Being a Product Manager

Our interpretation of the Agile manifesto

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As part of a recent Agile training, we were asked to summarize the basic tenets of Agile in 3-4 words. Our group,  with Mahesh, Yuti, Apeksha, Shahdab, Dhwani, Jay, came up with the following:

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

Deliver value to satisfy

2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.

Accept changes willingly

3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

Prioritize, Breakdown, Deliver frequently

4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

Close collaboration, daily

5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

Continue reading Our interpretation of the Agile manifesto →

Food

Recipe: Cheese Nachos with Baked Beans

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Ingredients:

Basic ingredients
Basic ingredients
  • Cornito (or other) Corn chips
  • Canned Baked Beans (Sil @ Big Bazaar)
  • Mozzarella Cheese
  • Finely chopped vegetables: tomato, onions, capsicum, olives, jalapenos
  • Salt, pepper, oregano to taste

Procedure:

Preparing to bake
  • Arrange the nachos at the bottom of the baking dish
  • Spread vegetables and then baked beans over the nachos
  • Then shred the mozzarella cheese as per your dietary requirement 🙂
  • Add additional layers if you’d like to bulk-produce
  • Bake in the over at 180c for 5 mins before serving

Continue reading Recipe: Cheese Nachos with Baked Beans →

Travel

1st impression of Air India @ Star Alliance

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Delighted to see this!
Delighted to see this!

I was scheduled to fly Air India just 1 day before its Star Alliance (*A) membership went in to effect, thus depriving us of our *G privileges. Nonetheless, most of us are delighted about AIs entry to *A which allows seamless transfer of miles, lounge access, priority boarding, to name a few.

Lunch: sans the typical bakery roll
Lunch: sans the typical bakery roll

AI seems to have taken their entry seriously – knowing that memberships have been revoked in the past. Most of our 4-leg journey was as scheduled. But there’s still a long way to go. The food menu needs to be more internationalized and most importantly, legacy crew needs a mindset change. The crew on the international sector seemed more geared up than their domestic counterparts. Continue reading 1st impression of Air India @ Star Alliance →

Being a Product Manager, Operations & Management

Don’t be desperate to crash time

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Everyone in the software industry, has at some point of the other, been part of a delayed project. The result is often a war room where all the big shots put their heads together to save face. Imagine one such meeting where everyone is focussed on crashing time. Management is willing to compromise margins and the project manager has been given the authority to do anything it takes to deliver the project sooner.

All eyes are on the development team to see what they can do to expedite. Desperate, the project manager thinks he has an offer the Dev manager can’t refuse. He takes pride in offering to add more resources to the project. The Dev manager, however sane otherwise, goes ballistic on hearing this and yells out: ‘9 Women Can’t Make a Baby in a Month’. There is a moment of silence. Then, the noobs giggle, the big shots calm down and the PM walks out of the room.

9 mothers can't make a baby in a month
Courtesy: piedtype.files.wordpress.com

This is Brooks’s law, and every software engineer gets exposed to this mantra/joke – whichever way you take it – in the very first years on the job. If Pressman was as bold as Fred Brooks, he would’ve added it to his Software engineering bible. This is 100% true Continue reading Don’t be desperate to crash time →

Food

Recipe: Enchiladas with Chicken & Baked Beans

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I feel in love with Enchiladas back in 2010 when I first had them at Sammy Sosa. Since then, I’ve tried them multiple times at home and  I just can’t get enough. If you have tortilla wraps & baked beans at hand, it only takes about 45 mins from start to serve.

Lunch with cousins
Lunch with cousins

Ingredients:

  • Tortilla corn wraps (4)
  • Finely chopped onions & capsicum (1 each)
  • Chopped Olives & Jalapenos (6 each)
  • Tomato puree or ketchup (3/4 cup)
  • Baked beans (1/2 can)
  • Oregano, Tabasco sauce, Salt to taste
  • Mozarella cheese
  • Shredded/pulled chicken (Pre-cooked)

Continue reading Recipe: Enchiladas with Chicken & Baked Beans →

Travel

Open Borders across Europe

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As Indians, the word border only means war & tension to us. I cannot explain how exciting it is to cross borders on foot without any control what so ever.

St. Louis Grenze
St. Louis Grenze

Basel, where I was based, happens to be the north-west tip of Switzerland, bordering with France & Germany – making it an international city. In fact the airport is also shared by the 3 countries, and you can choose to pass through either country’s passport control. There are 2 main railways – the Swiss SBB & French SNCF station, and the German DB station.

German border crossing
German border crossing
The Intersection
The Intersection

The 3 countries meet at a point on the river Rhine, and the intersection is celebrated by the Rhinecenter mall on its banks. In fact, we walked in 3 countries in a matter of an hour, although it wasn’t good enough to mark them ‘done’. Switzerland also shares its borders with Austria on the east, and Italy on the south. Swiss cars bear the Swiss flag on their number plates
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Travel

Integrated public transport in Switzerland

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What I am most impressed with is the transportation system. Someone must’ve had just one use case – I should be able to buy a ticket to go from place A to place B. That’s what they implemented – a point-to-point ticket, it really doesn’t matter whether you take a bus, train, tram, boat or cable car.

Polybahn in Zurich
Polybahn in Zurich

Not that there is a single operating company, Continue reading Integrated public transport in Switzerland →

Travel

Pristine & Picturesque Switzerland

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I’ve been lucky to visit Switzerland thrice this year, adding bits to my Swiss experience each time. A post on this pristine and picturesque country can be concluded at the very beginning – its outright beautiful!

Every frame is a postcard photo
Every frame is a postcard photo

At least for us Indians, some credit does go to Yash Chopra for the glamour he has attached to this mountainous nation. For him, the returns have not only been monetary, but also honorary: Interlaken’s Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel offers the ‘Yash Chopra Suite’ at $2,000-per-night. As our Swiss client had warned, the peaks of Jungfrau & Pilatus are flooded with Asians – particularly Indian, Chinese & Japanese. The Restaurant Bollywood atop Jungfrau – the top of Europe – hints at the same.

Lucerne
Lucerne

Swiss people are absolutely fantastic: well mannered & very helpful. People will go out of the way to find you answers, whether on the street or at the post office. Their manners, put together with the importance of privacy, are what make you feel so safe. The latest I’ve taken a train in Switzerland is 23:30 with full baggage, reached my hotel at 01:30 and not once was I worried. At least between my train journeys on the European continent, I don’t think it gets safer than this. Everything from watches Continue reading Pristine & Picturesque Switzerland →