Owner: Me and My Views URL:http://sudeepdsouza.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:58:55 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: My views on things that I see happening around me and also that happen to me in my life in India as a software engineer. Site statistics:Click here
Serious blogging obsesses you 2008-03-15 09:34:00 When I started blogging I used to only write what I liked writing about, wrote articles when I had the time and then once in a while checked how many visitors I had on Google Analytics. Then I started writing a little more frequently and since I had a lot of content initially the posts came thick and fast. Along with the posts came some amount of fame (with no fortune :( unfortunately) which brought the traffic then I started getting obsessed about the number of visitors that came (checking atleast once a day), what were they reading, where did they come from, how long did they spend on my site. I then started worrying about the numbers and with that I started to wonder how do I keep the visitors longer on my site, how do I keep them engaged, how do I show them my really good posts, how do
A joke called "National Do Not Call Registry" 2008-03-19 04:24:00 The Do Not Call Registry
of TRAI is a farce. Registering with this registry does not seem to have any effect on the number of calls that you receive from Tele Marketers. If you go to their website they have a section called Information For Subscribers and inside that How to File Complaints. If you get very excited on seeing that don't, in that page this is what is written"Subscriber may make complaints if he receives Unsolicited Commercial Communication(UCC) even after 45 days of successful inclusion of his number, he may complain the same to his Telecom service provider. Please contact your telecom service provider for more Details."If you click on the Details link it will take you to a document that has the contact numbers of all the telecom service providers.Yesterdays newspaper had th Read more:National
H1B Visas on SAP Street 2008-03-18 19:24:00 I was just about to drive into "SAP Street
" in Hyderabad when a banner caught my attention. The banner said "IT Professionals Processing of H1B for job opportunities in US Limited Period Left". I have seen a lot of banners proclaiming that they can train you in anything under the sun but this is the first time that I saw a banner that can get you a job in the US and also get your H1B visa. Well as they say pretty much anything can be done on "SAP Street" from completed project reports that can be submitted as assignments, fake experience letters, Microsoft and other certification exams that can be written in proxy and many more activities that make the birth place of the IT industry in Hyderabad infamous.
Copyright Me and My Views by Sudeep DSouza. All Rights Reserved Read more:Visas
White goods and 0% finance 2008-03-17 17:24:00 About a year ago I went to buy an LCD TV and was made the following offer."You do not need to pay all the money for the TV upfront. The price that you negotiate for the TV will be divided into 10 installments. 2 installments need to be paid as a down payment and the remaining 8 installments can be paid over the next 8 months and if all the installments are paid promptly then you will be returned the last installment"This offer seemed absolutely wonderful for the following reasonsI do not need to come up with all the money immediatelyI get money back at the end of itI can actually do stuff with the money that I was planning to pay for the TV with like earn some additional interest on itSo with a little skepticism I took up the offer with Citi Financial and after some verification and some Read more:White
, goods
, finance
WiMax finally works for me 2008-03-17 05:02:00 We applied more than a month and a half ago for a WiMax internet connection from Reliance and it finally got installed on Saturday. The technician arrived with all his equipment which consisted of a square dish, a small modem and a whole load of wire. They walked around the roof for about 10 min with the dish connected to the laptop and were able to identify the best location to place the dish from where they were able to get the optimum signal. Once they had the dish setup they took about an hour and half to get the connection setup and then finally after about 3 hours they had the WiMax working.It has been working pretty well ever since it has been installed. Currently I have a 150 Kbps unlimited connection that gets a new IP each time I connect. I need to now change that to a new option
8 Attributes of a Leader 2008-03-20 18:23:00 I looked up dictionary.com and found the following definition for who is a leader "a guiding and directing head". I then wondered if that is who is a leader what is it that makes a leader and I came up with the following attributes.GoalEvery leader should have a goal. Without a goal the leader is rudderless. He has no direction. He should have a clear idea of what is it that needs to be achieved. With a goal in mind a leader should be able to chalk out a plan to achieve that goal.Strategic ThinkingThinking strategically is very important. A leader should be able to see things others don't. He should be able to visualize the path to the goal. This comes only on clarity of knowing what the goal is and understanding the path to the goal. There will be blind turns on the way to the goal but a Read more:Attributes
, Leader
Offshoring to India 2008-03-22 22:22:00 I was reading a post by Steve McConnell on his blog How to Scale Up Quickly and he commentedTrying to startup quickly by outsourcing is a dead end as far as I'm concerned, especially to India
where turnover is so high. Offshore captives can work, but minimum workable size seems to be about 100 people, and it probably takes 2-3 years of ramp up to get to financial break even.There are some points here that I agree with and some that I don't.I agree with the fact that there is high turnover is true in a lot of organizations and yes it does effect a lot of projects. An industry average of 15-20% attrition is quite startling for the west to grapple with. Making a project succeed with this kind of turnover is also hard. Searching in Google will give you enough proof to substantiate this high fi
Conceptualize, Build, Market, Sell 2008-03-21 21:53:00 I have been toying around with various ideas for the last 3 years. I have conceptualized and built the following products but I have no idea how to market and sell these products. I feel that conceptualizing and building a product are the easiest parts of the whole cycle - the tougher parts are finding the buyers for the products and then convincing them to buy the product. A little bit about the products that I have built.ourspace.in This is an online web shop which we have customized to sell baby products. It is fully configurable right from setting up all the categories and sub categories of the products to adding the items and managing them. It has a shopping cart which is not yet hooked up to an online payment gateway but one can easily do that when the need arises. It has tons of oth Read more:Build
, Market
Building the family website 2008-03-24 13:42:00 My Dad's side of the family is quite a big family (My dad is one of 17 brothers and sisters) and I have 76 cousins and a lot of nephews and nieces and a few grand nephews and nieces too. So there was more than one reason in creating a family website
. We were using a yahoo group to keep in touch and the website was a natural progression to that mailing list.We have collected some very old photographs, some videos made by members of the family and books written by the family and have posted them here.I have used PhpGedView as the family tree software. PhpGedView allows more than one person to edit the family tree at the same time and there are a lot of details that can be maintained for each member of the family. It is very straight forward to install. All you need is a web host that support Read more:Building
Copying Vs Innovating 2008-03-27 08:03:00 Seth Godin on his blog had an interesting post where he asksShould you make stuff aimed at people who usually buy your product?orShould you make stuff aimed at people who rarely do?Well this is my take on itIf you do what your competitors don't have you are a pioneer. There is a high probability that it will fail but if it does succeed then you have higher returns. On the other hand if you choose to go with what your competitors have you are a copycat but you have a higher chance of making something that will succeed as it has already been tried before but the returns are obviously lower.I once read that an entrepreneur is one who sees things that other people don't. They are people that can put order to the chaotic messages that they are being bombarded with and visualize something that n Read more:Copying
Managing risk for better estimates 2008-03-25 13:32:00 Everyone who has given an estimate for a task knows that they are giving the estimate based on everything happening "normally". Normal means that there are no unplanned or unknown difficulties that arise. If one expects to be able to make a plan that takes into account all of these unplanned or unknown difficulties then it is impossible at the beginning or during the project to make an estimate that is accurate. This is possible only after the project is over and that is too late. So what does one do when faced with a situation such as this and needs to give an estimate with a reasonable level of accuracy.The most important thing is to make a plan. Any plan. So when you start off the project you make the best possible plan that you can at that point of time. Once you make that plan ask you Read more:better
Good Design Vs Good Coding 2008-03-29 21:00:00 Do you do the design document before or after the coding cycle? Logically everyone would say that you have to do it before the coding cycle but the fact of the matter is that many people do it after the coding cycle. They finish the code and then feed the code into a tool that will draw a design diagram for them based on the code that was submitted to it. They then take that design diagram and write the design document based on that diagram.Now if we compare this to the real world it would be like constructing your house by a bunch of brilliant architects each having his own idea of what he wants to do with the house and after each one of them says they are done you draw up the design based on what you see. Can you imagine what you would get? Thats exactly what happens in the software that Read more:Coding
Timing of New Tools and Techniques 2008-03-28 11:36:00 Timing the introduction of new tools and techniques has to be done very carefully in a project or an organization. Introducing a new tool or technique into a project or organization and expecting magical results almost never happens. In fact almost in all cases there is an initial loss of productivity or quality.The reason for this loss is due to the followingThere is always a learning curve for the new tool or technique to be adopted.Almost always the initial use of the tool or the technique is never the most optimised or best way to use it. Sometimes a technique requires a mindset change and this mindset change takes time.There will always be skeptics to anything new that is introduced and these skeptics can always bring the others down.Does this mean that no new tools or techniques need Read more:Timing
, Tools
Estimates are dangerous 2008-03-31 21:18:00 We always hear of software projects being over budget and the reason is because how the budget of the project is determined. The issue is greater if the project is a fixed budget project where the budget is determined based on the initial estimate that is done for the project. Let me explain what is the fixed budget project.Lets say you have to do task "T" which you know will take "H" hours. The per hour cost of a developer is "C" dollars. So you know the total cost of the developer to do task "T" is H*C dollars to this you add M which is the cost of the material needed such as software licences, machines, etc. So the total cost of doing task T is H*C + M. In a fixed budget project you agree to do the project for this amount. If there are any overruns it is over budget.This looks like a l Read more:Estimates
, dangerous
Disconnect between Management and Programmers 2008-04-03 21:36:00 One of the biggest reasons why attrition is high is due to the disconnect between the management and the programmers. The reason for this disconnect is very inherent in the type of work that each one does and there is a clash of interests. Some of them areThe goal of the management would be to complete the project within the shortest possible budget which means ultimately in the shortest possible time. The goal of the programmer is to do the project in the best possible manner and this may mean multiple iterations before he gets it right. This need not necessarily mean that it will be done in the shortest possible time.Management
likes to have a clear understanding of the progress of the project and how long more it takes to complete a particular job so that they can keep everyone informed Read more:Programmers
Pushing yourself to Take 2008-04-02 21:00:00 I was reading an interesting post by Seth Godin in his blog on Getting vs. Taking in which the following paragraph struck meA few people, not many, but a few, take. They take the best education they can get, pushing teachers for more, finding things to do, exploring non-defined niches. They take more courses than the minimum, they invent new projects and they show up with questions.I used to keep telling people that I work with - you need to leave work everyday asking yourself the following questionsDid I learn something new today ?Have I made progress since yesterday ?Have situations improved since yesterday ?If the answer to any of these questions is "NO" then you did not have a good day at work. I feel that in order to make sure that we have a yes for these questions each day we need t Read more:Pushing
World's smallest Girl is Indian 2008-04-08 05:55:00 Jyoti Amge is the world's smallest girl at 15 years she is 1 feet 11 inches tall and weighs just 11 pounds. Caught this on twitter a few minutes ago - so twitter is really not too bad but you have to wade through the junk messages that do come in it.
Copyright Me and My Views by Sudeep DSouza. All Rights Reserved Read more:World
Buddha Statue - Hyderabad 2008-04-11 04:45:00 Last weekend being a bit cloudy I went on a boat ride to the middle of the Hussain Sagar lake to see the BuddhaStatue
. It is quite an impressive statue and the lake having just been cleansed of all the water Hycianth was quite pleasant. Looks like my Sony Ericsson P1i did quite a decent job in capturing the statue.You can take the boat to see the statue either from Eat Street on Necklace Road or from Lumbini Park. The cost of the ticket as of writing this post is Rs. 40. From Lumbini park you have a speed boat option. In the evenings on weekends they also have a boat which has some entertainment on board. This boat too leaves from Lumbini Park.While at Eat Street check out the Ice Cream parlor for some unusual flavors of ice cream. The medium size portion costs a steep Rs. 110 to Rs. 130
Free Local Information courtesy Google 2008-04-10 04:41:00 If you have been spending money calling up Just Dial services on 24444444 to get information about local businesses in Hyderabad, you have an alternative now. Google
has launched its free telephone service on the number 1 800 41 99 99 99. You call them up and you get instantly connected to their call center. You ask them for what you want and they ask you for your mobile number and then send you an SMS.The last time I called up Just Dial they asked me for my name and if I had a business and if I was interested in listing with them and a zillion other stuff. Nothing like this with Google - just call them up and they were quick and efficient.You can alternatively also get local information by sending them an SMS to 54664 ('5GOOG' on most devices). But you are charged for sending the SMS and Read more:Local
Interesting Blog 2008-04-15 20:01:00 I came across a very interesting blog today. It has pictures of what can happen when things fail in real life. I am not sure if all the images are real as a lot of them look like they have been doctored, but anyways, it sets you up for an amusing ride. The only issue is that you take pleasure in these pictures at the expense of someone else's pain - but then we tend to do that often in real life too - so what the heck.Anyway here is the blog - Fail Blog
Copyright Me and My Views by Sudeep DSouza. All Rights Reserved
Learning and Understanding CRM 2008-04-17 03:47:00 I have not been blogging recently as much as I used to blog earlier and the reason for that is I have been spending a lot of my time learning and understanding CRM and more specifically Microsoft CRM. It has been an interesting experience so far as I started without knowing anything other than what was the full form of CRM which happens to be Customer Relationship Management.In any business finding and retaining the customer is the hardest. Whether it was selling Christmas decorations in the church or in the one and only exclusive online baby shop in India finding the customer, convincing the customer that you have something that they want and then finally being able to manage and sell the product to the customer is so hard. In an earlier article I lamented that it is easy to conceptualize Read more:Learning
, Understanding
Trip to Puri, Orissa : Shamshabad Airport 2008-04-29 03:50:00 Having got so used to going to the airport in about 15 min when it was in the middle of the city I was a bit apprehensive about the long commute to the new International Airport at Shamshabad. So I went to their website and found out all the options about getting to the airport.I decided to try out their airport shuttle option and I took it from the Paryatak Bhavan at Greenlands junction. The cost of the trip is Rs. 95 per head and there is a bus that leaves every 30 min and it is pretty much on time. On weekdays it takes about 1 hr and 30 min to get to the airport but since the date of my travel was Sunday we reached the airport in about an hour. The ride is very comfortable and smooth.The airport itself is very new and swanky. It has quite a few food and beverage options inside the airpo
Trip to Puri, Orissa 2008-04-29 03:35:00 I went on a vacation to Puri, Orissa and hence the long silence. Well I am back now and in the next few articles I am going to tell you all about my trip there and my experiences.Some of the things I will be covering in the next few articles areShamshabad AirportToshali Sands : Resort that I stayed inPuri TownKonark TempleOther places to see around Puri
Copyright Me and My Views by Sudeep DSouza. All Rights Reserved
Trip to Puri, Orissa : Toshali Sands 2008-04-30 02:49:00 On this trip I stayed in a resort called Toshali Sands
. This resort is about 65 KM from Bhubaneshwar city and it takes about an hour and a half by car to reach the resort from Bhubaneshwar airport. The road is very good and it is quite a smooth ride. You can call up the resort and arrange for a car pick up from the airport which we did and it cost us Rs. 1200. In front of the resort is the Baiukhanda Reserve Forest which is basically a cashew plantation owned by the government and were told that there were mainly deer in it but we did not get to see any. If you drive through the forest then you reach the Balighai beach.Although the resort claims to be of 4 star quality it is not really of the same quality of other 4 star properties although it might have similar amenities as a 4 star prope
Trip to Puri, Orissa : Boat Ride 2008-05-01 08:30:00 About 5 min from the resort by bus is a barrage on the Nuanai River. On one side of this barrage is fresh water and on the other side that joins into the sea is salt water. The resort arranged for a boat ride from the barrage till the point the river meets the sea. The cost of the boat ride is Rs. 100 per head. The ride from the barrage to the sea is about 45 min either way and you reach a very nice stretch of beach. We were told that it is not safe to swim here as the sand is not stable where the river meets the sea. When you go on this boat ride you go past some fishing villages and you can see fisherman casting their nets in the water and showing off their catch. The river itself is tree lined and quite beautiful.We also saw some skeletons of Olive Ridley turtles that come here to hatch
New Skribit widget on my blog 2008-05-02 00:47:00 I have added a new skribit widget
to my blog on the right sidebar. The reason I have added this widget is so that I can hear about any of your queries/ideas that you have when you read an article. Please feel free to post your ideas and suggestions.It is very easy to use this widget, in order to post a query/idea just click on "What should I write about" and it will give you a small text field to post your query/idea and you are done. If you see someone else's comment already covering the query/idea you want to put then you can vote on it to show that there are multiple people interested in the same query/idea.
Copyright Me and My Views by Sudeep DSouza. All Rights Reserved
Answering skribit entries - 1 2008-05-03 21:17:00 Dear readers, Thank you for posting questions that you would like to ask me. I will try and answer them as and when there are 2 or more questions. Please continue using the skribit widget to interact with me and I would love to hear from you.What is your most challenging aspect of blogging ?My most challenging aspect of blogging is trying to find content that would engage my readers and that I enjoy writing about. Informational articles tend to do very well and are always among the top 10 articles on my blog. But it is not always easy to write informational articles as there is only so much information that you can give that is not already there online. I usually try writing informational articles from what happens in my real life that I think others can benefit from but then it is not eve
Unlocking password protected Excel files 2008-05-06 04:41:00 Ever got into any of the following situationsYou have password protected
an Excel
file and have subsequently forgotten the passwordGot an excel file that is password protected and you want to access the contents of the fileToday I was in the first situation and after a bit of googling I came across the following application Excel Password Remover 2008 which is an add-in to excel.It's very simple to use this toolDownload the add-in password.xla and save it at any location on your hard disk.Load the add-in into excel by going to the following menu option Tools -> Add-Ins. Click on Browse in the window that pop-ups and find the password.xla file that is saved on your hard disk. It will then appear in the add-ins Available list. Make sure the checkbox next to the name of the add-in is checked Read more:Unlocking
, files
Trip to Puri, Orissa : Konark Temple 2008-05-09 07:30:00 The trip from the resort to Konark was along a very scenic tree lined road along the beach. There are quite a few places from which you can see the sea along the route and I wish I was on a motorcycle on this road as the road does not have any traffic and it also very smooth with no potholes.In Konark it is about a kilometer from where you have to get down to where the temple is located. Since it was quite hot we felt every step of this walk. The temple itself is quite well maintained but unless you are really interested in looking at stone carvings there is really not much to see other than the fact that you visited the place.The beach itself is quite small and not very clean. You cannot go for a dip in the waters as it is not safe. So in just about 5 minutes we were bored and ready to he Read more:Temple
Microsoft advertising on Google Ads 2008-05-22 07:18:00 I was browsing a website today and it was interesting to see a Microsoft
Ad come on Google
Ads. Amidst all the battles that are being fought, it does look like Microsoft does needs Google's extensive ad network to popularize their products.
Copyright Me and My Views by Sudeep DSouza. All Rights Reserved
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