and convert them in to a working piece of software and testers can start deriving test scenarios or the transaction sets to see the health of the application.

PM on the other hand is there to control the scope, budget, time, resources and quality of the deliveries. Some might argue that controlling the scope is somewhat business analysis task so that PM can wear the BA hat easily.

Someone will suggest that for smaller projects, you can get the PM to work as the BA as well.

Yet again it’s a burden for the company. If it’s a small project, let a senior dev or test resource to play the BA role on behalf of the team. Otherwise you will be ends up with increasing the project costs. Rarely the pay rate of PM goes below a developer or senior engineering resource. Companies might think that they are keeping their PM resources idle by giving some small project(s). That’s not PM’s fault, it’s an issue with the company’s forecasting and the sales team. If your sales team can not bring down projects which create enough workload for PM’s and if your resource management team can not foresee the resource requirements for the projects, then you have to deal with those. You have to fix that issue first. Please do not try to screw the lives of your PMs by adding something opposite to the PM practice in to their bag due to inefficient marketing and resource management teams.

Following comments were taken from the BA Times. Those were published by very seasoned Bas with number of years working experience against their BA portfolio.

“They are also the advocates for different goals. The PM needs to think time lines and the lining up of schedules, resources, and events. The BA needs to ensure that critical requirements are met and that the system is useful to the customers. That's not to say time lines don't concern the BA, but it snot his/her primary focus. It's through dialog that these two can compromise and work together to build a system that can be workable and on time.

If you combine this role, you'll always have someone who leans too far on either side of the fence.”

“It guess it all depends on what you expect a BA to do.

If you expect your BAs to simply document the work of others... then there isn't much of a difference. However, if you expect your BAs to play a significant role in the overall project then there is a significant difference between the skills set of a PM and a BA.

A BA is the keeper of the "what's delivered". They know not simply the requirements and design they also know the "intent" of the customer of a project. They play the role of "keeper of the faith" with the customer. The BA knows the "what's" well enough that they can "know" the systems impact of a change or issue.

The PM is the keeper of the "when it's delivered" or "how it's delivered". They know all the work items and which have to occur in which order. They know when each comes in to play and when they will be delivered. They are the "keeper of the schedule". The PM knows the "when" well enough to know schedule impact of a change or issue.

These are distinct skill sets... The ability to hold the entirety of a project in one's head well enough to do both the BA and PM role is a huge task that very very few can do well (if any can.)

I guess the real distinction between the skills of a BA and a PM is not that one can't do the role of the other... After all... most of us can use a paint brush, and we can paint a house. The issue isn't ability its skill. And, its the nature of the skill sets of a BA versus a PM. The best BAs I know have a more abstract way of thinking. They tend to model reality as a set of generalized rules. This versus the best PMs I've met who tend to a more concrete and defined way of thinking. They tend to conceive of reality as a series of discrete events driven by specific rules.

Another way of looking at would be... PM are hearders... BAs are guides. Both get you where you're going... they just do in in very different ways. Are the skills the same? No. Is the out come... perhaps... but the journey certainly was different.”

“As a BA, I TOTALLY agree with you! We actually have combined PM/BA roles in my organization now and it has had it's share of issues! We are currently in the process of separating those individuals into either the PM or BA role. There are a lot of soft skills that a BA needs to have vs. soft skills a PM needs to have. Like you said--different brain wiring! Combining the two into a single role is NOT the way to go!

My vote is an emphatic and resounding NO!!!!!”

“A combined PM/BA role might be practical on small projects or on simple projects (or if such a person is willing to work 16 hours a day). Any project of moderate complexity needs to have dedicated focus by a PM and BA to insure the PM is not being distracted by the often very time consuming details of analysis (or other aspects). This is also necessary to insure that resources are being properly utilized and that the PM has time to think proactively about the project to anticipate issues and alert stakeholders to needed course corrections before major issues arise. This is one of the most important functions of a PM.

Most projects I am involved in require several BAs and at least one PM, all of which can generally expect to work more than full time. Combining a PM/BA role would be a major risk for a project of any complexity or size for the above mentioned reasons, which would need to be added to the project risk register and monitored throughout the project. I speak from experience currently as a BA on larger projects having been a PM, developer, DBA, data modeler etc on various past projects. That's my 2 cents worth.”

“I'm a BA that is forced to play both the PM and BA role in more and more projects. It is a challenge because the roles have principles that conflict.

Unfortunately, I see a lot of companies moving in this direction. And I also see many professionals promoting themselves as a "PM/BA".

I personally believe the roles are best left separate especially considering many BAs have no interest in PM work and vice versa.

Is PM/BA/QA next?”

“Indeed... not "wired different" (per say)... Rather, focused different. Can a BA transition to a PM role and vice versa? Absolutely. But can one person do both roles effectively, no (IMO). Its bad for the workload, its bad for the appropriate project controls, it is distinctly two different function. The PM and the BA are peers in a Project... They keep different aspects of a project in-alignment with the business/customer goals.

Anyone seeing some sort of merger of the roles is also seeing a much smaller scope for each role... They are under-utilizing their BA and PM resources.

It comes down to how one defines what the roles are. In some companies the two roles are easily combined because the actual scope is significantly limited and really is much more administrative in both cases. In other companies I've seen the roles of the BA and PM having a much greater definition and each is a high distinct skill set and responsibility set.”

Throughout the years we are discussing about the same topic. But some organizations purposely combine these two roles for following reasons;

They want their employees to work like slaves
They do not want to spend a penny more to improve the work life of the workforce
They never think about their customers
They think their customers and employees are dumb asses (one suppose to pay contract fee on time and other suppose to work for less)

You can add many more to the LIST

Ultimately what happens is both these fellows will get frustrated and move out!!!

Can we utilize a single resource to do both the BA and PM work?

2008-11-13T23:19:00.001+05:30

After a long silence, here I start my first blogging…
Even though the blog heading is QA Heaven, never discussed the QA issues on this forum…
Most of the local vendors utilizing the term QA in wrong way…
Who ever test an application gets the two letters in front of their designation and becoming QA Engineers…
And the selection criteria for the QA Engineering position also got degrade throughout the years…
If you lack the coding standards but can test the applications to catch visible errors, then you can become a QA Engineer in this country… That is easy as that…
Those ridiculous practices lead to many of the organizations from good to bad and bad to worst and created chaos…
As a direct result of these practices, customers came up with 1001 defects even after the UAT (user acceptance testing)…
I am not going to talk much about those issues here… but taking my time to criticise some of the practices at a process savvy IT company in Sri Lanka…
I am not going to reveal the name over here since it might be the practice and the cost cutting mechanism at most of the local vendors…
Not only local vendors, there can be hundreds of thousands of companies around the globe doing the same mistake…

Yet again a something which is outside from the QA but this is the right time to build a constructive criticism on so called best practice at that organization…

This company tends to hire resources to undertake both the Business Analyst and the Project Management role in parallel…

Hmm… two one has to show the two sides of the coin at the same time…

While I was browsing through the web, found this interesting interview and sharing the same for your informational purposes…

Here the author Michelle Davidson presenting a summary of interview with the Barbara Carkenord, who is the author of "Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis”.

Business analysts must have certain skills and must understand the many software requirements techniques out there, says Barbara Carkenord, author of "Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis."

What made you decide to write your book, "Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis"?

Barbara Carkenord: The reason from a business analysis perspective is that there really haven't been any books written specifically for people doing that type of work. There are a lot of books on techniques and analysis techniques, but not anything that says here's everything you need to do analysis work. There are people just coming into the role who really don't know what they need to do, and this book is for them.

If someone is considering becoming a business analyst, what skills are considered necessary?

Carkenord: I would say the number one thing is communication skills -- both verbal skills and written skills -- documentation -- because the main job is to be a liaison between two groups who don't communicate well.

They also need skills around understanding how technology can solve business problems, which means they need to know about the business and what's technologically possible.
They have to be people who can logically break down problems and think things through -- just very analytical.

What challenges should new business analysts be prepared to face?

Carkenord: I think the biggest challenge when you're assigned to a project is really trying to figure out how to get started. There's a lot available to you and a lot you need to find. You need to figure out whom to talk to in order to get the information you need.

When it comes to software requirements elicitation, elaboration, and validation, what are the biggest problems business analysts have?

Carkenord: The biggest challenge is business people don't always recognize what they need or what is capable for them. So they have trouble communicating with IT. And IT doesn't understand the business side, so they give them an elegant solution that doesn't do what they need.
Business analysts need to help business people figure out what they really want. The BAs really need to sit down and talk with them.

I think the development environments continue to be more and more productive. Developers can build things very fast, but we don't know what we want them to build. They can build a lot of things, but are they meeting business needs?

What techniques and strategies serve business analysts best when it comes to working with stakeholders?

Carkenord: We have a lot of techniques. There are actually hundreds of analysis techniques. Part of the challenge is learning which works, because each project might necessitate a different way.
For a new BA starting out, we encourage using a real structured scoping technique to get the business people to agree what the objectives are. You can determine what are we doing and what are we trying to accomplish.
Data requirements are also very important. And we encourage new BAs to use Entity Relationship Diagramming (ERD) to structure data. It's a really good way to elicit requirements of what the needs are of the business.
Use cases are a very popular requirements technique right now. We also do prototyping and storyboarding.

In your book you talk about business analysis certification. Do you think that type of certification is necessary?

Carkenord: It's become popular because the role of the BA is very challenging to define, and companies don't have good job descriptions. So, they're looking to certification to help them figure out if this person really knows how to do this work.
Certifications are very popular. So I suspect this will be as popular as, say, the PMP [Project Management Professional] certification.

Certification in many IT industries, such as testing and project management, is a controversial topic with many saying certifications don't guarantee a level of expertise. Does this controversy seep into the business analysis realm?

Carkenord: I do think there's always going to be that challenge of whether the certification really means something. The IIBA [International Institute of Business Analysis], which certifies business analysts, is aware of those kinds of issues and has worked really hard to design a program that would assess people's ability to do the work rather than just pass a test. The work experience aspect is very high, and the questions are very analytically based. You need to think analytically to answer the question.

What's the difference between a project manager and a business analyst, as a lot of project managers have been responsible for requirements?

Carkenord: We see them as two completely separate roles, at least on large projects. I think the personality traits for project managers are different than BAs. PMs are managers; they push things forward, and they get things done. BAs are analytical and like to explore, but they can get stuck. They'll get all the details up front to make sure they don't miss anything.
If you have both on your team you're covering all your bases. If you have that team, your likelihood of success is much higher.

Many organizations trying to combine these two practices in to one and trying to utilize a single resource to cover both these aspects.

They never understand the importance of both these practices and neglecting a one. Pressure comes from the top management on cost cutting might be the direct reason for this.

As a direct outcome of this they never understand the value of BA and adding extra effort on project management and expect the resources to add higher effort on project management and controlling practices.

The role of the business analyst is an important one, and, sadly, one that is underutilized by many organizations around the world. In essence, a business analyst acts as a translator or liaison between the customer or user and the person or group attempting to meet user needs. But, that’s just speaking generally. At the same time, allotted resources failed to capture proper and accurate resources due to management pressure and the extra workload from the project management practices. This leads to failures in projects in the long run and generated frustration on both the customer’s end and the in house.

That doesn’t sounds that project manager should not carry any BA expertise but the roles has to be separated from one person and assigned to two or more resources based on the requirement.

That will improve the productivity as well as the efficiency and increase the correctness of the data or the requirements as well.

Who will win the WiMax race in Sri Lanka?

2008-05-31T22:31:00.005+05:30

Dialog was discussing about the WiMax connections by mid 2005 but SLT started the trials. Even though their trials went successfully Dialog pioneered the WiMax offerings by entering in to the commercial operations by mid 2007. Q01 of the 2008 was a very interesting one and couple of players entered to the Mobile and WiMax market. It seems competition is getting very hot and newest addition to the WiMax game board is the Lankabell. They disclose their service offerings by 30^th May 2008 and will launch the services commercially by 2nd of June 2008.

Best news is SLT and Suntel too felt the heat and as per the Suntel’s authorities their WiMax shipment is on the way. SLT too brought the WiMax spectrum from a third party and increased their external bandwidth by twofold. If I am correct SLT having the infrastructure to launch the WiMax at the moment but waiting to see what others going to offer for the prospective clients. Other than the SLT and Suntel; Electroteks too waiting in the queue to offer the wireless broadband services.

Awesome…

Almost all the fixed line operators are now in to the broadband internet race?

My question is that who will win the race in the long term?

To make it a success story, they have to understand the requirements of the end clients.

Being a client of Dialog WiMax and the SLT ADSL, I am not happy with both their connections. SLT’s connectivity is not stable enough and sometimes I have to wait for hours to get the connection online. They come up with hundreds of thousands of explanations but none of them brought the exact solutions for problems. On the other hand, Dialog able to provide a much more reliable connectivity but sucks with downloads. Due to their fare usage policy sometimes I stuck in the middle of important meetings.

What I heard from the Lankabell was that they have covered the whole Colombo area and will charge max of 6600 (including government taxes) for their high end connection which is going to offer 2 mbps downlink and 512 kbps uplink. Best thing is that they come without any fair usage policies at the moment.

Answers for my question will be…

One with the best bandwidth
One with the best pricing scheme
Best support services
One with the customized solutions caters for different end user requirements will win the race…

As of now, most of their rates are high and restrictions and the bandwidth limitations are among major concerns.

So who ever break these issues will attract most of the demand and secure the number one position in the market.

How to run two Skype clients in parallel from the same machine?

2008-05-28T19:42:00.007+05:30

If you working for a company as an employee and working as a freelancer for someone else at the same time you might be worrying on a way to maintain the contacts between your office people and the business mates in parallel?

Of course you can use mobile to keep contacts with the outsiders but ultimately it will increase the phone bill and at the end of the month you have to find an alternative way to earn extra cash to settle the pages long mobile bill.

Here is a way to minimize the hassle and cheap alternative.

Use two skype instances, one for the office colleagues and other one for the business partners.

You will rise the question “how come?” else tell that I am crazy.

Nope, now you can run two instances of the skype from same machine at the same time and without switching the user.

Pre requisites;
You should have a machine running with Windows XP Professional
Should be able to add an extra machine only user account with a user name and the password (please do not keep the password for this new account as blank)

Now go to the skype installation folder and right click on the skype exe and create a short cut on the desktop (if its not there already)। Else delete the existing icon and place a new short cut on the desktop using the same procedure.

Now run the skype using normal double clicking option and log in to the usual account.

Once it started, right click on the skype short cut and use the “Run as” option.

By default you will see the current XP user login selected on the top.
Please avoid it and use the second one. From the drop down you can select the newly created windows login and can use it by entering the password for it.

This will run the second instance of the skype from the same machine.

This is just a trick। Do not get blamed from your employer for doing this and distributing the irrelevant data to irrelevant people or by bringing down your performance by chatting all the time with your partners.

I will test the same on linux and publish the results later on.

Mobile Expansion: Sri Lanka Mobitel launches 3G services

2007-12-06T09:18:00.001+05:30

Dec 05, 2007 (LBO) – Mobitel, a celco owned by fixed operator Sri Lanka Telecom launched its third generation network in the island, saying its existing service was growing so fast it was struggling to meet demand.

"We are bursting at the seams and we can't even take in the number of connections. We are dealing excess of 100,000 connections (a month)," Suren Amarasekera, Mobitel chief executive said Wednesday.

"So it is giving us tremendous constraints in terms of keeping up with demand as well as upgrading our network. We will end the year with 1.4 to 1.5 million and next year we will see a similar growth."

Mobitel has so far invested 200 million dollars on its 2.5G and 3.5G networks and also plans to introduce a variant to IP (Internet Protocol) telephony program 'Skype', in the next 2-3 years.

The firm intends to introduce new 3G enabled mobile content and services in the next 3-4 weeks, the company said in a statement.

The company hopes to increase its base stations to 1,500 from 1,000 by the end of January next year.

Mobitel, a subsidiary of the dominant fixed phone operator Sri Lanka Telecom, said its network has grown to 1.4 million subscribers so far.

Growth, which was slow during the first half of the year, picked up towards the second half at more than 125,000 users a month.

The celco launched 'M3' its 3.5G High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) services for the public. It has a 7.2 Megabits per second download rate and 1.9 Megabits per second upload rate.

Mobitel is the first mobile service provider to introduce HSPA in South Asia.

Customers using Mobitel can enjoy M3 without the buying a new SIM or a connection but by inserting the existing SIM in to a 3G capable handset, Amarasekera says.

The new network will enable users to take video calls at the cost of a voice call, perform various tasks such as browsing internet, watching local tv channels and access streams such as youtube videos without any decrease in the quality of content.

The company, enjoying a growth rate in excess of 50 percent year-on-year, hopes for a double digit broadband internet penetration rate following the launch.

Studies have shown that household internet penetration to be around one percent, and most connectivity is concentrated in the western province and other major towns.

Seat exists for a JAVA lead (Associate Level Architect) at the GMI’s Colombo dev center.

2007-12-04T11:59:00.000+05:30

Client: Global Market Insite Inc. of Seattle, WA, USA
Product Domain: ERP/CRM for Market Research

5+ years experience in requirements analysis, design, coding and unit testing of scalable, distributed, fault-tolerant applications in Windows/UNIX environments
Thorough knowledge of J2EE frameworks
Communicate well in English
Excellent analytical skills
In depth knowledge of Object Oriented principles
Good understanding of Software Engineering methodologies and design patterns
Experience in Modeling (UML), MVC, application servers such as BeaWeblogic, IBM Websphere, Tomcat or JBoss, testing tools such as JUnit, Cactus,
Familiarity and experience with rapid prototyping
Also interested in open source web technologies like PHP/MYSQL

He/she should be able to play the software architect role from the offshore development center.

If you have the firm belief on you and your skills forward your resumes to srilanka@gmi-mr.com

Greenpeace attacks Apple over iPhone: Leads to lawsuit

2007-10-17T12:24:00.000+05:30

Following report was published at http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/ based on a report published by the Greenpeace. Greenpeace’s finding are available at their report;

View Greenpeace Report.

16 October 2007 7:41 GMT - Greenpeace has published a detailed report on the un-environmentally friendly qualities of Apple's iPhone, which has led to the company being sued.

The Center for Environmental Health is suing Apple based on the Greenpeace research. In California, products containing certain toxins or carcinogens must carry a warning label. The iPhone does not.

"In general what we try to do is encourage the manufacturers through a negotiated settlement to reduce the use of these chemicals", said Caroline Cox, a spokeswoman for the Center for Environmental Health. "That would be our goal with Apple."

Apple had announced earlier this year that all of its new products would be free from brominated flame retardants and the chlorinated plastic polyvinyl chloride by the end of 2008.

To see if Apple was keeping its promise on hazardous chemicals and materials, Greenpeace bought an iPhone in the States and had it analysed in laboratories in the UK.

The results revealed that the iPhone contains PVC and brominated flame retardants which Greenpeace says shows Apple is not making early progress towards its 2008 commitment to phase-out all uses of these materials, even in entirely new product lines.

"If Apple really wants to reinvent the phone, it needs to design out all hazardous substances and materials from its handsets and peripherals", states the report.

"Apple missed a key opportunity when it rolled out the iPhone in June. There is no reason why the iPhone could not have been made without toxins like vinyl plastics and brominated flame retardants as Nokia is already doing", said Rick Hind of Greenpeace.

STORY UPDATE : Apple has got in touch with Pocket-lint to give us a brief statement on this matter, which is as follows:

"Like all Apple products worldwide, iPhone complies with RoHS, the world's toughest restrictions on toxic substances in electronics. As we have said, Apple will voluntarily eliminate the use of PVC and BFRs by the end of 2008."

iSkoot - A cool tool to get connected with Skype

2007-10-05T17:13:00.000+05:30

If you are having a mobile run with JAVA operating system then I have cool news for you.

You can run a Skype client on that and you can use all the functionalities including VOIP calls via your mobile phone.

As per the iSkoot, this new Skype client can be installed on the following devices;

Blackberry
7100
7200
7500
7700
8100 (Pearl)
8300 (Curve)
8700
8800

Palm
Treo 650
Treo 680
Treo 700p
Treo 700w
Treo 700wx
Treo 750 (Lennon)

Nokia
6680
6682
N73
N80
E61
E62

Motorola
RAZR V3
Q
Q8

Sony Ericsson
P1i
P990i
M600i
W950i

Samsung
Blackjack

AT&T (Cingular)
8125
8525

Hewlett-Packard
iPAQ hw 6910
iPAQ hw 6915
iPAQ hw 6920
iPAQ hw 6925
iPAQ hw 6940
iPAQ hw 6945
iPAQ hw 6960
iPAQ hw 6965

i-mate
k-jam
JASJAM

Sprint
PPC-6700
PPC-6800

T-Mobile
Dash
MDA-Touch
Wing

Other
WindowsMobile PocketPC
WindowsMobile Smartphone

As per the iSkoot FAQ, no need to stay close to Wi-Fi hotspot use this skype client. What you need is GPRS facility available on your mobile. I observed few issues with this tool. I hope that they will resolve those months to come. For the moment outsiders can see that you are online (after you login to the Skype through iSkoot); but they can not call you to skype client and it used to say that you are busy always (I faced this problem in iSkoot running on Motorola V3XX).

Vacancies Exist @ GMI’s Colombo Center

2007-09-28T21:21:00.000+05:30

Following vacancies exist at the GMI’s Engineering Facility Located at Colombo, Sri Lanka

Build & Release Engineer (1 Seat)
UI Engineer (1 Seat)
Action Script developer (1 – 2 Seats)

Build & Release Engineer (1 Seat)

Client: Global Market Insite Inc. of Seattle, WA, USA
Product Domain: ERP/CRM for Market Research

(Your installation packages will frequently test by the end users at Microsoft, Intel, Expedia, StarBucks, JD Power, Nielsen Entertainment, Forrester Research, Accenture, AT&T Wireless, British Petroleum (BP), Vodafone, T-Mobile, Lucent Technologies and KPMG)

Ideal candidate must possess the following qualifications.

Thorough understanding about version controlling, building deployment packages and testing the deployments
Experience with packing software using Ant/Maven
Should be a Linux geek and must have the ability to compile a code base on various Linux platforms prior to make the build
Must aware the build preparation & the related test processes
Should have the can do attitude
Should be able to work with a young but well experienced talent pool
Should be able to live inside Linux and Unix like operating systems and should be able to deal with open source applications

UI Engineer (1 Seat)

Client: Global Market Insite Inc. of Seattle, WA, USA
Product Domain: ERP/CRM for Market Research

(Users from Microsoft, Intel, Expedia, StarBucks, JD Power, Nielsen Entertainment, Forrester Research, Accenture, AT&T Wireless, British Petroleum (BP), Vodafone, T-Mobile, Lucent Technologies and KPMG will work with your applications)

Ideal candidate must possess the following qualifications.

Three or more years experience in UI Engineering
Able grasp ideas in to prototypes and be able to convert them in to real UIs
Done extensive UI designing for the enterprise level web applications
Should know what the term "USABILITY" refers to and aware how to play with that in real-time application development environments (for web based applications)
Should be a good team player and a born leader
Should equipped with strong communication skills

Action Script developer (1 – 2 Seats)

The Company: Media Intelligence Ltd (Subsidiary of Global Market Insite Inc of Seattle, WA, USA)
Product Domain: Interactive Survey Programming

If you are a Flash Expert (not an animator but a developer with creative mind) with the following expertise, send your resume with some of your previous work samples.

Advanced (2-3 yrs) Action Scripting (ActionScript 2.0 & 3.0) skills with OOP
Intermediate (1-3 yrs) PHP
Good understanding of database structure/SQL (MSSQL or MySQL)
Intermediate HTML
Good command in English

If you have the firm belief on you and your skills forward your resumes to srilanka@gmi-mr.com

An attractive salary (above the industry standard) and performance based perks available for the right candidate. Additionally you will enjoy a mix culture of US & Sri Lankan and friendly working environment.

India tries outsourcing its outsourcing

2007-09-25T17:06:00.000+05:30

Following article was published in the International Herald Tribune recently. Sometimes back another article was there on Wipro’s new development facility in USA. Successive governments in SL mentioned the term IT Nation on their election campaigns but never initiated anything favor for IT companies.

Sri Lanka

’s total earnings through IT related exports yet to reach the billion dollar mark.

But some of the Indian giants already surpassed this milestone. I wonder where we are heading. Its true that corruption is available in the Indian soil, but they did something wisely by investing money on IT related infrastructure and maintaining policies for a while. Sri Lanka is struggling in these areas

In Sri Lanka we can not see a clear policy at all
Governments won’t invest money for infrastructure development but try to add additional taxes on them (this is unique to anything from automobile to communication devices such as mobile phones)
They are maintaining the highest rates for the electricity in the region
Its applicable for the data circuits as well

By Anand Giridharadas

Published: September 24, 2007

MYSORE, India: From across India, thousands of recruits report to the Infosys Technologies campus here in India's deep south. Amid the manicured lawns and modern buildings, they learn the finer points of software programming.

But lately, packs of foreigners have been strolling the campus. Many are Americans, recently graduated from college. Some had been pursued by coveted employers like Google. Instead, they accepted a novel assignment from Infosys, the Indian technology giant: Fly here to learn programming from scratch, then return to the United States to work in the Indian company's back office.

Now India is outsourcing outsourcing.

One of the constants of the global economy has been companies moving tasks - and jobs - to India, where they could be done at lower cost. But rising wages for programmers here, a strengthening currency and companies' need for workers in their clients' time zones or for workers who speak languages other than English are challenging that model.

At the same time, India is facing increased competition from countries seeking to emulate its success as a back office for wealthier neighbors: China for Japan, Morocco for France and Mexico for the United States, for instance.

Looking to beat back these new rivals, leading Indian companies are opening back offices in those countries, outsourcing work to them before their current clients do.

Many executives in India now concede that outsourcing, having rained most heavily on India, will increasingly sprinkle tasks across the planet. The future of outsourcing, said Ashok Vemuri, an Infosys senior vice president, is "to take the work from any part of the world and do it in any part of the world."

In May, Infosys's Indian rival, Tata Consultancy Services, announced a new back office in Guadalajara, Mexico; it already has 5,000 staffers in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. Cognizant Technology Solutions, with most of its operations in India, has now opened back offices in Phoenix, Arizona, and in Shanghai. Wipro, another Indian company, has outsourcing offices in Canada, China, Portugal, Romania and Saudi Arabia, among other locations.

Last month, Wipro said it was opening a software development center in Atlanta that would hire 500 programmers in three years.

In a poetic reflection of the new face of outsourcing, Wipro's chairman, Azim Premji, told Wall Street analysts this year that he was considering hubs in Idaho and Virginia, in addition to Georgia, to take advantage of "states which are less developed," Premji said.

Infosys is building an archipelago of back offices - in Mexico, the Czech Republic, Thailand and China, as well as in low-cost regions of the United States. The company wants to become a global matchmaker: Any time a company wants work done somewhere else, even just down the street, Infosys hopes to get the call.

It is a peculiar ambition for a company that symbolizes the flow of tasks from the West to India. Most of Infosys's 75,000 employees are Indians in India, and they account for most of the company's $3.1 billion sales in the year that ended March 31, from clients like Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. "India continues to be the No. 1 location for outsourcing," S. Gopalakrishnan, the company's chief executive, said in a telephone interview.

And yet Infosys is quietly stringing together a necklace of global outsourcing hubs, where local workers work with little help from Indian masters. The company opened an office in the Philippines in August and, a month earlier, bought back offices in Thailand and Poland from Royal Philips Electronics, a Dutch company.

Infosys's Indian outsourcing experience taught it to cut up a project, apportion each slice to the suitable worker, double-check quality and then export a final, reassembled product. The company believes it can clone its Indian back offices in unfamiliar nations and groom Chinese and Mexicans and Czechs to be more productive than local outsourcing companies could make them.

"We have pioneered this movement of work," said Gopalakrishnan. "These new countries don't have experience and maturity in doing that, and that's what we're taking to these countries."

Some analysts compare the strategy to Japan's penetration of automaking in the United States in the 1970s. Just as the Japanese learned to make cars in America without Japanese workers, Indian vendors are learning to outsource without Indians, said Dennis McGuire, chairman of TPI, a consultancy based in Texas that focuses on outsourcing.

For now, work that bypasses India remains a small part of Infosys's business, but it is growing. The company can be highly secretive, but executives agreed to describe some of the new projects on the condition that clients not be named.

In one project, an American bank needed to build a computer system to handle a new loan program designed specifically for Hispanic customers. The system had to work in Spanish and, in making approval decisions, had to comprehend variables particular to the Hispanic market. Many Hispanics, for instance, remit money to families abroad, which affects their bank balances. The bank thought a Mexican team would have the right language skills and grasp of cultural nuances.

But instead of going to a Mexican vendor or to an American vendor with Mexican operations, the bank retained three dozen engineers at Infosys, which had recently opened shop in Monterrey, Mexico.

Such is the new outsourcing. A company in the United States pays an Indian vendor 7,000 miles, or 11,200 kilometers, away to supply it with Mexican workers situated 150 miles south of the U.S. border.

In Europe, too, companies now hire Infosys to manage back-office work in their backyards.

In one example, a large American manufacturer with factories across Europe had to deal with bills from suppliers in multiple European countries. Each supplier billed the company in the suppliers' home country, creating a complex lattice of payments to multiple suppliers, from multiple offices, in multiple currencies.

Infosys manages the lattice. The manufacturer's offices scan the invoices and send them to Infosys, where each is passed on to the right language team. The teams verify the orders and send the payment to the suppliers while logged in to the client's computer system. More than a dozen languages are spoken at the office in Brno, Czech Republic.

The American program in Mysore is meant to keep open a pipeline of diverse workers for the company. Trainees had no software knowledge. By teaching novices, Infosys hopes to save money and attract workers who will turn down better-known companies for the chance to learn a new skill.

"It's the equivalent of a bachelor's in computer science in six months," said a trainee, Melissa Adams, 22. Adams graduated last spring from the University of Washington with a business degree and turned down Google for Infosys.

Still, even as outsourcing moves in new directions, old perceptions linger.

When Jeff Rand, 23, another American trainee, told his grandmother, "I'm going to be moving to India and working as a software engineer for the next six months, she said, 'Maybe I'll get to talk to you when I have a problem with my credit card.' "

"It took me about two or three weeks to explain to my grandma that I was not going to be working in a call center," Rand said with a rueful chuckle.

SLT Customer Care at their Best

2007-09-03T08:05:00.000+05:30

I’ve uncovered some valuable information from the SLT ADSL customer care. I had a nice chat with one of their executives to fix a small problem.

Please find the information below;

I’ve noticed unusual delay when it comes to the responses with the SLT ADSL for the last couple of weeks.

It took two to three minutes to direct the traffic to SLT’s own web sites such as www.sltnet.lk & www.slt.lk.

I never escalate this to SLT’s customer care since it is worthless. But unfortunately last evening I dialed the 1243 (SLT’s customer care hotline) to escalate the issue.

SLT Customer Care: Ayubowan SLT ADSL
Me: Ayubowan
SLT Customer Care: What sort of information you are expecting from us sir?
Me: Actually I want to make a complaint
SLT Customer Care: Regarding what sir?
Me: I’ve noticed unusual delay in response with the ADSL for the last couple of weeks.
SLT Customer Care: What’s the exact issue sir?
Me: It’s simple as this. Pings to your own website routs through San Francisco, Palo Alto, France and sometimes via London. Can this be happened? Is it normal?
SLT Customer Care: Sir, install a virus guard and that will resolve your problem.
Me: Are you sure?
SLT Customer Care: Yeas. That is the issue behind this delay. Some of the viruses directing your traffic to weird locations.
Me: Hey, I am using my office notebook and it’s having a virus guard installed on it. Updated recently and done full systems scan already.
SLT Customer Care: After a long silence…. Do you have a spam guard, spyware detection tool installed on it?
Me: Hey this is my office notebook and I never observed such a horrible delay with your leased circuits and leased circuits provided by the lankacom. It seems this is coming up with your ADSL package. What sort of a priority you guys giving for the traffic comes from ADSL users?
SLT Customer Care: Hang up for a while… no answer… then disconnected the line…

Wow. What a customer care service they having?

Please keep it mind. These guys wanted you to install a virus guard, spyware & grayware detection tool installed and a spam guard available on your machine to use the SLT ADSL.

According to them after installing all those on your machine will solve the issue. Otherwise all your traffic to their own www.slt.lk will reach USA prior to redirect to their servers in SL.

Awesome….

Google Mail gets Support for Mobile Push

2007-08-31T13:18:00.000+05:30

What will be the future of BlackBerry? this is the first question came in to my mind when I saw this article for the first time. It seems that Google is trying to end another era and going to create a one by their own.

Google's email service, Gmail can now be offered as a push email service following the upgrade of emoze's push email software application. emoze already offers free push email service to a broad range of email data sources and mobile device operating systems. Unlike other providers, emoze service is truly a push solution, which does not require users' mobile devices to periodically dial-out (while consuming battery life) and check for the receipt of new messages, calendar or contact changes. Instead, emoze automatically acts to route emails to users' handsets at real-time after determining that their device is connected and available on the network.

"Given the increased adoption and availability of mobile devices, there is a greater flexibility for today's workforce to conduct business on the fly. This has raised the level of expectation required of today's information worker and has created a demand for broader access to e-mail and other business applications needed to conduct business," said Cheryl Gutowski, research analyst, Nucleus Research. "Those who can't or don't want to justify purchasing a BlackBerry, can use emoze's push e-mail services to do the exact same thing, but from any device."

"Gmail is one of the top email services in the world and we're recognizing the trend of business people and small firms using their Gmail as their main and functional business email account," said Benny Ballin, CEO, emoze. "For those that are more technically astute, they will appreciate that our application is not Java-based. This approach helps to significantly improve reliability, stability and performance of wireless devices such as battery consumption, CPU load and memory usage. By using the native contact and calendar clients of each handset as shipped by the handset vendor, we ensure the best possible user experience."

The free service, available for downloading directly to consumers' mobile handsets at http://mobile.emoze.com, or via a web-based wizard at www.emoze.com, targets the millions of Gmail account holders (according to comScore Media Metrix) that would benefit from the automatic receipt of their emails on their wireless devices.

WHY EMPLOYEES LEAVE ORGANISATIONS?

2007-07-19T08:11:00.000+05:30

Azim Premji – CEO India

Every company normally faces one common problem of high employee turnout ratio. People are leaving the company for better pay, better profile or simply for just one reason 'pak gaya'. This article might just throw some light on the matter......

Early this year, Arun, an old friend who is a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer. He had heard a lot about the CEO of this company, charismatic man often quoted in the business press for his visionary attitude. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office, and the very best technology, even a canteen that served superb food. Twice Arun was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined. "It's a real high working with such cutting edge technology." Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Arun walked out of the job. He has no other offer in hand but he said he couldn't take it anymore. Nor, apparently, could several other people in his department who have also quit recently.

The CEO is distressed about the high employee turnover. He's distressed about the money he's spent in training them. He's distressed because he can't figure out what happened. Why did this talented employee leave despite a top salary? Arun quit for the same reason that drives many good people away. The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called First Break All The Rules.

It came up with this surprising finding:

If you're losing good people, look to their immediate supervisor. More than any other single reason, he is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why they quit, taking their knowledge, experience and contacts with them. Often, straight to the competition. "People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. "So much money has been thrown at the challenge of keeping good people - in the form of better pay, better perks and better training - when, in the end, turnover is mostly manager issue." If you have a turnover problem, look first to your managers. Are they driving people away? Beyond a point, an employee's primary need has less to do with money, and more to do with how he's treated and how valued he feels. Much of this depends directly on the immediate manager. And yet, bad bosses seem to happen to good people everywhere.. A Fortune magazine survey some years ago found that nearly 75 per cent of employees have suffered at the hands of difficult superiors. You can leave one job to find - you guessed it, another wolf in a pin-stripe suit in the next one. Of all the workplace stressors, a bad boss is possibly the worst, directly impacting the emotional health and productivity of employees. HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find public humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave, but a thought has been planted.. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he starts looking for another job. When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information.

Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don't have your heart and soul in the job." Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious, too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over seemingly trivial issue. It isn't the 100th blow that knocks a good man down. It's the 99 that went before. And while it's true that people leave jobs for all kinds of reasons- for better opportunities or for circumstantial reasons, many who leave would have stayed - had it not been for one man constantly telling them, as Arun's boss did: "You are dispensable. I can find dozens like you." While it seems like there are plenty of other fish especially in today's waters, consider for a moment the cost of losing a talented employee.There's the cost of finding a replacement. The cost of training the replacement. The cost of not having someone to do the job in the meantime. The loss of clients and contacts the person had with the industry. The loss of morale in co-workers. The loss of trade secrets this person may now share with others. Plus, of course, the loss of the company's reputation. Every person who leaves a corporation then becomes its ambassador, for better or for worse. We all know of large IT companies that people would love to join and large television companies few want to go near. In both cases, former employees have left to tell their tales.

"Any company trying to compete must figure out a way to engage the mind of every employee," Jack Welch of GE once said. Much of a company's value lies "between the ears of its employees". If it's bleeding talent, it's bleeding value. Unfortunately, many senior executives busy travelling the world, signing new deals and developing a vision for the company, have little idea of what may be going on at home.That deep within an organization that otherwise does all the right things, one man could be driving its best people away.

My Comments: This is a one sided story. This is 50% true and 50% false. As per my experience, in many cases people quit the company because of their inability, less faith on what they does failure to cope up with their immediate bosses (because they lacks something in technical, time management or else process adherence).

I’ve seen superb managers, none of them add additional pressure on fellow workers, they did their best to the employees, they were there to take the blame on-behalf of the team, they work so hard to collect a credit for their team and to give value addition to their team members. Even with such a heroic effort fellow members quit the team. After studying the scenarios I found few common reasons;

- Some had their own hidden agendas

- Some of them over valued them

- Some of them thought they were doing everything but doing nothing and killing the time (They are just adding 8 hours to the work log and nobody won't see anything productive from the logged hours)

Resumes, CVs and More: Organizing Your Qualifications

2007-07-09T07:13:00.000+05:30

By Todd Anten

Salespeople have a variety of pitches they can make when selling a product. It's just a matter of deciding which pitch is the right one for that customer.

Now, think of a potential employer as a customer and yourself as the salesperson -- and the product.

In order to successfully sell yourself, you have to face a tough decision: How to advertise your qualifications in the most effective way possible. It may involve a chronological resume or a functional resume ... or perhaps no resume at all.

Here are your basic options:

Chronological Resume

"Chrono" is Greek for "time," so it's no surprise that a chronological resume is organized by your employment timeline.

Chronological resumes are the most common choice for job seekers -- and for good reason:

They're easy to write. The organization is predetermined, so it's one less thing to stress over.
Recruiters prefer them. A recent HotJobs survey revealed that 84 percent of recruiters prefer chronological resumes.

So unless you have a good reason, you should generally stick to the chronological resume format.

To create a chronological resume, begin with your most recent experience and work your way back. For each job, list the name of the company, your title, where the job was located, your dates of employment and a few bullet points discussing your major achievements and responsibilities.

Functional Resume

Chronological resumes are great if your career path has been sure and steady. But there are circumstances where a chronological resume may not be the best choice. For instance, maybe you have ...

a major time gap on your resume,
a hodgepodge of experience without an overall focus,
or a desire to change career fields.

In these situations, a functional resume might prove more useful than a chronological one.

Functional resumes highlight your skills instead of the companies you worked for. Functional resumes also downplay time gaps and career missteps.

A functional resume generally splits your work history into two sections. In the first section, list the skills and experience you have that relate to the job you're applying for. In the second section, provide a list of the places you have worked, as well as the dates you worked there.

Recruiters tend to be wary of functional resumes, but if you suspect that a chronological resume won't get you through the door, a functional resume is a good second choice.

Curriculum Vita

When most job postings ask for a resume, the implication is that they want a chronological or functional resume -- one page long, work experience, all that jazz.

But some jobs out there -- especially in the education and research fields -- require a curriculum vita (CV).

CVs are not resumes. Commonly used among academics in the U.S., CVs are much more comprehensive than resumes. A CV lists almost every work-related accomplishment you've ever had, from papers published to presentations given to classes taught to awards won. In short, they're long. Some CVs extend over 30 pages.

CVs for non-education related fields are sometimes used in other countries. In Europe, for example, CVs are generally accepted for everyday jobs. In the U.S., however, you should never send a CV unless the job ad specifically asks for one.

Candidate Profile: The Anti-Resume

You may be surprised (and relieved) to learn that there is some movement away from evaluating job seekers only by their resumes.

Some employers, faced with a stack of resumes, are using an alternative: Candidate profiles.

Candidate profiles ask online applicants to rank themselves on job related characteristics, including the ability to manage stressful situations, creativity and problem-solving ability, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Employers use the results to find qualified candidates and reserve traditional resumes for later in the selection process.

While candidate profiles probably won't mean the death of the resume, it may take some of the pressure off having a perfect one.

As you decide which organization works best for you -- chronological resume, functional resume, curriculum vita or candidate profile -- keep in mind that employers don't hire pieces of paper. They hire people. So do your best to let the real you shine through.

About Your Online Resume

2007-07-09T07:06:00.000+05:30

Do's and Don'ts for Online Resumes

As a job seeker in the electronic age, it's important to be savvy when it comes to online tools that will help you land your next job.

Online and "traditional" off-line resumes share some similarities. Both serve to show potential employers why you are the best candidate for the job.

"The content of online and off-line resumes is basically the same," says Hannah Seligson, author of "New Girl on the Job: Advice from the Trenches." "But it's even more important that your online resume stand out. With an online resume, you are dealing with a critical mass, as opposed to an off-line resume that is usually handed to a personal contact."

So what can you do to ensure that your online resume will impress employers? Here are some do's and don'ts for creating a winning online resume.

Do: Make Your Online Resume Keyword-Rich

Meg Montford, of the career coaching firm Abilities Enhanced, says that keywords are vital for online resumes. Montford suggests searching through job postings for your industry to find common terms, and make sure those words are in your resume. Montford also advises job seekers to spell out acronyms to increase hits to your resume.

Lindsey Pollak, author of "Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World," agrees. "Since a computer will be scanning your resume before a human being ever sees it, you need to 'speak' in a language a computer can understand."

Don't: Embellish

Just because you're posting a resume online doesn't mean its OK to embellish your qualifications.

"Don't over-inflate what you've done," cautions Seligson. "There's a funny scenario where a vice president of the company, who is doing the hiring for an entry-level position, reads the job applicant's resume and says (sarcastically),'Wow, sounds like you've already had my job. It doesn't seem like you need to start at entry-level.' It's better to say less and have it accurately reflect what you did in previous jobs than to over-inflate -- something most hiring managers can see right through."

Do: Be Positive

Many disgruntled employees have been fired for airing their frustrations about their jobs online for the entire world to read. Montford warns that it's important not to accumulate digital dirt that could cost you your current and future jobs. "Keep your online identity positive. Recruiters and companies go to the web first to screen candidates, so it's vital to have a positive presence," says Montford.

Don't: Overlook the Power of the Web to Sell Yourself

There are numerous options available on the Internet for promoting yourself to employers. Don't overlook blogs and your own resume web site as unique ways to reach out to potential employers.

"Every job seeker should have a blog and a keyword-rich resume on their own web site," says Montford. "You can blog about your industry and comment on articles and issues related to your field. Just remember to keep your comments positive."

Do: Be Cautious

Finally, realize that your current employee could be privy to your job search when using online resumes. Keeping a low online profile while employed may be your safest bet.

Five Common Cover Letter Mistakes

2007-07-09T06:27:00.000+05:30

In recent past I used to interview nearly 250 – 300 candidates for just five vacant positions. All of them were graduates with good grades but none of their CVs were detail enough for us to identify their capabilities at very beginning. Ultimately it cost us about 300 man hours (collectively) without getting any positive outcome. Therefore I decided to publish couple of articles collected from yahoo. These articles outlining how to create a winning resume for those who seeking a job opportunity.

Recruiters read thousands of resumes over their careers. After a while, all those resumes start to blend together.

So how can you, an anonymous job seeker, catch a recruiter's eye? Introduce yourself with an effective cover letter.

Sure, a resume lists all of your achievements, but a resume can't capture your personality, passion or desire for a particular job. A cover letter is the perfect place to let potential employers know you as a person: What you've done, what you can offer and how you express yourself. And there's an added bonus: You can write in full sentences instead of fragments or bullet points.

Many job seekers spend hours crafting each item on their resume. Then they whip out a quick-and-dirty cover letter full of mistakes -- not realizing that a cover letter is just as important as a resume.

One common cover letter goof: Typos and spelling errors. To avoid spelling errors and typos, write your cover letter using a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word. Next, spell-check the document. Then read the document out loud -- you may catch spelling errors the computer missed (such as accidentally writing "jog" instead of "job"). Only after you have double-checked your cover letter should you attach it to your resume and send it off.

Here are some other all-too-common cover letter blunders and how to fix them.

Name That Job

What's one of the first things you should do after greeting the reader of a cover letter?

State exactly which job you're applying for. Include the exact name of the position. If the ad provided a job ID number, then include that too. It's also a good idea to mention where you heard about the opening.

There's a good reason for being so specific: Many recruiters handle hundreds of job openings, so they won't automatically know which one you're gunning for. By reminding them of the specific opening for which you're applying, you'll make it more likely that your resume will be read by the right person. And besides, anything you can do to make a recruiter's job easier will put you on their good side.

The Danger of Form Cover Letters

Do you send the exact same cover letter to every employer, only changing the name of the person to whom you're sending it?

Big mistake.

The point of a cover letter is to make a personal connection with the reader. So to write a successful cover letter, you should tailor it specifically to each company you send it to. For instance, display a knowledge of the company history or write about recent events or projects the company has undertaken. This will show that you have taken the time to research the company before sending in your resume -- and prove that you really want the job.

Don't Repeat Yourself

A common trap that many job seekers fall into when writing a cover letter is to simply regurgitate everything that's in their resume.

But if it's already in your resume, then you're just wasting your breath ... and a chance at the job.

A cover letter should not be a rehash of your resume; instead, it should offer deeper insights into what your resume does NOT say. Provide an in-depth explanation of some of your key achievements at your last job, for instance, and how those accomplishments could help the company. Or tell a story about a tough problem you solved. The point is: The recruiter already has your resume; the cover letter should add to it, not repeat it.

So when writing a cover letter, make sure it elaborates on what's already in your resume or provides some new information.

What Can You Do for Me?

When writing a cover letter, many people discuss why they need the job ...

"I need the money."
"I find the position interesting."
"I've wanted to work for you since I was a kid."
"I need more experience in the industry."
"Since your company is the best in the industry, a job there would help my career."

Here's a newsflash: Companies don't really care about your needs. They're not hiring you to enrich your life or provide you with an income. They're hiring you because they need a job done.

That means your cover letter should focus on the company's needs and how you can fulfill them, not what the company can do for you.

A good way to start: Look at the requirements for the position in the job ad. Then, in your cover letter, discuss point by point how you meet (or even exceed) those requirements. By using the job ad as a guide, you'll show the company how hiring you benefits them and not just you.

One last note: Try to be both confident and humble when discussing what you can offer the company. While you certainly want to appear competent, arrogance can turn off a recruiter. Show enthusiasm and keep a positive attitude, and your cover letter will take you far.

$1.72 Billion: The Cost of Over-Night Computers

2007-06-29T15:37:00.000+05:30

By Hank Green

Wed, 27 Jun 2007, 09:33AM

Thirty percent of corporate computers are not switched off at night. Or so says a study from 1E, a power management software company.

And the cost of that over-night computing? 14.4 million metric tons of CO2 and $1.72 Billion.

Now, we should keep in mind that this study was done by a company trying to sell power management software, but these numbers are real, and so is the problem. Though, I will say that, in most places in America, there is excess power being produced at night anyhow, so saying that this resulted in an increase in greenhouse gasses is ultimately incorrect.

However, it has resulted in an almost 2 billion dollar gift to the fossil fuel-based power generation industry.

People see shutting down the PCs, or even putting them into sleep mode, as simply too much trouble. This was something that Vista was supposed to tackle, but it unclear what kind of impact Vista's new power management features have had.

Of course, 1E also calculated the massive energy savings that could be achieved by installing their software...Up to $75 per PC. We wish that people weren't so lazy, and that they could hibernate their own machines, but if it takes proprietary power management software to get companies to stop wasting all this energy, then I'm behind 1E in their efforts.

RIM announces BlackBerry PBX functionality

2007-05-16T20:09:00.000+05:30

RIM has announced its BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (MVS), which promises to make the BlackBerry smartphone an extension of an enterprise's PBX system.

At its annual user conference, the Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES), RIM said on Tuesday that MVS would enable access to PBX functionality through a "new intuitive menu interface" and allow users to have one "Reach Me Anywhere" phone number. Desk phone functions such as transfer, park and extension dialling will also be made possible through the system.

Included in the system are the MVS client itself, MVS connectors (a part of BlackBerry Enterprise Server) and the Ascendent Voice Mobility Suite, which allows secure authentication of PBXs. RIM also notes that routing calls through a corporate PBX allows logging or recording for compliance purposes.

Also at WES, RIM announced a plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio, letting developers use the .Net programming environment to create applications for BlackBerry smartphones. This follows a recent announcement about new BlackBerry programming interfaces for developers geared towards the Java environment.

"This new developer tool meets the needs of the .Net developer community, as well as enterprise customers, by enabling the development of BlackBerry applications within the familiar framework of Visual Studio," said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-chief executive at RIM, on Tuesday.

"It leverages existing skill sets, as well as existing investments, in the BlackBerry platform," he said.

News Source: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/

WiMax is coming !!!

2007-04-24T23:00:00.000+05:30

Dialog will launch their WiMax services ahead of rival SLT during the month of May. They have already completed their trial runs and looking forward to commence it commercially by mid May. What I heard was that they are discussing with Alvarion and the Airspan to get the subscriber station related equipments. I wonder how much they will charge for the installations and the equipments. They said that their bandwidth will be bit high and somewhat dedicated (will give dedicated bandwidth for corporate customers), but we have to wait and see.

Last time they announced something with BlackBerry connections. But soon we got to know that customers face get “berry” once they saw the “black” device and it's features. (they issued second hand devices with less features. People whom had their own “BES” servers fedup with Dialog due to that limited, restricted, un-ethical service behavior)

Cool tool to convert "singlish" in to sinhala

2007-04-20T17:42:00.000+05:30

One of my friends came to me and given me the following link last week. Oh man its great. You can type something in "singlish" and you can obtain the Unicode of its in Sinhala. Rather than keeping it in secret, decided to introduce this cool tool to everybody.

If you want to type something in Sinhala, please visit this site next time. What you want is some Sinhala Unicode font installed on your machine + UTF 8 support with the language pack.

http://www.ucsc.cmb.ac.lk/ltrl/services/feconverter/t1.html

There will be a tough competition in the local telecom sector…

2007-01-25T12:06:00.000+05:30

Sri Lankan youths and cooperate sector will experience somewhat acceptable service from their telecom service providers in years to come. This was signaled at the very beginning of the 07.

1. Sri Lanka’s Premier Cellular Network Celltel Re-brands as tigo

2. SLT is going to make ADSL an island wide service

3. Mobitel is in a process to implement a 3 G network

4. Bharti Airtel bags the fifth mobile operator license

5. Dialog launched their WiMAX services in selected parts of the country

1. Sri Lanka’s Premier Cellular Network Celltel Re-brands as tigo

Celltel was the first cellular company to launch their services in Sri Lanka in early 90s. Still our people used to call Celltel instead of the word mobile phone. Recently they have started re-branding their services globally. Actually this concept was come from their mother company Millicom International Cellular. As a part of that they have changed their local operations Celltel as tigo.

Go to www.celltel.lk to see the change. This is a positive move towards challenging the Telekom Malaysia’s monopoly in SL. Telekom Malaysia operates under the name of Dialog Telecom in SL and their recent services were not up to the standards and the expectations of the local community. We had some horrible time with Dialog in recent past and do not want to recommend them to anyone else because of their customer care.

With this move from the Celltel (now tigo) Dialog is having two competitors in the market. It’ll be three if and only if the recently added fifth mobile operator Bharti Airtel in a position to implement what they have promised during the bidding period. (I do not have a faith on these cheap Indian companies. You can figure out that easily by looking at IOC’s local operations).

I would love to see this competition during the next couple of years. Surely Dialog will loose their dominance in the market and they will face a tough competition in years to come.

Collected from tigo:

Millicom International Cellular launched a successful new “3 A’s” business strategy with the central themes of Affordability, Accessibility and Availability, through investments in network and distribution with the objectives of bringing cool and innovative products first in the market, addressing friends and family service needs and offering reliable business solutions.

“Today, the launch of Tigo, is the culmination of this process for Sri Lanka, and coincides with the major expansion of GSM network in 2006 undertaken by Celltel, which now covers all corners of the island, the successful introduction of E PIN/RELOAD making prepay services more affordable, and the introduction of GPRS/EDGE services”, said Mr. Dumindra Ratnayaka, CEO of Celltel Lanka. Millicom’s Tigo brand, is now present in 13 countries across Asia, Africa and South America – making Tigo a truly global brand.

“After more than a year of market investigation, consumer research and most importantly - of listening to the needs of mobile customers all over Sri Lanka - the launch of Tigo today, represents another step in the process of Tigo connecting people in ways that enable them to communicate how and when they want, and ultimately; to deliver the convenience in communication that people seek”.

According to Mr. Ratnayaka, Tigo’s introduction to Sri Lanka will provide a “new mobile experience” for both current mobile users, as well as those people not yet using mobile phones, by providing improved access, greater availability and enhanced affordability of mobile services, via the aspirational brand Tigo.

The Tigo experience can be enjoyed with the “ TIGO Power Sim” , for only Rs. 450 , that allows one touch connection to the GPRS services through its menu , allowing customers to enter the exciting world of Value Added Services like “ tones , wallpapers , animations” with the latest content and service features. Two new tariff packages are available targeting both economy and high users, namely the “no validity 2 minute incoming free package “and “Rs. 600 validity, incoming totally free package”

Celltel’s existing customers can continue enjoying current services, and can use Tigo cards for reloading and/or can change to the attractive new Tigo tariff packages, by dialing a short code.

“Tigo products, services and communications are now being rolled out to all corners of Sri Lanka and will be delivered with the energy, innovation and ease of use that are defining characteristics of the Tigo brand”, said Mr. Ratnayaka.

“In doing so we are determined to be, not just a part of your communication activities, instead, Tigo’s ultimate ambition is to become as much a part of the Sri Lankan lifestyle – as we have become in many different and diverse communities around the world. So in many ways today represents the “start of a new beginning” for the Sri Lankan mobile market, and we extend an invitation to all of you here today and to the wider community of Sri Lanka to...
Step into the Blue, Enjoy the Tigo experience…and above all EXPRESS YOURSELF”

2. SLT is going to make ADSL an island wide service

My previous post present more details on this.

3. Mobitel is in a process to implement a 3 G network

Mobitel started their 3 G trials in last year is looking forward to commence their commercial 3 G services this year but yet to collect the information.

4. Bharti Airtel bags the fifth mobile operator license

January 18, 2007 (LBO) – India's Bharti Airtel Ltd has been tentatively picked to take up a slot as Sri Lanka's fifth mobile phone operator, the island's telecom watchdog said Thursday.

"We have issued an offer letter to Bharti, who have a month to make a 4 milllion dollar payment to collect the license," Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Director General, Kanchana Ratwatte told LBO.

Bharti has also promised to invest 100 million dollars within the first year of operation, Ratwatte said adding that the Indian operator plans to rollout the network by the end of this year, offering second and third generation (2G and 3G) services.

Bharti Mittal, Bharti's Chairman said the Sri Lankan operations, will be the first international foray for the company and is in line with the group's plans to expand into the South Asian region.

"The South Asian region offers tremendous growth opportunities and Sri Lanka is a very promising market for telecom services," he said adding that "Bharti Airtel with its extensive experience and unique business model will strive to offer world-class services at affordable rates to the people of Sri Lanka."

Telecom, is one of the fastest growth sectors in this South Asian island of 19.5 million people and the Central Bank estimates that 4.5 million users have mobile phones as at end 2006.

Dialog Telekoma, a unit of Telekom Malaysia, dominates the landscape with over 3-million subscribers on its network, followed by Mobitel, Celltel Lanka Ltd and Hutchinson.

5. Dialog launched their WiMAX services in selected parts of the country

Jan 23 (LBO) – Sri Lankan mobile operator Dialog said Tuesday it had rolled out broadband wireless services for a few pilot customers, with plans to extend it to other parts of the island over the next few months.

The WiMAX (World Interoperability for Microwave Access) services will be offered to customers in Hambantota, Matara, Galle, Kurunagala, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.

Amadeus Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, World Vision, and Hotels Corporation are among those that have tied up with Dialog for the pilot launch of WiMAX, Dialog said in a statement.

“WiMAX provides Broadband Internet access across the footprint of the wireless network, enabling anywhere-anytime access to high speed broadband,” Vajira Jayasinghe, Chief Technology Officer of Dialog Broadband Networks said.

The rollout is still at a pilot stage, Jayasinghe said, with extensive expansion of services due to take place later in the year.

WiMAX has a higher data speed of 10 Megabits per second and allows high quality delivery of multimedia services on a single connection.

“The launch of pilot WiMAX services in collaboration with several commercial entities, gives Sri Lanka a head start in the delivery of Broadband Wireless Access Services,” Upali Gajanaike, Chief Operating Officer Dialog Broadband Networks (DBN) said.

Dialog Broadband Networks is a fully owned subsidiary of Dialog Telekom Limited, offering backbone and transmission infrastructure facilities and data communication services.

Dialog Broadband is to also provide fixed wireless telephony services based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, shortly.

Dialog Telekom Limited is a subsidiary of the Telekom Malaysia Group and commands 60 percent of the market with over three million subscribers.

The mobile operator also provides retail and wholesale international voice and data services, Internet services and also operates Dialog SAT, a mobile satellite service.

SLT ADSL will be an island wide service

2007-01-19T00:19:00.000+05:30

Yuhooo…

It seems SLT has finally identified the taste of Sri Lankans….

They are going to make this ADSL service available island wide….

Not a lie, see the link below...

http://www.slt.lk/data/forhome/106adsl_areas.asp

Another issue… Couple of days back they said they are rely on 1 GIG connectivity to the international backbone…. That means they are going to reduce the bandwidth with this expansion project huh… if so it’ll be similar to what we had in mid 90s… errrrr

The Art of Influencing Up

2007-01-18T23:51:00.000+05:30

Following article was available on the yahoo (http://biz.yahoo.com/).

What a nice saying "Great wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data”; read it carefully, you'll get the reason for me to re-publish it over here.

The best ideas don't matter if no one pays attention. Here's how you can improve the odds of your boss taking your suggestions

Marshall Goldsmith

BusinessWeek Online

"Great wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data."—Peter Drucker

Knowledge workers are people who know more about what they are doing than their boss does. My guess is that you, like most of my readers, are a knowledge worker. Many knowledge workers (especially those with technical backgrounds) have years of education and experience that enable them to come up with great ideas.

Yet this same group has almost no training in how to "influence up" and ensure that their great ideas actually get accepted. Great ideas that are never implemented don't make much of an impact on the organization.

The guidelines listed below are intended to help you do a better job of influencing your upper management. They won't always ensure your success, but they will definitely improve your odds!

•Take responsibility. Think like a salesperson—not a technician.

In many ways, influencing up is similar to selling products or services to external customers. They don't have to buy—you have to sell!

Any good salesperson takes responsibility for achieving results. No one is impressed with salespeople who blame their customers for not buying their products. When making your pitch, treat upper managers like great salespeople treat their customers.

While the importance of taking responsibility may seem obvious in external sales, an amazing number of people in large corporations spend countless hours blaming management for not buying their ideas, as opposed to blaming themselves for not selling those ideas. If more time were spent on developing our ability to present ideas and less on blaming management, a lot more might get accomplished.

•Focus on the big picture—not just what's in it for you.

An effective salesperson would never say to a customer: "You need to buy this product, because if you don't, I won't achieve my objectives!"

Effective salespeople relate to the needs of the buyers. They don't expect buyers to relate to their needs. In the same way, effective "upward influencers" relate to the larger needs of the organization, not just to the needs of their unit or team.

When influencing up, focus on the impact of the decision on the overall corporation. In most cases, the needs of the unit and the needs of the corporation are directly connected. In some cases, this connection isn't so obvious. Don't assume that executives will automatically make the connection between the benefit to your unit and significant, positive impact for the larger corporation.

•Strive to win the big battles. Don't waste your energy and psychological capital on trivial points.

An executive's time is very limited. Do a thorough analysis of your ideas before challenging the system. Don't waste time on issues that will only have a negligible impact on results. Focus on issues that will make a real difference. Be willing to lose on small points.

Be especially sensitive to the need to win trivial, nonbusiness arguments on things like restaurants, sports teams, or cars. People become more annoyed with us for having to be "right" on trivia than our need to be right on important business points. You are paid to do what makes a difference and to win on important issues. You are not paid to win arguments on the relative quality of athletic teams.

•Present a realistic cost-benefit analysis of your ideas. Don't just sell benefits.

Every organization has limited resources, time, and energy. The acceptance of your idea may well mean the rejection of another idea that someone else believes is wonderful. Be prepared to have a realistic discussion of the costs of your idea. Acknowledge the fact that someone else's cause may have to be sacrificed in order to have your plan implemented.

By getting ready for a realistic discussion of costs, you can prepare for objections to your idea before they occur. You can acknowledge the sacrifice that someone else may have to make and point out how the benefits of your plan outweigh the costs.

•Realize that your upper managers are just as "human" as you are. Don't say, "I am amazed that someone at this level…"

It is realistic to expect upper managers to be competent; it is unrealistic to expect them to be better than normal humans. Is there anything in the history of the human species indicating that when people achieve high levels of status, power, and money they become instantly wise and logical (or even sane)?

How many times have we thought: "I would assume someone at this level…" followed by "should know what is happening," "should be more logical," "wouldn't make that kind of mistake," or "would never engage in such inappropriate behavior"?

Even the best of leaders are human. We all make mistakes. When your managers make mistakes, focus more on helping them than on judging them.

•Make a positive difference. Don't just try to "win" or "be right."

We can easily become more focused on what others are doing wrong than on how we can make things better. An important guideline in influencing up is to always remember your goal—to make a positive difference for the organization.

Corporations are different from academic institutions. In a university the goal may be sharing ideas, not having an impact on the world. In faculty meetings, hours of acrimonious debate on obscure topics can be perfectly normal.

In a corporation, sharing ideas without having an impact is worse than useless. It is a waste of the stockholders' money and a distraction from serving customers.

When I was interviewed in the Harvard Business Review, I was asked: "What is the most common area for improvement for the leaders that you meet?" My answer was "winning too much."

Focus on making a difference. The more other people can "be right" or "win" with your idea, the more likely your idea is to be successfully executed.

In summary, think of the years that you have spent perfecting your craft. Think of all of the knowledge that you have accumulated. Think about how your knowledge can potentially benefit your organization.

How much energy have you invested in acquiring all of this knowledge? How much energy have you invested in learning to present this knowledge so that you can make a real difference? My hope is that by making a small investment in learning how to influence up, you can make a large, positive difference for the future of your organization—and the future of your career.

Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful people achieves positive, lasting change in behavior. His 22 books include What Got You Here Won't Get You There. Click here to see his Web site, MarshallGoldsmith.com or e-mail him at Marshall@marshallgoldsmith.com .

Developers’ approach in fixing defects

2007-01-18T09:27:00.000+05:30

Received a mail containing couple of images and with a subject of “Developers’ approach in fixing defects”

Awesome… I was searching for couple of images to express the same, but ultimately my wife forwarded these to me.

Couple of Good News for 07

2007-01-04T10:46:00.000+05:30

Wishing you all a very happy new year!!!

I found couple of good articles on the web.

1. GMI (Global Market Insite Inc.), a Seattle, Washington based software development firm started their operations in Sri Lanka. They started their operations by setting up a dedicated development centre for their existing product line. Good news for local IT talent pool since GMI having a solid track record for last couple of years. I found that they do deal with most of the big names in the market. Seems this is the summer for software professionals in Sri Lanka, because number of product based firms started their operations in the recent past. (eCollege, WSO2, GMI, Valista, IFS…etc.)

2. Yahoo news named one Sri Lankan destination (Haputale) as a most preferred (its came as the sixth in the eight destination selected for 07) one and a place to be visit.

Mother Nature Shows Her Capabilities Again!!!

2006-12-28T00:40:00.000+05:30

Earlier 26th December was the boxing day for us. If you are a Sri Lankan and a cricket fan, then its with your memories for sometimes. But from 2004 onwards things got changed due to the Asian Killer Tsunami. It destroyed almost everything and taken hundreds of thousands of lives with it. After two years from the biggest natural disasters of the new millennium Mother Nature has sent another signal to show her strengths. This time it’s not another killer tsunami wave but an earthquake which disrupts most of the data and internet connectivity for the same region.

Telecom, PCCW Say Internet Disrupted by Quakes

By Andrea Tan

Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. Southeast Asia's largest telephone company, and Hong Kong's PCCW Ltd. said Internet service in Asia slowed down after three earthquakes hit southern yesterday.

``The Taiwan earthquake has affected several submarine cable systems in Asia, causing cable cuts near Taiwan late last night,'' Singapore Telecom spokesman Chia Boon Chong said by telephone today. ``Some customers might experience a slowdown in data or Internet access. Traffic diversion and restoration works are currently in progress.''

was jolted by three earthquakes yesterday, killing two people and injuring 42 others, the island's National Fire Agency said. The tremors damaged undersea cables, causing a disruption to Internet traffic and some telephone calls in the region for customers including Singapore Telecom, PCCW, Chunghwa Telecom Co., 's biggest telephone operator, and KDDI Corp., 's second-largest telephone carrier.

PCCW, 's largest phone company, said data capacity on its networks was reduced to 50 percent due to the quake.

``Data service to , , and the were affected,'' said Hans Leung, a spokesman in .

Two of Chunghwa Telecom's cables were damaged by the earthquake, resulting in ``near zero'' capacity for voice calls to Southeast Asia, apart from Vietnam, said Leng Tai-feng, the company's vice president of international business.

``The repairs could take two to three weeks,'' Leng said. ``We're doing our best to coordinate with other operators in the region to resolve the problem.''

The first earthquake, which was magnitude 6.7, occurred at 8:26 p.m. local time yesterday off 's south coast, the island's Central Weather Bureau said on its Web site. The second, magnitude 6.4, happened at 8:34 p.m. and the third, magnitude 5.2, occurred at 8:40 p.m. All three were centered in the same area, the bureau said.

On Dec. 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra unleashed waves that destroyed coastal villages on the Indian Ocean from to , killing more than 220,000 people. Some of the areas have yet to recover.

KDDI said its fiber-optic undersea cable in was damaged, affecting fixed-line services to . The company is re-routing phone calls to go through the and and may take several weeks to two months to repair cables that are damaged, KDDI's Tokyo-based spokesman Haruhiko Maede said.

KT Corp., 's largest provider of fixed-line phone and Internet access service, said the outages affected overseas connections of the foreign ministry and Reuters, which use leased lines, said Kim Cheol Kee, a spokesman for Seongnam-based KT.

KT is in discussions with foreign phone companies to redirect traffic elsewhere, Kim says.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Tan in at atan17@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 26, 2006 22:57 EST

Lessons to Learn

2006-12-21T12:04:00.000+05:30

Warren Buffett - Finfacts Businessperson of the Year 2006
By Michael Hennigan, Editor and Founder of Finfacts
Dec 3, 2006, 14:43

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett answering questions from business students at the University of Nebraska

Legendary American investor Warren Buffett (b. 1930) is to business what Nelson Mandela has been to politics - they stand apart because they are individuals who have gone against the grain in significant ways.

"Let it never be said by future generations that indifference, cynicism or selfishness made us fail to live up to the ideals of humanism which the Nobel Peace Prize encapsulates," Nelson Mandela said on acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and last June, Warren Buffett announced that he would begin transferring the bulk of his fortune of about $40 billion, to the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation. He has said that it's almost un-American to pass great wealth to your children.

An Irish businessman recently commented that the real thrill of success is to drive to a friend's house in the expensive new car following a business killing and just watch for the momentary expression of envy.

Warren Buffett, the world's second richest person, has shown that success does not have to be defined by conspicuous consumption.

In a rare interview CNBC anchor Liz Claman takes an inside look into his surprisingly simple life in "Warren Buffett: The Billionaire Next Door," a one-hour special that first aired last month.

The result is an hour-long fascinating look at the man and an opportunity for viewers to learn firsthand from the world's most famous investor.

Buffet takes Claman on a personal tour of his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska from his grandfather's store where he turned his first profit selling chewing gum and soda, to the $31,500 house he's owned for almost a half-century. The unassuming billionaire says, "I like the way I was living when I was in my 20's. I still like that way…I like to go home and put on a sweat suit."

Buffett owned his first stock at the age of 11, but admits, "I don't know why I wasted time before that stock…I got started late."

In the hour-long special, Claman gets Buffett to open up on a variety of topics such as his gut instincts about business, his feelings about Wall Street, how he feels when he makes a deal, his surprising view about his own tax rate and his $31 billion pledge to the only person in the world with more money, his good friend Bill Gates.

Buffett says on the issue of honesty and ethics that it's easy for him to talk about it but if there were two sick kids in the house without food, he's not sure if he would consider holding up a store.

So how does the second richest man on the planet measure success? "Well," Buffett says, "I would say success is really doing what you love and doing it well…It's simple as that."

Buffett also offers insight into his famed company, Berkshire Hathaway, and what may happen when "The Oracle of Omaha," as Buffett is commonly referred, decides to step down.

We at Finfacts have often reported on the wide gulf between super earners and the rest of workers, in the US.

It's an issue that is a concern for Warren Buffett.

Buffett has opposed repeal of the estate inheritance tax saying that it "would be a terrible mistake," the equivalent of "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics."

"We would regard that as absolute folly in terms of athletic competition," he said.

"We have come closer to a true meritocracy than anywhere else around the world," he said. "You have mobility so people with talents can be put to the best use. Without the estate tax, you in effect will have an aristocracy of wealth, which means you pass down the ability to command the resources of the nation based on heredity rather than merit."

New York Times columnist Ben Stein wrote last month that he had met Buffett who compiled a data sheet of the men and women who work in his office. He had each of them make a fraction; the numerator was how much they paid in federal income tax and in payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, and the denominator was their taxable income. The people in his office were mostly secretaries and clerks, though not all.

It turned out that Buffett, with immense income from dividends and capital gains, paid far, far less as a fraction of his income than the secretaries or the clerks or anyone else in his office. Further, in conversation it came up that Buffett doesn’t use any tax planning at all. He just pays as the Internal Revenue Code requires. “How can this be fair?” he asked of how little he pays relative to his employees. “How can this be right?”

Even though Stein says that he agreed with him, he warned that whenever someone tried to raise the issue, he or she was accused of fomenting class warfare.

“There’s class warfare, all right,” Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

Berkshire’s Corporate Performance vs the Standard & Poor's 500 1965/2005

Extract from the Interview – The Lesson

1) He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!

2) He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.

3) He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.

4) He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.

5) He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world’s largest private jet company.

6) His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.

7) He has given his CEO’s only two rules. Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder’s money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

8) He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.

9) Bill Gates, the world’s richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.

10) Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.

11) His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

They should learn the basics of marketing and customer attraction…

2006-12-18T16:16:00.002+05:30

During the last couple of weeks we faced enormous difficulties when dealing with local service providers. During their marketing campaigns (especially on TV commercials and paper advertisements) they do boast about their end services. But reality is far away from the advertisements.

I’ll give few examples for your reference.

One mobile phone company is using a slogan of “Future Today”. But in real world they can not provide their customers the on time service due to ancient technologies in placed. Followings are among the few excuses they are giving to their customers.

Our server got crashed therefore can not process this request now. We’ll try this on tomorrow.
We do have a long queue on our server; we do not have a mechanism to prioritize the jobs on queue. It’ll take a day or two to process the job.
We do not trust our customers therefore we do deactivate services when their outstanding exceed the deposit.
He is having an abnormal talent and he is a genius. It enough for him to touch a device to heal the issue. (:D this is what mentioned by one of their customer care executives)

One communication provider says that they do have backups in heaven. In real they take years to give their customers a new connection. Their rates are among the one of the highest in the region. Its essential bribe them in-order to get a service else we have to force from the top.

This is a common practice in this island I guess. No matter what the company type is (privately held or a government institute) they do inherit these. The real joke is managers at a one communication company want their customers to call them and remind about the mails send weeks ago. Else they won’t notice about the client’s requests sometimes they might not using it.

I have a one advice for you all, in Sri Lanka do not use the e-mail addresses displayed in web sites (web sites published by the Sri Lankan companies, especially SLT, Dialog). You won’t get a reply from the other end for years.

Is it Future Today???

2006-12-10T18:54:00.000+05:30

TM not the Trade Mark but the Telekom Malaysia’s local presence, Dialog Telekom’s says that they are bringing the future to SL. I doubt whether they do so. Seems it’s another lie. Like some of the foreign investors, they used to pump billions of rupees from here to Malaysia.

Do I hate Dialog? Yes of course. I do have thousands of reasons for that.

Their business practice in SL
Their customer services
The way they treat their customers,

are just three key reasons for me to hate them. They advertise saying that they have 3 million customer base. I doubt whether it’s true. This might be another mind game like what LTTE used to practice. Else they might be counting all the number issued from their inception (with the inactive accounts).

Forget that. I do have couple of bad news regarding Dialog’s corrupted business practice over here in SL.

First, their customer service is the worst one in this island nation. They do not have much trust over their customers. They suck the money from their customer’s like vampires but do not trust the customers (even they do maintained clean records for couple of years). During a recent phone conversation with one of their customer service head, we got to know this news. He expressed their (Dialog’s) attitudes towards customers by telling that as a company they do not trust the customers. Then what the hell they are doing here? Just trying to suck money from the local market and going to invest them in their country.

Second thing, they do sell used mobile devices. They do purchase used items from other countries and sell them over here. This is a good revenue source for them. They do sell special devices such as Blackberry devices in this way. Recently we bought a Blackberry device (7100 g), very old device introduced by RIM. We found lots of scratches on the housing.

Third, they do not provide what customers want. They want us to buy what they offer. Communication plays a bigger role in day-to-day activities in these days. People prefer true mobility in-order to reduce workload, to increase productivity and efficiency in their busy life. For that they need customized telecom solutions matches to their expectations. But Dialog doesn’t accept that. They want us to travel backward through time. Our company wants Dialog to provide us a Blackberry data plan which supports us to connect our BES instead of their one. But Dialog refused to do that since they are going to loose their monopoly.

Fourth, they have already put the national security in to wrong hands. You’ll get lot more details about Dialog’s unethical business practices through this forum.

The Sooner You Start, the Later You Finish

2006-12-10T18:24:00.000+05:30

http://www.focusedperformance.com/articles/multi02.html

To do two things at once is to do neither. - Publius Syrus

The source of this page is a posting made by Frank Patrick to one of a variety of online discussion forums, most likely an e-mail discussion list. It's tone and style may be informal, occasionally provocative, and sometimes, even impertinent. There may even be typos until an opportunity arises to clean them up for more formal presentation. Despite these minor shortcomings of style, the content is worth sharing.

William wrote...

"But there are all kinds of risks and costs of starting things as early as possible." Not true. There is no cost to starting early. The risk is with NOT starting early. Good practice has ALWAYS been to schedule all activities to start as early as possible -- that's why it's the default in most scheduling software!

Allow me to suggest some risk/costs of starting early, in increasing order of concern.

A negative hit on cash flow from spending before one has to.
Dilution of focus on the part of the project manager and team from what must be done to what is being worked on because we can. (Possible confusion on project progress if too much weight is given to work completed unnecessarily.) Since most projects consist of parallel paths of work, any work done sooner than necessary will just have to wait for merging paths anyhow. Kind of like undesirable work-in-process inventory in production.
The possibility of doing work that isn't a predecessor to, but can be influenced by learning’s in parallel paths of the project, leading to potential wasted effort and possible rework.
For multi-project environments, where several projects are pursued with a shared set of resources, earlier starts than necessary will tend to drive multi-tasking without good reason, adding otherwise unnecessary effort, time, and waste to all projects involved.

The first three are real enough, but I'd like to focus on the fourth as the most compelling reason. Many project environments are multi-project environments, dependent on shared resources that a variety of projects are calling for. There is often all kinds of pressure not only to start tasks early, as William suggests, but also to get whole projects started as soon as funding is available. One common way to manage resources in this kind of environment is to use the idea of the fractional headcount -- half time on one project and half time on another, and unfortunately, often another half time on a third project. In every Critical Chain workshop I've given, this mode of operation has been readily recognized by the participants. It allows the organization to get projects started, and after all, the sooner you get started, the sooner you finish. Right?

Wrong.

If you start projects early, and utilize the common practice of multitasking to do so without pulling resources completely off of other projects, then all the individual projects suffer from extension of lead time AND the entire organization suffers from a loss of "project throughput."

The reason for this should be quite intuitive. If you interrupt work on one project prior to handing it off to work on another project, one project sits idle while work is performed on the other. This results in longer lead times for all the individual projects involved.

The second benefit, additional throughput, comes from the combination of avoiding multitasking and the staggering of projects by their use of a heavily loaded common resource.

Tough to draw it with text, but if there are three similar projects:

a1a1a1b1b1b1b1b1c1c1

a2a2a2b2b2b2b2b2c2c2

a3a3a3b3b3b3b3b3c3c3

widespread multitasking would result in:

a1    a1    a1b1    b1    b1    b1c1    c1

  a2    a2    a2b2    b2    b2    b2c2    c2

    a3    a3    a3b3    b3    b3    b3c3   c3

completing 3 projects in the time shown -----|

(Not counting time lost to "context switching.")

Focused effort and "constraint" scheduling (staggering the projects based on the use of the "b" resource in this case) would result in:

a1a1a1b1b1b1b1c1c1

        a2a2a2b2b2b2b2c2c2

                a3a3a3b3b3b3b3c3c3

                        a4a4a4b4b4b4b4c4c4

                                a5a5a5b5b5b5b5c5c5

Starting projects 2 and 3 LATER results in them are finishing SOONER. Also, there are almost five projects COMPLETED in the time needed for three projects with the same level of resources over that timeframe. Plus the organization would see the benefit of the original three projects in an average of less than half the time required in the multitasking mode.

I know these are simplistic examples, but I believe appropriate for this limited text-based medium, and hopefully sufficient to make the case for the desire to avoid multitasking and early starting of projects.

But back to the issue of starting project tasks early...

Sometimes a set of project schedules will result in resource contention across projects. Even if resources are leveled up front to try to avoid multitasking, "stuff happens" and tasks shift in time, resulting in unplanned contention. If a schedule is designed with tasks happening as early as possible, as suggested by the software's default, these resource contentions are sometimes unnecessary for the success of the individual project, take management attention and effort to try to resolve, and worst of all, have the potential of impacting not only the current projects but the throughput and timing of other projects as well.

I'm not suggesting that non-critical activities start as late as possible, just that they don't start as early as possible. The critical chain approach suggests they start "early enough" to avoid impacting the ability of the critical tasks to proceed, and that "early enough" is defined by the feeding buffers.

Keep in mind that "early as possible" may sometimes not be "early enough." The slack that results from "early as possible" starts in critical path schedules is simply a mathematical outcome of the network of tasks and may very well not be sufficient to protect the ability of the critical tasks to make progress. (That's what happens when non-critical things become critical and why critical paths change through the life of the project.) The buffers, on the other hand, are designed/sized to provide that necessary protection.

Office 2007 Will Rock Corporations' Worlds

2006-12-09T18:35:00.000+05:30

By Anne Chen and Michael Caton

Review: eWEEK Labs' tests show that the new suite is one of the biggest innovations from Microsoft in years and is well worth evaluating for an upgrade. With big changes, though, come big training and deployment issues.

Office 2007 is one of the most ambitious and innovative releases to come from Microsoft in years, introducing big changes and improvements to a productivity suite that is a mainstay in corporate environments.

Released to manufacturing on Nov. 6, Office 2007 will be available through volume licensing to enterprise customers at the end of November and should hit store shelves early next year.

eWEEK Labs has been testing the beta and pre-RTM versions of Office 2007 for some time now, and we believe that the new productivity suite is a compelling upgrade for corporations using earlier versions.

The new interface makes it easier for users to find the commands they're looking for. The interface includes a ribbon, comprising a combination of tool bars that changes depending on the task a user is working on, and the Office Button, which replaces the old File menu.

Other tools fill some gaps and pump up Office graphics. The Document Inspector tool, for example, allows users to check their documents and strip them of metadata and revisions before sending the documents on, and a plug-in finally brings PDF capabilities to Office. Meanwhile, Smart Art allows users to create charts that visually pop, particularly in PowerPoint and Excel.

There is suitewide focus on collaboration in Office 2007—especially, of course, in Outlook, Groove and OneNote. From these applications, users can share information and documents with greater ease than ever before.

For all the advances Microsoft has made with Office, however, the company still has a tough sell ahead of it. Office 2007's toughest competition will be the previous versions of the suite running—usually quite well—at corporations.

In addition, low-cost and free Office alternatives are maturing and becoming more viable. In fact, eWEEK Labs recommends that users who do not require the bells and whistles offered in Office 2007—and who are looking mainly to edit and view simple documents—check out options such as OpenOffice.org's namesake suite and ThinkFree's ThinkFree Online. Both suites run on several operating systems (which Office 2007 doesn't) and are free (which Office 2007 most certainly isn't).

And it's not just the price of the suite itself that makes Office 2007 expensive: IT managers looking to deploy the new suite will also need to consider the costs of the training and deployment issues that are bound to arise with such a significantly changed product.

Indeed, while all the new features and functionality will likely improve productivity in the long run, in the short term, IT managers should expect user confusion and frustration. For example, although we eventually found the interface ribbon to be intuitive and grew comfortable working with it, we did get frustrated trying to locate common tasks when we first began working in Office 2007. Enterprises will need to factor in training time—and likely an initial productivity hit—as users become accustomed to the new user interface.

The UI isn't the only big change in Office 2007. The suite also introduces a new default XML-based file format called Open XML for Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Rather than the .doc, .ppt and .xls extensions of previous Office versions, users will see .docx, .pptx and .xlsx, respectively, in Office 2007. To alleviate confusion over the new file formats, IT managers can initially change the default settings so that files continue to be saved in the Office 97/2003 binary file formats.

To its credit, Microsoft has released a compatibility pack to solve potential file-format compatibility issues. If a user of Office 2003 receives a file created in the new file formats, he or she will be asked via a pop-up to download and install the free compatibility pack. With the pack—a 27.1MB download—users of Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP or Office 2003 will be able to open and edit files in the new Office XML file formats.

We installed the compatibility pack on a computer running Office 2003 and found that everything worked when we tried to open and edit a .docx file. However, IT managers should still expect some user confusion over the new file formats.

Several versions of Office 2007 will be available, including Office 2007 Enterprise and Office 2007 Professional Plus, both of which will be available through volume licensing only. Available through retail outlets are Office Ultimate 2007 (priced at $679, or $539 for an upgrade), Office Professional 2007 (which costs $499, or $329 for an upgrade), Office Small Business Edition ($449, or $279 to upgrade), Office Standard ($399, or $239 to upgrade), and Office Home and Student (priced at $149, with no upgrade option).

During tests, we installed Office 2007 Enterprise (comprising Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, Access, Groove, Communicator, OneNote, InfoPath and Publisher) on a Toshiba Tecra A8. We also installed the suite on a Micron desktop with Pentium 4 processors and an Nvidia GeForce FX5920 Ultra video card running the RTM code of Windows Vista.

Office 2007 requires Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2003 with SP1. The suite also can be installed on systems running Windows Vista Beta 2 or later, but not earlier prerelease versions of Vista.

Users' visual experiences with Office 2007 will depend on the operating system they are running. Office 2007 running on Windows XP SP2 will have a default blue theme, while the productivity suite running on Vista will automatically default to Vista's black, or Obsidian, theme. A silver theme is also available with Office 2007.

With the proximity of the Office 2007 and Vista operating system releases, it comes as no surprise that Office 2007 takes advantage of Vista's Aero Glass capabilities. Users will see a remarkable difference, particularly in the ribbon, when running Office on Vista. Whether the glass is a distraction that hampers productivity, though, will depend on the individual user.

Word 2007

With Word 2007, users will find increased control over their data, whether they're trying to encrypt documents or checking a document to ensure that revisions and comments are inaccessible before sending it to someone.

Word 2007's Document Inspector allows users to inspect a document for comments, revisions and versions; document properties and personal information, such as hidden metadata; hidden text; and headers, footers and watermarks.

Under the Office Button, the handy Prepare menu allowed us to get documents ready for distribution by restricting who could and could not edit, copy and print the documents. We also were able to add a digital signature, view and edit the document properties, and make the document read-only. To securely redact information, however, we had to turn to Adobe Systems' Acrobat 8 to make sure we could black out sentences in our document and ensure the text underneath could not be seen.

While the first thing users will notice in Word 2007 is the new UI, they will also notice the introduction of a new default font called Calibri, which replaces Times New Roman. Users also will notice the handy word counter at the bottom of the screen, and bloggers will likely appreciate a tool that allows them to compose a blog post in Word and then post directly from Word to a blog. Word 2007 supports direct posting for multiple blog providers, including Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, TypePad and WordPress.

When opening a .doc file created in Word 2003 or earlier without converting it to a .docx file, Word 2007 operates in Compatibility Mode, which makes it impossible to use features that are not found in earlier versions of Word to ensure compatibility between the versions.

To gain more work space for our Word documents, we were able to minimize the ribbon whenever we didn't need it. We could quickly restore the ribbon by clicking on a tab related to what we wanted to do.

While we eventually became accustomed to the new ribbon interface, some parts of Word still puzzled us. For example, the longer our documents, the worse the disappearing text problem. Whenever Word did an automatic justification, the text display wasn't in sync with where the characters actually were in the file. As a result, if we were to go back to insert a word in a sentence, that word might wind up in the middle of another word. We've had this experience with Word 2003 as well, but the issue seems to be a bigger problem in Word 2007.

Another thing we hoped to see in Word, and in Excel, was some sort of online component that would allow us to access our documents without having to e-mail them to ourselves or deploy SharePoint Server. Unfortunately, such a capability still does not exist.

PowerPoint 2007

PowerPoint 2007's Smart Art graphics feature (also available in Excel and Word) allows users to add slick charts and graphics to presentations.

PowerPoint 2007 introduces themes, which are templates that contain design information. Users can create their own themes and reuse them, or they can choose from a set of themes already available in PowerPoint and on Microsoft Office Online (office.microsoft.com).

Along with themes, PowerPoint 2007 adds the ability to design and save custom slide layouts. Users can reuse these layouts, avoiding having to cut and paste layouts onto new slides. We found the custom slide feature really made a difference when it came to creating presentations quickly.

When PowerPoint is used in combination with Office SharePoint Server 2007, users gain collaboration capabilities, including the ability to share and reuse slide content that is stored on a centrally located Slide Library in SharePoint Server. This also allows users to repurpose existing content or to easily add slides that are required in every presentation by their company.

With SharePoint Server, users can also manage, initiate and track review and approval processes within PowerPoint 2007.

While the first betas of Office 2007 included support for PDF, a squabble between Adobe and Microsoft caused support to be pulled from the shipping version of the suite. However, that feature can be added to Office 2007 in the form of a downloadable add-in called Microsoft Save as PDF. Microsoft is also making an add-in for XPS (XML Paper Specification) available for download. (Both downloads are available at office.microsoft.com.)

In tests, it was quick and easy to download and install the two add-ins, both of which are smaller than 1MB. We created PowerPoint presentations and saved them in a variety of file formats, including PDF and XPS. We were able to do the same with Word and Excel documents as well. While office suites such as OpenOffice.org and Corel's WordPerfect have allowed users to save files as PDFs for years now, this is the first time this capability has been found in Office. In future versions of Office, we hope to see PowerPoint support Adobe Flash, a feature available in Sun Microsystems' StarOffice productivity suite.

Excel 2007

The benefits of the ribbon interface are most obvious in Excel 2007, making it much easier for users to fully leverage the advanced features of the spreadsheet program.

Excel 2007 also introduces vastly improved graphics capabilities, including fancy three-dimensional charts and graphs that are now easier to create.

Using the new charting engine, we easily built everything from a pie chart to a scatter chart. Other chart options include stock, doughnut and bubble charts. All the charts we built using Excel 2007 were visibly more impressive than ones we've made in the past with Excel 2000 and 2003.

We also appreciated that Microsoft has made it easier to use more advanced features. With PivotTables, for example, users can now drag fields to wherever they want them to be displayed. Best of all, Excel now supports even larger data sets, with spreadsheets of up to 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns.

Outlook 2007

For Microsoft's Outlook users, Outlook 2007 makes some considerable changes even beyond the new ribbon interface. As was the case with Outlook 2003 and Exchange Server 2003, some of Outlook 2007's more significant improvements tie in to Exchange Server 2007. Despite that connection, Outlook includes a number of new capabilities that will allow users connected to previous versions of Exchange or other e-mail servers to operate more efficiently.

Outlook 2007 has two major UI changes: the addition of the ribbon interface on Outlook form components, such as New Message and New Calendar, as well as the new To-Do bar in the main Outlook interface. Outlook 2007 also has a number of smaller, more refined improvements that make it easier to view and organize information.

We found that the ribbon element in Outlook 2007 delivers the same kind of easy, contextual access to features that it does with other Office applications.
The To-Do bar is an optional interface element that gives users a quick view of the calendar, tasks and flagged messages along the right edge of the main interface. The bar includes the month calendar view from the left navigation element in Outlook 2007.

We liked that the To-Do bar imports tasks from other Office 2007 applications, including Project 2007, OneNote 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services. As a substitute for the Mailbox view in previous versions of Outlook, it does a good job of keeping users in tune to outstanding work and can be an ever-present reminder system. The feature will likely appeal most to users with widescreen displays because its presence consumes a good deal of screen real estate.

Microsoft has made a number of improvements to meeting management, particularly when it comes to scheduling meetings. The biggest improvement, the Scheduling Assistant, requires running Exchange Server 2007 on the back end. The Scheduling Assistant makes it easier for meeting organizers to schedule meetings by identifying the best available times on participants' calendars.

One of the nicer calendar features of this release—the ability to share a calendar availability view—doesn't require Exchange Server. With this feature, Outlook 2007 users can e-mail a message that shows availability for a period of time directly in the e-mail message. The message also includes an iCal attachment with the same information. When testing this feature, we could limit the amount of information shared in the message to just free and busy data.

Also boosting general meeting management capabilities in this release of Outlook is integration with OneNote 2007. Users who rely on OneNote to organize meeting agendas and minutes will be pleased to find that the OneNote integration passes Outlook 2007 meeting information to a OneNote note.

On the e-mail management side, Outlook 2007 has a couple of features that tie in directly with Exchange Server 2007, including the ability to schedule and manage out-of-office messages and tie in Exchange Server 2007's managed folder capability. Managed folders give companies a way to organize e-mail messages based on compliance requirements.

Outlook 2007 also has a few additions that will make it easier to manage information. We liked the new message flagging and categorization methodology, which allowed us to categorize messages by color without flagging them.

Overall, we found Outlook 2007's performance a little slower than Office 2003's when performing routine tasks, such as sorting messages or opening the calendar. Search is faster, however, albeit not blindingly so.

Access 2007

With the 2007 suite, Microsoft has substantially improved the Access database user experience. A suite of prebuilt tracking applications serve as templates, making it considerably easier for users who have little to no previous database experience to track information and create reports.

We liked the new automatic table creation feature, which did a good job of correctly identifying data types. We did manage to trip it up, however, with unexpected data when importing from Excel.

Access 2007 now has InfoPath forms integration, which pretty much only allows users to reuse a form someone else has written. That might be the point, but we had a hard time envisioning a case where it would make sense for a corporation to rely on InfoPath as a front end.

Word 2007 RTM

2006-11-17T23:35:00.000+05:30

Elsa Wenzel CNET: Published: 16 Nov 2006

Microsoft Word's file format, interface and some features -- very nearly every aspect of this word processor -- have changed. Although Microsoft has put the finishing touches to Word 2007, the product won't be available in retail outlets until early next year -- in step with the release of the new Windows Vista operating system. In the meantime, a downloadable version of Office Small Business 2007 will become available on 30 November 2006.

We tested the RTM version of Word 2007 -- the same code that will come preinstalled on desktops and notebooks sold by vendors that have software partnerships with Microsoft. Installation of Office 2007 RTM on our Windows XP computer took us about 10 minutes -- shorter than prior editions of Office.

Word 2007 will operate in Compatibility Mode, shutting off some of the new graphics-rich features, should you, for example, open a Word 2003 DOC file without converting it to the new DOCX format.

Once you have Word 2007 running, you will notice a completely redesigned toolbar, with many familiar commands not where they used to be. Instead of the old, gray drop-down menus atop the page, Microsoft's new and very colourful Ribbon clumps common features into tabs: Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review and View. At first, you'll need to wander around to find what's been moved around from prior versions of Word. Clicking the Office 2007 logo in the upper-left corner drops down a menu of staple functions -- such as opening, saving and printing files -- that were under Word 2003's File menu. We had the hardest time locating commands from within Word 2003's Editing and Tools menus. To insert a comment in Word 2007, for instance, you must look under the Review tab -- not the Insert tab. Prepare to relearn Word.

Aside from the interface, the other radical change to Word is its new file type. For the first time in a decade, Microsoft is foisting by default a new file format upon users; the old Word DOC files will make way for the new DOCX type in Word 2007. Microsoft has taken steps to ease this transition, but we anticipate that it will not be smooth for many users.

Word 2007's new Picture Tools options let you hover over galleries of changes to preview how they'll look. In the past, you may have applied a change out of curiosity, then hit Undo when it didn't meet your expectations.

What happens when you're sharing work with people who use an older version of Word? Older versions, such as Word 2003 and 2000, are supposed to detect when you first try to open a DOCX file, then prompt you to download and install an Office 2007 Compatibility Pack. After you've done this and from that point forward, the older Word should convert your Word 2007 files, removing incompatible features. When you reopen that same DOCX file again in Word 2007, the file's original elements are supposed to stay intact. On the other hand, if you open an older DOC file within Word 2007, it will also run in Compatibility Mode, shutting off access to some of the newer program features, which explains why two documents within Word 2007 may display different formatting options.

Among the small tweaks in Word 2007 that make formatting easier, you can now see how various fonts appear by mousing over a gallery of styles. It takes just a couple of clicks to insert a JPEG, a GIF, a BMP, a PNG or another image type. Click the graphic, and the Picture Tools Format tab lets you tweak the brightness, the colour mode, and the contrast of a picture; you can also rotate it, crop it, skew its angle, add 3D effects and shadows to its borders, and convert it to all manner of shapes, such as a thought bubble, an arrow or a star. Options for positioning an image and wrapping text around it are also prominent, which should be helpful for creating professional-looking business documents, as well as casual party invitations. You don't get nearly the amount of control offered by QuarkXpress or Adobe's InDesign, but Word 2007 may do the trick for ultra-basic desktop publishing projects. And deep integration throughout the Office 2007 suite means that you can insert content from other applications into a Word file, such as a table from Excel 2007 or a SmartArt graphic from PowerPoint.

The Prepare menu offers choices for inspecting, encrypting, and restricting access to your Word files in addition to checking to see how its elements will appear in older versions of Word.

We were frustrated occasionally by things that should have been more intuitive. For example, we couldn't make a photo disappear by clicking it and hitting Delete on the keyboard. Nor did right-clicking the picture help; from that menu, the Cut option didn't make the image budge. We couldn't find a Delete option, which is under the File menu in Word 2003. Finally, we realised that our efforts seemed to fail only because we were in Track Changes mode. We were able, in fact, to delete the image with the Delete key and by right-clicking, but the photo didn't change in appearance to indicate that it was gone. We wish that Track Changes mode would have greyed out the picture, for instance.

If you deal with sensitive information -- in a private diary entry, a CV or a company financial statement, for example -- Word 2007 allows more control over buried data, such as the original author's name or your supervisor's comments. Office 2007's Prepare options step you through inspecting that metadata, as well as adding a digital signature and encrypting a file. You'll also find some of these options under the Review tab's Protect button. However, should you plan to black out text, you'll have to turn to Adobe's Acrobat 8 to make secure redactions (highlighting the font in black within Word won't do it).

Unfortunately, Microsoft isn't providing most non-enterprise users with an option for storing or editing Word files online; there's no browser-based version of Word. Need to collaborate on a file with specific people or take work on the road? At this time, you may have to email those documents. Otherwise, you could upload a Word file into one of the many free, Web-based word processors served up by other companies, including Google and the lesser known Zoho and ThinkFree.

Options for blogging include an editing interface that lets you insert art and charts and lets you post entries without leaving Word.

Is Word 2007 worth the upgrade? If you primarily work with plain text and don't need to pretty up reports and newsletters and the like, then it might not be right for you. For our purposes as editors, for instance, Word 2007 doesn't introduce must-have goodies, although commenting commands are within easier reach. At the same time, Word now handily presents options for footnotes and citations under its References tab, which researchers should appreciate. So, too, are mail-merge functions easier to reach. Plus, bloggers can now compose and post blog entries in cleaner HTML without leaving Word. Above all, Microsoft's new word processor is most upgrade-worthy if you want to play with pictures, charts and diagrams in addition to text.

Microsoft has prepared an abundance of online help resources for users of Word 2007, including Flash-based tutorials that walk you through finding where specific features have moved from Office 2003. Without relying heavily on such support, we were able to adjust to the new interface within several weeks. We'll continue to test the new Office software and will provide rated reviews when the final edition is available. In the meantime, you can test-drive the beta edition of Word 2007 for free by visiting office.microsoft.com.

Laptop makers push pre-standard wireless

2006-11-11T10:44:00.000+05:30

Richard Thurston ZDNet UK

Next-generation wireless connectivity is now being offered in the latest notebook PCs, despite concerns over whether it will work with the latest enterprise access points.

Lenovo is the latest notebook supplier to build a high-speed Wi-Fi radio into its notebooks. The China-based supplier's announcement follows identical work by its rivals Dell and Acer. High-speed Wi-Fi, or 802.11n, will offer around five times the bandwidth and four times the range of current wireless technology, meaning businesses can deploy fewer access points to cover the same area.

Lenovo, which acquired IBM's laptop business in 2005, will offer an 802.11n radio within its 3000 series notebooks.

But it is early days for 802.11n, as few enterprise access points are available that support the standard. The standard itself is still in a draft stage — meaning it could change markedly over the next year. The draft standard has already seen 12,000 changes following prolonged infighting among chip makers, among them Broadcom, Intel and Atheros. Final standardisation is not expected until 2008.

This means that people who buy draft 802.11n kit today can't be sure that it will work with certified equipment in the future. Nevertheless, laptop suppliers have been keen to offer models with 802.11n built into the chipsets. Lenovo, Dell and Acer have all chosen Broadcom to supply the chips..

Mike Hurlston, vice president at Broadcom, said it is likely that current notebooks would be able to support the 802.11n standard when it is finalised.

"That's the goal," Hurlston told ZDNet UK. "The chances are north of 80 percent that the product will be fully upgradable to the final standard. But the chances that it is upgradable in a meaningful way are close to 100 percent. It is a case of getting the corner cases worked out."

More neutral observers have been less optimistic. Network advisory and testing firm Farpoint Group tested a range of draft 802.11n equipment earlier this year, and found some suppliers' equipment would not communicate with each other. Those findings are backed up by tests conducted by ZDNet UK Reviews, due to be published shortly, which found considerable interoperability concerns and data rates which were at times slower than those using older equipment.

The world's biggest chip maker, Intel, is due to launch its draft 802.11n chipset in the first six months of 2007. At that stage Intel's Centrino update — code-named Santa Rosa — will also contain a 3G EDGE module.

Samsung this week launched its latest ultra-mobile PC, the Q1b, which now contains a high-speed 3G, or HSDPA, radio.

Hurlston said Broadcom was investing in chipsets with WiMax, ultra wideband and DVB-H (mobile video) radios. He predicted that 35 to 40 percent of notebooks would contain draft 802.11n by the second half of 2007. He also said that HP would release a 802.11n notebook shortly. Lenovo's new machines will go on sale in December.

Microsoft push-email row escalates

2006-11-11T10:41:00.000+05:30

David Meyer ZDNet UK

Microsoft claims analyst allegations that its mobile phone operating system has inherent security flaws are inaccurate and should never have been published.

Last week the software giant refused to explicitly deny a report from Jack Gold, of US analyst firm J Gold Associates, that suggested enterprises might be turned off using Windows Mobile 5.0 devices, as data sent to the handsets via Direct Push was not encrypted on the device itself.

At the time, Microsoft would only reiterate that data was sent to the handset using SSL encryption, and suggested that password protection, coupled with the ability to remotely or locally wipe the handset, showed that "companies can trust the relationship between Windows Mobile devices and an Exchange Server to help control vital information".

However, on Wednesday Microsoft contacted ZDNet UK with a more detailed rebuttal of J Gold Associates' claims. Microsoft's UK and EMEA mobility business manager, Jason Langridge, said the company had been "disappointed by [the report] because we had made them aware that there were inaccuracies [in it], but the authors still chose to publish". He also repeated the claim that "the feedback from customers is that they feel the protection from the PIN code on the device, or [the fact] that we can remotely wipe it, or it can self-wipe, manages the risk".

"We don't encrypt the mail store, but we do have third parties that we work with if you wish to do that," Langridge added, suggesting companies such as Pointsec and Credant as examples. He also criticised companies such as RIM — which does offer embedded encryption on its BlackBerry handsets — for relaying email via network operations centres, saying: "The reason RIM has to encrypt the data is because there isn't end-to-end encryption. [Our] RC4 or triple-DES encryption ensures data is transmitted in a secure way without having to pass through a third-party relay."

Approached for a response, Jack Gold told ZDNet UK that Microsoft had indeed contacted him with "minor corrections" to several paragraphs of the report he had "purposely" sent them, and he had then incorporated those corrections into the final version.

"Their corrections we re related to [push email enabler] AirSync vs [local synchronisation tool] ActiveSync and how they functioned. Never did they refute the fact that data on the devices is not encrypted. They indicated that the data across the connection is encrypted via SSL, which I agree is a safe way to send the data. They never refuted that fact that data remains unencrypted on the device itself, which is, in my opinion, a significant flaw in their design," he said on Wednesday.

Gold then went on to repeat his assertion that, although client-side encryption can be incorporated by third-party products, "it will break the Direct Push (AirSync) mechanism… If they do indeed add Credant or Pointsec, then they have to go with a different synching capability and forego use of Direct Push". He also suggested that remote wiping was an inadequate level of protection, as a device can be lost for hours or more before anyone realises it is missing and sends the "kill message".

As for Microsoft's comments on RIM's approach to push email, Gold explained: "On the BlackBerry, all data is also encrypted while stored on the device even after it is received from the [network operations centre], and decoded when used. That is a key difference, and a requirement for many security compliance tests."

"The bottom line is, we stand by our original contention that Microsoft Direct Push has a significant disadvantage over BlackBerry, Good, Sybase and others when it comes to security if you are a user who is concerned about data loss," Gold added.

Indian cities emerge global winners as best offshoring sites – What happened to Sri Lanka?

2006-11-05T19:02:00.000+05:30

NEW DELHI, Nov 5, 2006 (AFP) - Seven Indian cities have emerged as the most favored outsourcing destinations globally, beating out rivals such as Manila, Shanghai and Moscow, according to a report by a US-based consultancy.

And India looks set to remain the outsourcing leader in the long term, according to the consultancy neoIT, which advises global companies on offshore operations.

New Delhi headed the seven Indian cities that topped the list of 24 from around the world vying for the tag of favorite offshore sites, said neoIT in a report entitled: "Offshore Insights: Global City Competitiveness."

"A lot has been said about India's eroding cost advantage and supply constraints," senior neoIT consultant Sabyasachi Satyaprasad said Saturday.

"But the fact remains that in terms of talent supply and cost arbitrage, India is still the leader," said Satyaprasad, whose company is headquartered in San Ramon, California, with offices in India and the Philippines.

Industry analysts closely watch profit-margin trends of Indian outsourcing companies for signs their competitive edge is eroding.

But Satyaprasad said in an interview there was no sign of that happening and Indian outsourcing giants like Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services routinely report profits that beat market expectations.

New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata were the seven most favoured sites worldwide to locate offshore, said the report assembled from feedback from over 60 clients.

The Indian cities rated higher than Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Shanghai and Moscow.

Sao Paulo, Warsaw and Krakow were at the bottom of the list.

India, which already holds at least 50 percent of the global outsourcing market, appeared set to maintain its dominance, said Satyaprasad.

"India will dominate the global outsourcing scenario for the long-term," said Satyaprasad.

"That's because of its skilled and broad labour pool, overall maturity of delivery services in term of breadth and quality and the easiness of scaling up manpower numbers because of India's big population advantage," he said.

"But it (outsourcing) is a constantly expanding pie -- there's lots of room for everyone to grow," Satyaprasad added.

To assess the cities, neoIT used such criteria as human capital -- the existence of a large, qualified pool of workers; costs -- salaries, real estate; infrastructure -- good telecommunications, transport; and living environment factors such as quality of life.

Vietnamese capital Ho Chi Minh, which ranked eighth, has a huge talent supply with more than 100,000 students graduating each year, the report said.

But it still has to catch up in terms of availability of right skill-sets for global sourcing jobs, catering now to software programming and business process outsourcing (BPO) jobs with low skill requirements, the report said.

Manila, which ranked ninth, is popular with BPO companies serving US clients.

"The people are well versed with the American accent and culture and a large talent supply thanks to universities in the region, but costwise it's slightly more expensive than Indian cities," Satyaprasad said.

Shanghai, which is 10th on the list, has excellent infrastructure and a good talent supply but is held back by the lack of English-language fluency, the report said.

"China has similar advantages (to India) in terms of labour skills. But its major disadvantage is lack of English skills although it's making big efforts to change this," Satyaprasad said.

Broadband lovers… Good news for you… At last they are going to implement it…

2006-11-04T22:08:00.001+05:30

Good news for broadband lovers in Sri Lanka. SLT is going to expand their ADSL by Q1 2007. At the same time Dialog Broadband (earlier MTT) is going to launch their ADSL services by Q1 2007.

It seems they have identified the exact needs of their customers at last. This is a positive sign towards an IT backed nation.

I’ll give a clue. They will cover most of the parts in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara & Kandy districts including;

Wattala
Kadawatha
Makola North
Biyagama
Kaduwela
Bokundara
Negombo
Homagama

Red Hat scathing over MS/Novell deal

2006-11-04T12:08:00.000+05:30

Richard Thurston and Graeme Wearden ZDNet UK

Published: 03 Nov 2006 13:19 GMT

It published a response on its website within hours of the agreement between Microsoft and Novell, proclaiming that the deal was a victory for Linux, rather than just Novell itself. Red Hat also distanced itself from the possibility that it might strike a similar deal with Microsoft.

On Thursday evening, Microsoft struck an alliance with Novell, saying it would promote Novell's Suse Linux portfolio for businesses that wanted a mixed Microsoft/open-source environment. The two companies are also due to work together on virtualisation, web services and open document formats.

"[The MS/Novell announcement] means Linux has won... Open source innovation delivers better software and better value," RedHat's response said. "Openly defined standards create interoperability everyone can implement. It doesn't require a deal between two companies."

Answering the question of whether it considered a similar patent deal with Microsoft, Red Hat answered, "An innovation tax is unthinkable. Free and open source software provides the necessary environment for true innovation."

Red Hat has experienced a tough week with the Microsoft/Novell announcement following hot on the heels of Oracle's Linux launch, which will see Oracle selling support to Red Hat's customers and also offering its own free clone of the open-source operating system.

Others industry watchers were concerned about the Microsoft/Novell alliance. Eben Moglen, the attorney for the Free Software Foundation, which oversees the Linux licence, told ZDNet UK's sister site News.com that the deal could conflict with a provision in the GPL.

Moglen said, "If you make an agreement which requires you to pay a royalty to anyone for the right to distribute GPL software, you may not distribute it under the GPL." Whether the partnership precludes Novell from distributing Linux depends on the precise terms of its agreement with Microsoft, Moglen said.

Bruce Perens, creator of the Open Source Definition, had a similar take.

"One of the questions yet to be settled is whether Novell will violate the GPL, the licence of the Linux kernel and other important software, by offering patent protection that is exclusive to Novell customers," wrote Perens in a blog posting.

Legal IT website Groklaw was even more cynical.

"Excuse me while I go throw up," wrote Groklaw's founder Pamela Jones. "I gather Microsoft no longer thinks Linux is a cancer, or communism. Now it just wants a patent royalty from it. Wasn't that kinda SCO's dream at first?"

Jones continued, "I hate to break it to Ballmer, but Suse Linux is GPL code, which the two parties may find puts a little pebble in the shoe of this alliance."

Chris Papayianni, Novell's general manager for Europe, wasn't able to comment on the claims that Novell risks violating the GPL.

Papayianni did claim that the deal would give Novell a significant boost in the UK marketplace.

"We're looking to expand the footprint of Linux, through this deal with Microsoft," said Papayianni. "It will allow very strong interoperability with the Windows environment."

Papayianni added that the deal will give Novell a competitive advantage against other Linux vendors. "Our customers want better consolidation of server usage. One UK customer has huge power bills for his data centre. Fewer servers need less power."

"This makes us very strong in the data centre market, and gives us a powerful differentiator."

Microsoft signs Linux pact with Novell

2006-11-04T12:04:00.000+05:30

Joris Evers and Stephen Shankland CNET News.com

Published: 03 Nov 2006 09:32 GMT

The companies said on Thursday that they will collaborate on development of specific technologies, for example to help Microsoft's Windows, a proprietary operating system, work with Novell's Suse Linux, which is based on open-source code. On the business side, they will promote each other's products.

In addition, the software makers have struck a deal on patents designed to give customers peace of mind about using Novell's open-source products, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and Novell chief executive Ronald Hovsepian said at an event in San Francisco.

"This set of agreements will really help bridge the divide between open-source and proprietary-source software," Ballmer said.

The impetus for the arrangement was to make it easier for software buyers to run both Windows and Linux-based systems, Hovsepian said. "We came together to focus on giving you, our customers, the choice," he said.

The companies will create a joint research facility at which they will build and test new products, and work with customers and the open-source community. The focus will be on three technical areas: virtualisation, web services for server management, and Microsoft Office-OpenOffice.org compatibility, the company executives said.

Novell favours the open-source Xen virtualisation software as a foundation to run multiple operating systems in separate virtual machines on the same computer; Microsoft is working on its own alternative, code-named Viridian. Virtualisation raises the prospect of different operating systems simultaneously running on the same server.

The companies will work together on optimising their virtualisation technologies, said Jeffrey Jaffe, Novell's chief technology officer. Novell will offer a version of Suse Linux Enterprise Server with optimised virtualisation features for Windows Server Longhorn; Microsoft, in turn, will sell a version of the upcoming Windows server product that is optimised to run the Novell software in a virtual environment, he said. Neither company, however, will sell the other's operating-system product.

"Microsoft is taking a significant step toward being a better open-source citizen," RedMonk analyst Stephen O'Grady said. And among Linux companies, "Novell is likely to receive a significant boost in attention and credibility, and Red Hat will have to further defend its position as the de facto Linux supplier".

Additionally, Microsoft will officially recommend Suse Linux Enterprise for people who want to run both Windows and Linux. It will distribute coupons for maintenance and support for Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Server operating system. Microsoft and Novell will help each other's customers with support, transferring people over to the other company's help staff if needed.

The two companies also said they will provide each other's customers with patent coverage for their respective products. Moreover, Microsoft said it will not enforce its patents against individual, non-commercial Linux developers.

"Today, Novell is the only company in our industry that is able to provide the customer not only with the code to run Linux, but also with a patent covenant from Microsoft," Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, said at the event.

In addition, Microsoft promised not to assert patents against developers being paid to create code for OpenSuse, Smith said.

Money is flowing both ways for the patent agreement, Smith said, including an "up-front balancing payment that runs from Microsoft to Novell, reflecting the large relevant volume of the products that we have shipped and an economic commitment from Novell to Microsoft that involves a running royalty."

However, the alliance won't affect Novell's antitrust suit against Microsoft, one source familiar with the plan said. The suit, filed in 2004, alleges that the software colossus used anticompetitive practices that hurt Novell's earlier WordPerfect office suite business.

Microsoft executives repeatedly said that customer demands provided the impetus for the partnership. "The customers were telling us to find a way to address the patent issue directly so they wouldn't have to figure out how to deal with it themselves," Smith said.

For Bill Schrier, chief technology officer for the city of Seattle, the arrangement means Suse Linux is now an option.

"We don't use any open-source products today and one reason is because of the intellectual property issues," he said. "In this case, where Microsoft says they won't assert their patents, it makes Linux more attractive to us."

Schrier also has other wishes for the partnership, none of which has to do with open source. The Seattle city government uses Novell's GroupWise for email and Netware for file and printer sharing, but uses Windows on desktops and servers. "The two environments don't mesh very well," he said. "With this announcement, I hope they will fix that."

Some in the open-source community find aspects of the deal troubling, however. Eben Moglen, the attorney for the Free Software Foundation that created and oversees the General Public License (GPL), said that it could conflict with a provision in that license.

"If you make an agreement which requires you to pay a royalty to anybody for the right to distribute GPL software, you may not distribute it under the GPL," Moglen said on Thursday. Section 7 of the GPL "requires that you have, and pass along to everybody, the right to distribute software freely and without additional permission".

Microsoft and Novell declined to detail the financial side of their agreements. Novell, however, will have to report details soon because they are material to the company's earnings, said John Dragoon, Novell's chief marketing officer.

QA Heaven

If Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Larry Page & Steve Jobs were Sri Lankans

Do you beleive "Agile" for everything?

BAs Adding Value to Projects

Context and Challenges

Scope of the Project

Managing Expectations ... or Trying To

Business Requirements and Detailed Analysis

Documentation

Relationships

Sign-Off

Summary

Are we gathering or eliciting the requirements?

Interviews

Prepare

Conduct the Interview

Follow up

Workshops

Prepare for Workshop

Conduct the Workshop

Follow up

Focus Groups

Prepare for the Focus Group

Run the Focus Group

Follow up

Brainstorming

Prepare for Brainstorming

Conduct Brainstorming

Follow up

Observation

Prepare for Observation

Observe

Follow up

Surveys/Questionnaires

Prepare for the Survey

Distribute the Survey

Follow up

Combine BA/PM?

Can we utilize a single resource to do both the BA and PM work?

Who will win the WiMax race in Sri Lanka?

How to run two Skype clients in parallel from the same machine?

Mobile Expansion: Sri Lanka Mobitel launches 3G services

Seat exists for a JAVA lead (Associate Level Architect) at the GMI’s Colombo dev center.

Greenpeace attacks Apple over iPhone: Leads to lawsuit

iSkoot - A cool tool to get connected with Skype

Vacancies Exist @ GMI’s Colombo Center

India tries outsourcing its outsourcing

In Sri Lanka we can not see a clear policy at all

Governments won’t invest money for infrastructure development but try to add additional taxes on them (this is unique to anything from automobile to communication devices such as mobile phones)

They are maintaining the highest rates for the electricity in the region

Its applicable for the data circuits as well

SLT Customer Care at their Best

Google Mail gets Support for Mobile Push

What will be the future of BlackBerry? this is the first question came in to my mind when I saw this article for the first time. It seems that Google is trying to end another era and going to create a one by their own.

WHY EMPLOYEES LEAVE ORGANISATIONS?

Resumes, CVs and More: Organizing Your Qualifications

About Your Online Resume

Five Common Cover Letter Mistakes

$1.72 Billion: The Cost of Over-Night Computers

RIM announces BlackBerry PBX functionality

WiMax is coming !!!

Cool tool to convert "singlish" in to sinhala

There will be a tough competition in the local telecom sector…

SLT ADSL will be an island wide service

The Art of Influencing Up

Following article was available on the yahoo (http://biz.yahoo.com/).

What a nice saying "Great wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data”; read it carefully, you'll get the reason for me to re-publish it over here.

Developers’ approach in fixing defects

Couple of Good News for 07

Mother Nature Shows Her Capabilities Again!!!

Lessons to Learn

They should learn the basics of marketing and customer attraction…

Is it Future Today???

The Sooner You Start, the Later You Finish

Office 2007 Will Rock Corporations' Worlds

Word 2007 RTM

Laptop makers push pre-standard wireless

Microsoft push-email row escalates

Indian cities emerge global winners as best offshoring sites – What happened to Sri Lanka?

Broadband lovers… Good news for you… At last they are going to implement it…