Daily Rant

Thinking of a daily rant...

Since I've been trying to get out of the "addictive" social media, there is no sharing of good stories and articles that I read. I think "sharing is caring".. :) 

Alternate medium of sharing is the personal blog. It comes in as a reference at some point too. Will give it a try under "Daily Rant"....

Check it out!

Traits of a collaborative leader

One more post before I call it a day.. or night.. J

Sharing yet another interesting post that I read today.http://blogs.cisco.com/collaboration/lets-dance-the-three-essential-traits-for-collaborative-leaders/

 Got the link thru a tweet by Padmasree Warrior of Cisco Systems. This one is about the traits for a collaborative leader. 

Good read. All three are very important and I something that I feel strongly about. The first one about transparency and being authentic is of utmost importance to me. I cannot explain the frustration that I get, when people are not authentic, nor transparent. 

When they do not provide an authentic, transparent relationship in their leadership, the trust, which is the key, is lost. It is so difficult to earn back the trust that is lost. Trust and respect is next one up for me. Really, Truly believe in earning the trust and the respect of others. Without which, everything is lost.

Again, a lesson to learn!

-Hema

Giving Honest Feedback

I cannot help but talk about an excellent post that I read just now. This is a post by Peter Bregman in HBR, http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2011/03/dont-be-nice-be-helpful.html

Read it, definitely worth it.

Quite often when you provide an honest feedback, which could be negative, you are looked upon as rude/aggressive or arrogant. I have seen people giving good feedback, and then talk back on the negative elements to others. “I just wanted to say something”, or “ I just said it, so that they will not feel bad”, or similar lines has been the response of one of my ex/current colleague, who gives positive feedback even when they have negative things to say. 

This is disastrous, when you are asked for opinion on training or a program or even an idea. Just to make the other person happy, people tend to say or give feedback which they don’t even believe. What they don’t understand is by trying to be nice, you are actually hurting their progress or success.

I believe in giving honest feedback. But when I do give it, I have been called or looked upon as rude or arrogant. Yes, I do need to be less tough, but at least what I am hoping is that an honest feedback is going to help anyone improve. I always ask for feedback, especially the negative ones. I truly believe only by having the courage to ask for your feedback, accepting the negatives and improving to convert the negatives to positives or just eliminate the negatives will help you progress a lot, in your life. 

The three ways that Peter recommends is definitely going to help me give the feedback in a better way, rather than on-your-face way which tends to hurt me more. 

Another lesson to learn, to apply, to share in the quest to be better in whatever we do!

-Hema

Multipliers

This is a repost of my blog entry from July 2010, on an internal blog at work. Thought of posting this here, since I believe the story of Multipliers is worth sharing.....

I listened to a NPR story on the book "Multipliers". You can listen/read it at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128401148 . Can very well relate to this and is eagerly looking forward to reading this book.


Often you come across diminishers at work place. A common mistake that these managers/leaders often make is to create "hero's out of firefighters and ignore the ones who consistently perform. This is often discouraging to the many within the teams. It is absolutely necessary to identify, encourage and grow the many than just a few. The HBR article by the authors is available at http://hbr.org/2010/05/managing-yourself-bringing-out-the-best-in-your-people/ar/1


You may think that you are a multiplier. But chances are you are a diminisher, an accidental one, at times. Take this quiz to find out if you are an accidental diminisher. http://multipliersbook.com/accidental-diminisher/


The website for the book is at http://multipliersbook.com/ If anyone has read this book already, would love to hear your thoughts.


-Hema

(Originally published on July 25, 2010)

Multipliers Again..

It's been a long time, since I posted on this blog. I have started reading "Multipliers", a book which I heard about as early as June of last year! Very interesting read. As I go thru the pages, it gives me the realization of how one could be a diminisher without even knowing that you are one. We all think, we are good managers and leaders, or for that matter, good individuals. But what we don't know is how, we could be accidental diminishers.


As I listened to a senior leader talk to me, last week, on how he/she was trying to teach others everything that they know, and the multiple use of how "I" and why "I" did this or that… Really, I felt sorry for the person. Because they don't know how they are becoming an accidental diminisher. Again as I heard the same person go over and over on what "I" want, and what "I" suggest for others… I don't know, whether I feel sympathetic again.


Maybe, I should recommend the book "Multipliers" for them. I am sure, they too will realize how you can get the best from others by being a multiplier…. I can vouch for that, coz, I too am learning how me unknowingly becoming a diminisher can prevent getting out the best from others..

Learning to be a multiplier and extremely proud about it….


-Hema

ITIL Foundation

Its been a long time since I actually learned something, especially something new. With about 3 weeks to end this year, I am hoping to do some learning prior to the end of the year. There is a lot going on these days. Work, family etc etc. Anyway, decided to try a hand with ITIL learning.

Let us see how it will go. Wish me good luck & happy learning!

Revive..

Bringing this blog back to life..

Learning Rails

I found Learning Rails website recently. LearningRails teaches Rails by podcast. Wow, that's great. I signed up and I completed Lesson 1 today. Enjoy!

Learn something new everyday

I need to spend at least an hour each day to read and learn about something new. I am spending too much time reading meaningless blogs :( Got to stop it and spend time more effectively.

Practices of an agile developer

I watched an interesting talk on "Practices of an Agile Developer". The talk was by Dr Venkat Subramaniam, the co-author, with Andy Hunt, of the book by the same name. Very good presentation done at No Fluff Just Stuff. Enjoy!
Practices of an Agile Developer Presentation

What did you learn today?

We work in a highly evolving, constantly changing industry. Technology changes, methodology changes, tools & even people change. It is hard to keep up with these changes. Even harder when you are trying to learn about all these by yourself. Imagine the amount of knowledge you gain, if you were to learn about something, at least one thing, a day from someone you came across that day. It could be lessons in technology, leadership, even just plain simple life lesson. Let me try to document the lessons I learned each day.

Agile Training

I am registered to attend Scrum Training that's happening here next week. I will also attend Agile Planning & Estimating course too. Great!

Scrum Training

Mike Cohn is conducting Scrum Master training in Dallas during the first week of April. It is followed by one day course in Agile Planning & Estimating. I want to go for this training so so much... It costs about $1900 for both courses together. I have asked my Boss, but has not get a reply yet. Please please let me go..

BTW, I need to pick up both "Agile Planning & Estimating" and "Agile Software Development with Scrum" from the library tomorrow. I had requested the books as Inter Library Loan and it is now available for pickup.

I will go thru the books, but please please let me be able to attend this training.

Tom Demarco's "Peopleware"

is the book that I am reading now. I have heard a lot about this book. The book has been written a long long time ago, yet, still relevant. I will post my thoughts on it once I complete reading it.

This would be the year..

March is about to end. Lot of things changed between January and March. I need to go back to India this year. Maybe end of May. Not sure if I could find a job by then. If not, I will have to quit and search for some job, after settling down in Kerala. Our minds are made up, now we just need to act..

Time to go back?

My parents are looking forward to having me back in India. "Why do you need to stay in US? The opportunities are endless here in India, why don't you come back?", that's what they ask. True, maybe this would be the year for the return. I don't know yet.

Where to?

Changing requirements, unrealistic deadlines, changing scope, where is quality? What about risks?

We need agility.

What's going on?

I haven't posted anything here for a long time. When you do not set any goals, there is no deadlines to beat. So am I being idle? Not quite. I think I should continue my learning process, and possibly write about it. I hope to - soon!

Path to PMP Completed!!!

I completed my PMP Certification today!! I have been postponing it for a long long time. Finally, I decided to take it. So today early morning, I was at Prometric to give a four hour exam. I cannot explain how happy I am for completing it successfully. School is starting for kids tomorrow. So perfect timing.. I don't want them to suffer because of all my studies, anymore :)

Welcome to the dark side

That's what my boss said, as he handed over my promotion papers to me. I am officially the manager of our team. This is effective first of the month. I hope to do a good job. God help me!