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December 23, 2008
There was an interesting article in my favorite technology site - InfoQ about how distributed development models and how quality suffers when this route is taken for IT projects. While the article by Vikas Hazrati was thick on polls, statistics and reasons why it doesn’t work - little spotlight was thrown on the 40% of the projects that DO work. Having run distributed teams since 2001 in places like Australia, Austria, India, Canada, London, France, Germany, Russia & Romania - I figured I would respond with my two cents/rupees:
Geographical distribution definitely affects code quality. Additionally, when the Architects are not geographically located in the same place as the developers - implementations are not true reflections of the design/vision. So yes, distributed models definitely introduce noise into the process. However, most projects don’t require pinpoint execution and you can get away with some dilution as long as teams communicate, proper checkpoints are enforced and effective reasoning is the basis of compromise.
Also, don’t break the project up into tier-specific teams - this will only promote dilution and confusion. Each development team should be responsible for their vertical functions and be able to execute across all tiers of the project. This gives you some fail-over when life/politics/economy intervenes with the implementation as you can introduce new functionality to a team familiar with all aspects of the architecture. Learning a new technology tier and its dependencies and interactions however, is not so simple, especially with distance.
If the project is small enough and the execution window isn’t absurd - we generally prefer keeping Architecture/Business-Analysts on one shore (the clients) and the entire Development team on another shore (whether the shore is 200 miles or 9000 miles away is irrelevant). The Architects regularly visit the offshore group, interact with them personally - especially at the beginning of the project when the vision and expectations need to be set. Depending on time and budget, we sometimes send our Business Analysts for brief visits as well. Don’t ever blind-side your developers - having them in-step with the vision is the key to successful execution.
It was a thought provoking topic from Vikas, I hope they write a follow-up article on distributed development done right some day.
Filed under: Professional |
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December 11, 2008
I was browsing my usual technology blogs and obviously layoffs are a central topic on many of them. Tech is feeling the crunch just as most sectors are globally. Laying off people is never fun for managers - especially if the people also have personal relationships outside of work. If you run a small business, like I do, knowing your colleagues is the essence of being successful. The fact that I know what makes someone tick and get ticked off is an advantage when you are competing against a Fortune 500 that’s riddled with procedural red tape.
Valleywag exposed a brilliant piece of procedural paralysis in a report on Yahoo!’s layoff procedures. The fact that a technology firm built on innovation and nimbleness resorts to giving managers a “step by step” sequence of instructions on how to layoff an employee just makes me sick. I’d prefer being laid off over email vs. getting some robotic pseudo-empathetic rubbish from my superior before being walked out of the office. Hopefully, I’ll never have to experience it, but if I do, that’s how I want to go out.
Filed under: Professional |
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December 4, 2008
Dan Creswell doesn’t post too frequently, when he does, it’s usually something that gives me food for thought. I may not always agree with his perspective - but the latest post is spot on when it comes to understanding the essence of successful and sustainable enterprise systems.
Engineering an enterprise system has more to do with understanding the domain, identifying key interactions and fostering team chemistry. Technology is an enabler or if you are looking at it from a construction architect’s perspective - it is the material he/she has to work with.
Creating a beautiful system that can evolve gracefully and sustain change is a feeling every enterprise architect should experience atleast once in their careers. It doesn’t happen everytime though - so cherish it! It’s incredible how many times my team gets called in to untangle a mess and either the customer or the previous integrator is fixated on technology choices when the real problem has to do with one of the 13 items Dan mentions. Pragmatism is King.
Filed under: Professional, SOA |
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November 29, 2008
The events in Mumbai triggered recollection of an exchange I had in an elevator with some Russians in Dubai just 5 days ago. My mom and dad, with their ever surprising versatility, actually speak some decent Russian. Parusky Gavarit? Da!
So, the usual exchange of platitudes was followed up with the ‘where are you from?’ questions… and it turned out that the Russian’s son was born in Mumbai. My dad then mentioned about me settling in New York, and the Father promptly proceeded to say, “United States of America and United States of India, eh?” and we laughed, recommended a restaurant to them, and off we went our merry ways.
My mom and dad took Russian language classes in India, in a time when the two countries had a very strong political alliance. It was a necessary one with Pakistan being backed by the USA. That was a bi-polar world, and I think our Government made the right call. Today, in a world with one recognized super-power, it’s not a question of who you align with as much as how much you align with the USA.
The last 10 years have seen the rise of China and India - and the predisposition of a multi-polar world in the coming decades. As the UK, proxied the USA in the last century, it appears that the USA sees backing India in the present century as a force multiplier for freedom, democracy and capitalism. And thus, with the recent nuclear deal, we are on the way to tacitly becoming the United States of India. Personally, I don’t see this as a bad thing. We have much to learn, and much to achieve as a nation.
Thus when Mumbai burned - resulting in American, Jewish, British, Japanese and Indian lives lost at the hands of Pakistani terrorists wielding Chinese-made Grenades - world sentiment came into sharp focus. Our neighbors are not happy that we are holding the wedding bouquet.
As always, Mumbai will dust off this setback. If the Taj was taking hotel bookings today, I bet there would have been Indians checking in. Just as we boarded the same trains that burned just a night before during previous attacks. The only difference is that we are not alone from now on, we are United.
Filed under: Personal |
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November 2, 2008
I’m in a contemplative mood and sometimes that gets translated into poetry:
Do I?
It’s been a telling journey,
A path one can’t call pale.
But with the tumult around me,
I feel a little stale.
A little spice before the gurney,
A few more twists to my tale.
Let the hues of chaos douse me,
For I am not frail.
By
Zubin R. Wadia
I wanted to turn it into a sonnet, but any additions just diluted the message, so I kept it at 8 lines and 2 verses. Hope you like it, feel free to share your thoughts or share with others!
Filed under: Personal |
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October 27, 2008
To my Indian family, friends & colleagues I wish you a very happy ‘festival of light‘!
In these times of global uncertaintly, may the powers that be grant you fortitude and opportunity!
Filed under: Personal |
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October 10, 2008
Finally, I have finished every known level of the Labyrinth iPhone game.
I got the game to try out the accelerometer sensitivity and it is exceptional. It’s about as sensitive as the sinews in your wrist can handle.
Key to achieving success in this game lies in proper callibration, proper position (rest your hands on something stable) and laser-like concentration.
Some levels are just nutty and sadistic… but fun all the same. Once the craziest level packs are conquered, the easier ones tend to get monotonous. But I just wanted it all to end so I could stop playing it. The only upside to any time wasted with this game is that it certainly improves one’s ability to concentrate hard for fairly long periods of time. This is an increasingly rare skill in an ADD-friendly world.
There’s got to be atleast 200+ levels after all the level packs are downloaded. One of the packs (Mages or something) seems to have a bug that causes the level to flake out around level 4. All the other levels are fine and I was able to complete them end to end.
Here’s a screenshot:
Filed under: Personal |
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October 7, 2008
This is going to be a good series. Barring the Ashes, this series and ofcourse India vs. Pakistan are about the only ones worth staying up all night for. Without a doubt, the two best series I have ever seen are the Ashes that England won in 2005 and the superb show India put on against Australia in 2003-2004.
Both were superb series in their own right - and there is very little to choose between them, but I have to say on quality of cricket alone, I have to give it to the 2005 Ashes series. That was Test cricket at its very best, a real ambassador for the game. England, for an all too brief period, showed the world how good they could be. Maybe they’ll hit those highs again under Pietersen. I certainly expect no less.
I don’t expect the upcoming series to match up to those previous ones. Mainly because this is a newer, more mechanical Australia. This side will be less aggressive, more tactical and efficient than previous Australian sides. If India’s batting order returns to normal service, this series is going to be decided 2-1. I actually think India can go 2-0 or 3-0 should they get a few good tosses and put up 500-700 consistently.
Dravid is looking good, Sachin should be productive, Ganguly might find the will to prove another point and I am not worried at all about Laxman or Dhoni or Sehwag. This remains the best batting line-up on Earth, regardless of the Sri Lankan ambush.
The series would have been a whole lot more interesting if the Australian bowling line-up had some kick to it. I am not sure how Peter Siddle is the best Austalia can do… that’s a pretty sharp drop in capability and pace if he is the best they have after Lee, Johnson, Clark & Tait. Tait unfortunately won’t make it here, but he would have been useful for Australia. Clark is good and I expect good returns from him and Lee. The spin department is non-existent… Clarke, Katich & White are going to do spin duty. Shane Watson, I hope for the good of Cricket, comes through in this series as one of the world’s leading all-rounders. He’s had the talent for years - let’s hope his body stays together. He’s not Flintoff or Symonds - but can be very productive with the bat.
Australia need to unearth a pacer like Sharma, M.Morkel, Harmison or Flintoff. They just don’t have a pace bowler who can extract sharp bounce and movement. Clark gets bounce but just doesn’t have the pace to create as many opportunities as he could.
The Indian bowling department is sound. My concern remains Anil Kumble. He needs to have a productive series… otherwise he’s just not going to be able hold on as captain. Harbhajan should be fine, as long as he doesn’t get caught up in another scandal. He just needs to shut down Ponting. Sharma, Zaheer should be opening the bowling… Sachin/Sehwag can chip in with dibbly-dobblies… maybe Amit Mishra can be accomodated if India dare to field a side NOT packed with batsman. We may have Dhoni, but India still has no replacement for Kapil Dev. Can’t wait for someone to fill that gap.
Australia’s batting line-up should have no issues against India’s pace attack. I expect good things from Katich - I have always like his game since his debut and I hope he gets to cement his place. My sense is that Hayden won’t have a very good start to the series. Clarke should do fine… Ponting is a catch-22… and might be the x-factor in this series. If Ponting pumps out 400-500 runs in this series then India are going to have problems winning and might actually lose.
Frankly speaking, I hope India’s old guard come through and win this series. It will make the upcoming England tours to decide whether there is really a 3-way battle for the No. 1 ranking. My expectation is that if it all plays out to plan - I see England assuming “best team in the world” status by 2010. Australia, in a worst-case scenario might drop all the way to 4th. India and South Africa will battle it out for no. 2…
Filed under: Cricket |
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October 4, 2008
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, in an interview with Fareed Zakaria, talked about his passion for reading philosophy and particularly Marcus Aurelius - the stoic philosopher.
I went out to Amazon and bought a copy of ‘Meditations’ - a modern interpretation of it by Gregory Hayes.
Here’s a quote:
Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill will, and selfishness-all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good and its nobility, the nature of evil and its meanness, and also the nature of the culprit himself, who is my brother; therefore none of those things can injure me, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading - Marcus Aurelius (to himself).
This was a compelling interview. Hard questions were asked, and most were answered frankly. China is in good shape assuming more leaders of Premier Wen Jiabao’s ilk are in the pipeline.
It also reinforces Fareed Zakaria’s position as the best foreign affairs analyst & reporter on Earth. He is certainly a matter of pride for India.
Filed under: Books, India, Personal |
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September 27, 2008
Cat Stevens - ‘Oh Very Young’ is about as close as it gets for defining “sweet melody”. The inflections, riffs… truly Cat Stevens in his prime.
Sam Cooke - ‘A change is gonna come’ is another masterpiece - it defines “soul”. Soul, when done right, has the ability to telegraph pain to the heart and yet accomplish it with the softest brush imaginable.
Cat Stevens - The Wind
I listen to the wind
To the wind of my soul
Where Ill end up well I think,
Only God really knows
Ive sat upon the setting sun
But never, never never never
I never wanted water once
No, never, never, never
I listen to my words but
They fall far below
I let my music take me where
My heart wants to go
I swam upon the devils lake
But never, never never never
Ill never make the same mistake
No, never, never, never
Filed under: Personal |
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