I followed my own advice

I was trying to find myself at work when I read First, Break all the rules and blogged about it. I took the questionnaire and found out that it was time for me to move on as well. So, I did.

I’ve been through a roller coaster ride since then. To be honest, more lows than highs but I don’t regret taking that decision. I joined a past colleague of mine to build an education and family events based web platform, only to disband it after few quarters. We got the rude awakening when we realized there was hardly any money in the bank, business model was not good-enough, we weren’t nimble enough and we lacked good strategic vision. I learned a lot in the process about product development, fund raising, running a startup and how not to do things. I just wish had learned more of how to do things as success is a great teacher but I would do with failure as a teacher right now.

Since then, I’ve been a solopreneur. Well, more like an accidental solopreneur. I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t design it to be that way, it was a mere serendipity.  I just wish I could claim that I always wanted to start a company and worked towards my vision but the reality is that it just happened. I started my own software services company with focus on designing and building products using Microsoft technologies. It was a natural choice for me as I was involved in building software products for good number of years at GlobalLogic. The experience at GlobalLogic taught me how to bring business ideas to life in a pragmatic and an agile way. I just thought of leveraging that experience in trying to collaborate with as many version 1.0 companies as possible. Thus, Quovantis was incubated.

Life has been good since then. There is not that much revenue, hardly any profits to speak of but the road ahead looks bright and sunny. I’ve been getting tremendous amount of support and help from past colleagues and friends. I consciously want Quovantis to be a small company and help other small and mid size companies to build better software.  I’m not sure if I would succeed in realizing my vision but I’m  we’re working hard towards it.

Faux Pas

I didn't realize my blog was completely broken until late evening yesterday. I was using a borrowed blogger template from another site and the lazy me completely forgot to download the images, css and javascript from their site. The ignorant me didn't have a clue that they had bandwidth restrictions for their photobucket account where all the images were hosted.

It was awful to look at the blog and see all the nasty photobucket images asking to upgrade the account as the download bandwidth had been exceeded. Eeeww! I really apologize to all my readers(okay, sorry, I really meant 3 people who visit my blog everyday) who had to put up with this. With my credible intelligence level, I'm glad that on one thought that this was my new experiment in blog aesthetics. Hehee...

Social Search: AardVark

How do we naturally search for information without using google? No, the answer is not Yahoo. I mean to ask without getting help from a search engine. Unfathomable, isn't it? Well, may be not.

Wouldn't you rather rely on someone from your personal network to seek advice on  great places to see, the best restaurants to have dinner in, the most engaging movie to watch etc. than getting the information through google? Well, I generally get these kinds of information through like minded folks or "so-called" experts in my network and that's exactly the premise of AardVark.

AardVark is a social search engine designed to get your questions answered from your network though instant messaging products. I never thought there could be another way of searching after google but this definitely seems very promising.

Sunset at Kirkland

I've been to Kirkland many a times and the sunset at this point never ceases to stupefy me.  I always experience tranquility while sitting on the pier, hearing the waves crash at the beach and watching the sun rays disappear over the horizon. The opulent hues in the sky over the lake paint the world in such a surreal manner that it dwarfs any of the prolific works of painters of our times.

 

     

Related Post -

Dawn in Kirkland

Thank You, Jacky!

I just updated my site with a blogger template from Jacky Suit. It has given my blog a professional and clean look(at least one person in this world thinks so..ahem..me). It was easy to download, the instructions were extremely straightforward and on top of that, it didn't cost me a dime!

The ironic thing is that his own blog didn't have that professional look and it looked like an information clutter house. Hopefully, someday he would become cognizant of his own creativity.

Thanx mucho Jacky!

Alien Abductions

I've not been able to read/write anything lately. I wish I could simply put it on some sort of alien abduction or a self-discovery Himalayan trip. Well, not that I don't need a long self-discovery Himalayan trip but that's a matter of another blog entry. Anyways, the fact of the matter is that I've hit some sort of reader/writer block. Hey, is it me or it sounds uncannily like a ReaderWriterLock?

Note to Self: To do something about my sense of humor as it is getting restricted to technology.

My reading list is growing bigger by every passing week but I just can't seem to muster any strength to read. Trust me, I do have enough interesting books to read but they are just gathering dust on my bookshelf.

Note to all the readers from Rest of the World: When I say dust, I really mean it and I'm not using it as a figure of speech. One of the benefits of living in New Delhi is that one not only gets to live in a true cosmopolitan city but also gets to experience living in a desert like Sahara. Yes, it is that dusty!

The same thing applies to writing. I get restricted by my own thought process every time I begin to write anything about software, technology or life in general. Could it be that I'm completely burnt out by working hard over the last few years and I really need that Himalayan trip.

Burnt Out, Working Hard. C'mon whom are you kidding? Why don't you come out of the land of the exaggerations, Now!

On a serious note, I just think it would be futile to write as some other person would have already expressed something similar thus what is the use of me expressing it again i.e. why to get into something called Blog Echo? But, I think I have to get over that notion as I would giving *that* thought a new life by expressing it in my own words. There is a chance that expression of my thought process might be able to showcase a new perspective to someone even though they might have heard the same thing before.

I heard a wise saying about always making one's goals public. It doesn't mean that one might not fail but it reduces the probability of failure. So here it is, I plan to read and write more.

Here it is to the possible winds of change! Let's see what happens.

6th Sense

Starring: Malcolm Crowe (The Developer), Cole (The Program Manager)

"I see dead people!"

Probably one of the most famous movie lines of all time, isn't it? The movie takes one through the journey of a child psychologist Malcolm Crowe who dedicates himself to heal Cole, a young boy who sees dead people, but in the end Cole ends up healing Malcolm by making him realize that he is dead! – This is something which sets Malcolm free from all the pain he was bringing on himself. Sorry to break the plot to all those who have been living in a cave since the last 8 years and didn't get a chance to see this movie in a hot 'n' happening Caveatre(Theatre in a Cave).

You ask what on earth this movie has to do with ".NET Development + Architecture + Perspectives"? Well, it has everything to do with the all-knowing, self-acclaimed superhero we know as software engineer a.k.a Malcolm Crowe. I think the reality that sun is about to set on him is going to hit him hard, the sudden pang of realization that he wouldn't be the reigning king of Softwareopotamia will be a severe blow to his ego. But, the ultimate question is, would this realization set him free or would he imprison himself in the cage of depression? Would he able to overcome that Cole, the Program Manager, is the one who will help him bring his suffering to end?

Malcolm, who thinks that a software can’t be conceived without him (rightfully so) and he should decide the timelines of constructing one, is in for a surprise. He who elevates himself to the status of a Geek God by spending long hours at work is in for rude awakening. He who thinks that he is know-all and can help Cole is in for shock as the tables are about to be turned on him.

So, what is going to happen at climax? Well, enters 6th Sense in the next scene. Now, wait a minute, how can a movie itself enter in its own scene? Isn’t it recursive? Betcha! But, I’m not talking about the movie. Please, give me some credit, will you? I’m talking about 6th Sense, the Analytics product --

“6th Sense Analytics™ is a hosted software solution that automatically and unobtrusively collects the metrics that organizations need to understand the execution of software development projects. Whether the work is onshore, offshore, in-house or outsourced, 6th Sense Analytics brings the software development process into focus, ensuring your projects are on time, on budget, and on target with business goals.”

What does this mean for Malcolm? Short answer, this means the big brother a.k.a the Program Manager a.k.a Mr. Cole is going to be watching you!! Long answer, it means that data sensors will be installed on your machine which will monitor your favorite IDE to collect metrics about how you program, when you program, when are you best at programming a.k.a Flow Time and what is your overall velocity?

Malcolm: Say What?
Cole: Sorry, I told you that you were in for a rude awakening.

Malcolm (panting): How can they?
Cole: Well, I can understand but the fact of the matter is that it’s not your hobby project that someone is monitoring. People are investing real money for you to construct software for them.

Malcolm (furious now): Software is like an art not a science!! How do you expect me to program when someone is watching over my shoulder?
Cole: [Pause], Well, you are right! It does add some extra pressure for one to constantly produce which might affect the overall quality of the software as one might be in the race of being the most productive person. But, in the end, this is being done just to monitor the overall velocity of a developer like you. You can choose not to indulge in the rat race of producing X number lines of code per day. This product would just give you a metric of how much work can you get accomplished per day. This in turn would help you estimate future projects better. Not to mention, it provides lot of transparency to the Program Manager and the customer about all your hard work.

Malcolm: hmm….May be it is for good, I think I would have to try it for myself. So, how does this work again?
Cole: Here it is --

I'm betting that this realization would set Malcolm free and would make him an informed developer if not a better one. I think this in turn will help the entire ecosystem of software engineering companies like ours. So, all the Malcolms in Globallogic, please be ready to embrace the new productivity analytic tool as we have forged an alliance with 6th Sense analytics company to integrate this product in our home grown Velocity Platform -- http://opensource.sys-con.com/read/399503.htm

So, What is Velocity? --
"The Velocity™ Method is a blueprint of processes, artifacts and role definitions that have been refined over 1,000 product releases to quickly bring high-quality products to market."

Here is our ideal Velocity configuration --

I think this alliance would go a long way in helping us become a leader not only in the quality of Software construction but transparency as well. Now, how much impact does this "Mr. Big Brother Watching You" product has on developer's productivity is need to be seen.

Thoughts?