Agile- A way of life!

Just came across two great quotes with respect to Agile methodology, thought of sharing with all. Before starting with the quotes lets first understand what Agile is. Agile is a methodology of doing anything(not just software development) in which we focus on the meaningful work done or the value added in the minimum time. Over the years we have become puppets of planning and preparation wherein we have lost our ability to adapt. Right from our school admissions to our first job interview, we rely on the way we should prepare rather than be what we need to be. We would love to have the questions of all exams we write, know all questions that could be shot to us in an interview etc.-All of this because we want to be predictive not adaptive. This in turn has spoiled our ability to be AGILE. But in a world that faces change in form of technology, tastes and preference, fashion and trends how can such a mindset work. In words of Charles Darwin, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." A simple example of need of Agile in daily life can be,selecting a dress or getting it stitched by a tailor. The traditional model(Waterfall) would suggest gathering the requirements from the person who needs the dress,taking the measurements, designing it, selecting appropriate material, start making it, testing if the dress ready complies with all the requirements initially gathered and then delivering the dress to the person. Now just look at the possibilities. First, what if the fashion has changed, second- what if he/she becomes fat and his measurements change, third- what if there is a better material available now. There are so many possibilities which would imply that the dress would not satisfy the person, while the question remains what to do with the dress now, what about the cost and time etc., can the dress be fixed or change at this stage? Agile way of doing it is quite different. Create a basic set of requirements for the dress-may be size/fitting, color code,etc. Then prioritize so as to get the most important requirements on top of list. Start making the dress with this first set of requirements and get it checked/tested. Now incorporate the next set of requirements with any changes required on the initially delivered dress. Now this way the final dress is made. This ensures 1. Faster Delivery of dress 2. Accommodation of Updated requirements/changes. This brings us to the first quote- "Project success is not product success" - Jeff Patton, Agile Alliance. Traditional software development process has always aimed for the success of the project rather than the product. According to a survey, most of the PM are more worried about the Schedule and Budget Overruns than the functionality of the product/solution. Agile is all set to become the order of the day, with many US Federal Govt departments deciding to Go Agile! In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration claimed a 35 percent to 50 percent cost savings could be achieved using agile versus a waterfall approach.Similarly In October 2009, President Obama signed the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act issuing a mandate implementing the agile model for IT acquisitions to keep up pace with the new emerging technologies. It is not only cost saving that Agile leads to but a lot of empowerment. The team of people working feel involved and therefore committed. Does it make any sense to spend almost half the time and effort in doing that part of a project which doesn't deliver any functionality. Agile manifesto therefore rightly stresses on Working software over comprehensive documentation. Agile on a personal level is more of common sense than methodology. Take for instance a situation wherein we have n no. of things in the pipeline, staring from assignments & meetings to cooking & washing clothes. Given the fact that we have very less time to complete it, we don't sit and make a plan for it. We figure out which of the tasks is most important and start with it- and this way complete the rest of the tasks. Sounds simple right! It is. Ending with the quote by Confucius-"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." There had to be something which replaces the mundane process we have been following, something which forces us to be adaptive and on our toes. If that something is Agile, than so be IT-Agile- A way of Life!

Paradise in disguise!!

We were taught in school and rightly so that Kashmir is referred to as 'The Paradise on Earth.' Consequently I grew up visualizing Kashmir as green stretches of land, of mountain peaks covered with ice, of beauty and PEACE. Nothing has changed now, apart from that 1 word PEACE.
Armed Forces Special Powers Act(AFSPA) is one of the controversial legislations that was passed by Indian Parliament in 1958. The plight of Kashmir though not directly related to this Act,unheard voices remain as a result of the atrocities excused by the Act which states that in an area that is proclaimed as "disturbed", an officer of the armed forces has powers to:
-"Fire upon or otherwise use force, EVEN TO THE CAUSING OF DEATH, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law" against "assembly of five or more persons" or possession of deadly weapons.
-To arrest without a warrant and with the use of "necessary" force anyone who has committed certain offenses or IS SUSPECTED of having done so
-To enter and search any premise in order to make such arrests

None ignorant of the fact, that there have been widespread crimes, murders and rapes by the men in Khaki, with rifles in hand and allowed by law to do so to a certain extent. The reason why I have put few words in capital is the possible implications of those words.

"EVEN TO THE CAUSING OF DEATH"- we still debate if capital punishment is human, and this clause allows a single person decide the fate of another person totally based on his interpretation of his action and his knowledge of law.
"SUSPECTED"- the biggest question By Whom? Is any single person's suspicion under any circumstances with biased or unbiased views enough to decide whether a person should be put behind the bars

For a minute just imagine that the place you live in is declared a disturbed place enough to be under the purview of this Act.
[Section 3 of Act grants the Central Govt and Governor of State to declare if a place is disturbed, but does not describe the circumstances under which the authority would be justified in making such a declaration.]
Now this allows the armed forces to search premises and make arrests without warrants just based on their suspicion. And suppose this independence and absolutely no accountability leads to murders and rapes with no one ready to listen to you , worse this goes on for years. It is a modest assumption you would stop believing in the Government and feel not as any other part of the country does. Suppose this state of yours becomes even worse with terrorists from the nearby country crossing over and making life hell. What would you do? The answer is "Probably revolt". That PROBABLY wont probably remain under such circumstances with an additional gift of poverty.

On the flip-side, a disturbed place with no such law would ensure nothing but the death of thousands of military men who would be no position to attack suspicious people on their decision waiting for the opposite to shoot first. In short leaving no scope for preventive action and waiting for a time to use a corrective action against the crime that has already happened.

Then what is the point? I am not a student of law, I am not aware of what can be, and what should be. Being a management student what I understand is
- The Govt agencies fail not in their plan but execution, there is absolutely no tracking of such execution. Similar to projects these plans slip on cost and schedule with no or ineffective monitoring
- The risks are never identified in advance and therefore such risks materialize and the rest is known. There is an obvious possibility of use of AFSPA in a wrong way. Such possibilities and their mitigation should have been planned.
- When the life of military is valuable, also valuable are lives of innocent people who are killed. Something like PREVENTIVE DETENTION should be brought to effect for people who are suspicious and such suspicion be decided based on evidences.

My suggestions do not matter and there are factors I may not have considered. I do not wish to be an advisor to the ministers. What I and many others want to say is its high time they realize that steps need to be taken to ensure that the lakhs of people in J&K need peace that is long lost and long needed/wanted/deserved. It still troubles me to find more than half the results suggesting negativity when I Google out Kashmir while the picture still remains of the green, of grandeur and of PEACE, of The Paradise on Earth.

Bizopolitech - The concept!

I had started a personal blog probably a year ago, and only have 3 posts in so long a time. Is that a blog? The Wikipedia definition of Blog says "Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. " The only match to the definition seems to be REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. I was used to writing diary and thought blog would be similar but soon realized that they actually are different in terms of who they are meant for. Diary entries are usually meant for your own self which is not positioned in a way to attract or entertain audience. On the contrary a blog is something which you expect the world to read. Then the question why 3 posts only. Perhaps because the theme I thought I would write was personal life, entries on friendship, love, pain and stuff which no longer remains the mainstream of at least my mind if not my heart. That is when BIZOPOLITECH came into my mind- a combination of business, politics and technology the three major things that have been troubling my nerve cells 24x7. A simple fact is these 3 things cover all that is happening in this world, and this blog shall speak about Facts Inferences Judgements and Opinions about all of that. You can flood in your comments suggesting how to improve upon the content or topics I write upon or anything you would like to know. Hope you all like it. Thank you...