Got this recently...
Monday, April 30, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Andon board for monitoring in Agile environment
What is Andon
Japanese name for a visual production-control device (usually a lighted overhead display) that continuously shows changing status of the production line and sounds alerts if a problem is imminent
Read more
One of my colleague recently came up with cool TV app that uses above concept to display the status of all upstream and down steam systems related.
In a agile environment when you are developing a complex application and you have your QA,staging ,dev environments ,you have teams testing on that continuously.
QA : we don't see this working ,we are not getting any response from this
Dev : its working fine in our env.
so now we check if it same version ,check the logs for errors ,and finally after some time you will come to know that some serer /db /service has wrong version or down.
Now if you have this Andon board you will see whats wrong by looking at the Big TV before you.so no need to spend time in checking what went wrong instead you can directly see whats wrong or in-fact you can customize your board to sound an alarm to signal if something critical is down.
Continuous integration : take advantage of continuous integration environment of your agile team as one feed for your Andon board.
Now how to design this:
1.List all the upstream or downstream systems , HTTP services JDBC services a,JMS services:
try a simple test of pinging the service or DB query to check if these services are up in your environments
do not list the ones which you don't need. No need to add the versions deployed etc.
if you have more.. try to group them logically ,so the you know overall status ,and when you click on the group that should list the ones in group.
2.Servers on which your apps hosted : get if server is up or down or needs a restart
3.how many environments like QA ,Dev,Prod : list the versions deployed in each environment
4.list whats critical and when you want to alarm the team
like in prod if some service is down
5. Use color coding like reds when some thing is down
6. Do not clutter your screen with unnecessary details.
Have a online url for your board if your team is split across geographical locations .
Japanese name for a visual production-control device (usually a lighted overhead display) that continuously shows changing status of the production line and sounds alerts if a problem is imminent
Read more
One of my colleague recently came up with cool TV app that uses above concept to display the status of all upstream and down steam systems related.
In a agile environment when you are developing a complex application and you have your QA,staging ,dev environments ,you have teams testing on that continuously.
QA : we don't see this working ,we are not getting any response from this
Dev : its working fine in our env.
so now we check if it same version ,check the logs for errors ,and finally after some time you will come to know that some serer /db /service has wrong version or down.
Now if you have this Andon board you will see whats wrong by looking at the Big TV before you.so no need to spend time in checking what went wrong instead you can directly see whats wrong or in-fact you can customize your board to sound an alarm to signal if something critical is down.
Continuous integration : take advantage of continuous integration environment of your agile team as one feed for your Andon board.
Now how to design this:
1.List all the upstream or downstream systems , HTTP services JDBC services a,JMS services:
try a simple test of pinging the service or DB query to check if these services are up in your environments
do not list the ones which you don't need. No need to add the versions deployed etc.
if you have more.. try to group them logically ,so the you know overall status ,and when you click on the group that should list the ones in group.
2.Servers on which your apps hosted : get if server is up or down or needs a restart
3.how many environments like QA ,Dev,Prod : list the versions deployed in each environment
4.list whats critical and when you want to alarm the team
like in prod if some service is down
5. Use color coding like reds when some thing is down
6. Do not clutter your screen with unnecessary details.
Have a online url for your board if your team is split across geographical locations .
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
How to Land on your Dream role
You have a dream role or next target role, how do you land in there .Try this...
1.Explore the role : best way to do this ,observe the person in that role , or get the job description .
Make a list of what all is needed for the role like education or new degree ,competencies , certification or soft skills .
2..Bridge those gaps: Now do a gap analysis and how you are going to attain those. Like taking that course or attending necessary trainings . Using them in your current job if applies.
3.Let others know : let your network or the right people know. This is very important as when they come across they will have you in mind. You can even discuss with your manager in your goal setting if its appropriate. Also keep them updated on the efforts you are making .
4. Explore opportunities : Explore opportunities with in your organization first. keep in mind most of the organizations take you for roles what ever you are currently good at ,but not for a new role unless they are convinced if you are right fit. So try at your organization first !
Monday, April 23, 2012
Managing -2
So what makes a successful manager?
a few important ones for the list
a very good article on this
http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/8-core-beliefs-of-extraordinary-bosses.html
a few important ones for the list
- people skills
- Walk the talk attitude
- Vision
- good planning
- Transparency /Fairness
a very good article on this
http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/8-core-beliefs-of-extraordinary-bosses.html
Managing
Whats Managing?
according to wiki : Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively.
Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources and natural resources
Efficiently and effectively : how do you measure efficiency and effectively ? is it the utilization of resources or cost effectiveness. I think level of engagement of resources needs to be considered.
one more thing i observed at almost many of the workspaces all organization wants their managers to be firm ,and bit tough but not too aggressive or too soft spoken. there is a difference between being rude and being firm/tough.
how many very soft-spoken bosses you had vs how many aggressive ones you worked with?
which side weighs more in your case?
according to wiki : Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively.
Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources and natural resources
Efficiently and effectively : how do you measure efficiency and effectively ? is it the utilization of resources or cost effectiveness. I think level of engagement of resources needs to be considered.
one more thing i observed at almost many of the workspaces all organization wants their managers to be firm ,and bit tough but not too aggressive or too soft spoken. there is a difference between being rude and being firm/tough.
how many very soft-spoken bosses you had vs how many aggressive ones you worked with?
which side weighs more in your case?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)