The Magnet Blog

nirav June 20th, 2007

Assorted recommended reading for you!

• Now with Safari on Windows, if you are a Firefox fan like me, you may want to check out how you can customize Firefox to do more like Safari!
• If you are really interested in finding out where Firefox is headed, you may want to read Ars Technica’s review of Gran Paradiso, the Firefox 3.
• If you are in or around Mumbai, you may also want to drop in to Magnet office on 14th July, since Seth Bindernagel and JT Batson from Mozilla will be here. More on that in the next few days.
• You may be a great programmer, but if you know project management, you can do much better development! SitePoint has an introductory article on project management for web geeks. If you are one, check it out.
• If you are wondering what’s happening at Google these days, the Google Labs: A look under the hood is a good summary of things that will come up big in the next few months. I agree that the 411 services will be big, though I prefer to use the Thunderbird RSS reader!
• TED has a presentation from Stefan Sagmeister on how design can make you happy. Chris Glass has done a terrific job on 16 points you can follow to make happy, and thanks to him for the replacement signs for subway graphic that appears here.

Here are the 16 points, if you follow, will make you more open, creative and happier! (found via 43 folders)

• Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
• Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
• Being not truthful works against me.
• Helping other people helps me.
• Organizing a charity group is surprisingly easy.
• Everything I do always comes back to me.
• Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
• Over time I get used to everything and start taking if for granted.
• Money does not make me happy.
• Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
• Assuming is stifling.
• Keeping a diary supports my personal development.
• Trying to look good limits my life.
• Worrying solves nothing.
• Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
• Having guts always works out for me.

• recommended , windows , check , customize , assorted , Firefox , reading , safari , Recommended Reading
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nirav June 13th, 2007

If you are familiar with Extreme Programming, these rules are not new to you. If you are not, they will certainly give you a lot of insight in good software development. We have been using many XP principles in our projects, and have had very good success.

Here are the XP rules, straight from the XP website.

Planning

• User stories are written.
• Release planning creates the schedule.
• Make frequent small releases.
• The Project Velocity is measured.
• The project is divided into iterations.
• Iteration planning starts each iteration.
• Move people around.
• A stand-up meeting starts each day.
• Fix XP when it breaks.

Designing

• Simplicity.
• Choose a system metaphor.
• Use CRC cards for design sessions.
• Create spike solutions to reduce risk.
• No functionality is added early.
• Refactor whenever and wherever possible.

Coding

• The customer is always available.
• Code must be written to agreed standards.
• Code the unit test first.
• All production code is pair programmed.
• Only one pair integrates code at a time.
• Integrate often.
• Use collective code ownership.
• Leave optimization till last.
• No overtime.

Testing

• All code must have unit tests.
• All code must pass all unit tests before it can be released.
• When a bug is found tests are created.
• Acceptance tests are run often and the score is published.

Sometimes I think these are too idealistic. The real world demands are to deliver working software fast. A team that’s tuned to extreme programming can certainly deliver good code quickly, but most programmers are taught differently. They are not tuned to pair programming or test driven development. Many managers too doubt the value of these principles. That makes it more difficult to implement them.

I am dreaming of a project where we can implement all these rules!

• programming , familiar , principles , projects , insight , rules , Recommended Reading , Business , extreme , success , Technology
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nirav May 16th, 2007

Writing is one of my passions. I actually started as the founder editor of India’s first ezine - MagNet (which we later converted to a software company!) Most of the people write really bad emails, let alone technical documentation, articles or reports. It’s not just the English usage, it’s not just the punctuation but it’s much more.

I was talking to someone about technical writing. Wanted to suggest some resources so that he can polish his writing style and be ready for bigger assignments. A little bit of web surfing opened may doors. If you are interested in writing, planning to write an article, or dream of authoring a book, I strongly recommend going through these resources.

• The Elements of Style by William Strunk is a classic book on composition and plain English.
• Jack Lynch’s Guide to Grammar and Style covers grammatical rules, style and usage. His explanations on usage of some common (and not-so-common) words is fantastic.
• An early piece from AskTog talks about How to Publish a Great User Manual - and is complete with good advice as usual.
• Docsymmerty has lots of resources for technical writers. Including common errors and “Getting a Technical Writing Job, Even If You Have No Experience“.
• Norman Fenton’s “Improving your technical writing” is a superb collection of practical recommendations. You should read it if nothing else!

I guess I too have a lot of reading to do next

• resources , style , talking , wanted , suggest , polish , Recommended Reading , Writing and Speaking , writing , technical , Technology
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nirav May 3rd, 2007

So now we also have the YouTube Video Awards! But I like the idea! The crowns are already given, but the process of voting for five days, seven winners were announced. The making of these movies are interesting stories in themselves. There are some professionally done, while some homemade! People actually took a lot of efforts making them (the comedy category winner is a 2m14sec video, shot on a beach over 4 days). And millions took great efforts in voting! Over to the winners than!

• awards , video , youtube , Recommended Reading
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nirav April 26th, 2007

Read an interesting note from boss to employees on ExecPundit. Naveen sent the link and I felt if everyone would follow those suggestions, things would be so much better! The post also has a few notes from employees to the boss, and they are also a good read! Here’s a sampling of the note from boss to employees:

• I am sometimes under enormous pressure from upper management; pressure that you seldom see. Anything that you can do to make my job easier will be greatly appreciated.
• I will make mistakes. Please give me the same understanding that you’d like me to give you when you blunder.
• If I do something dumb or am on the verge of doing so, please tell me. Don’t hint. Tell me.
• I expect you to take initiative. If you keep bouncing things to me, I’m going to wonder why I have you around.
• Don’t let all of my talk about meeting goals and producing results lead you into unethical behavior. You always have my permission to be ethical.
• If either of us has a problem with the other’s performance, let’s talk about it.

So true!

• execpundit , follow , felt , suggestions , boss , employees , Business , naveen , note , Recommended Reading
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