Dew

Hello all, My name is E-mail. I have become popular among people - young and old - since the past decade. It is interesting to note that a lot of people have so much to talk to their people and I am very happy to carry their messages. However there are a few problems that no one seems to be lending their ears and eyes to. Wonder why some people try to write unsolicited e-mails to others in the name of making friends? Wonder why some e-mails go unnoticed? Wonder why some e-mails are fully read and taken for granted? Wonder why people trash the well-intended e-mails mistakenly addressed to them, when they should be notifying the sender? Wonder why it is so hard to address some one by name or title or whatever is appropriate in an e-mail? Wonder why people cant take two seconds longer to sign their name or initial at the close of an e-mail? Wonder why people do not understand that chain e-mails in the name of religion or luck are still a set of bits - zeroes and ones so to speak? Wonder w...

In the corporate world, emails are common, so is the 'Reply All' syndrome. This post is inspired by a 'Reply All' email that said, "Unable to access the files" in response to one of yesterday's emails. I am not in the management ladder as yet, but work has been keeping me very tied up for the last whole week. This morning, I logged in to quickly check my emails and see this very IMPORTANT email. [ Sorry about being so loud.. I really did not think that email was important.] I glanced through the thread briefly and understood that some files were posted yesterday and an email has been sent to all the concerned people, including the members of the senior management who really do not even have time( is it 'take time??'.. lets rest this argument for the moment. ..) to eat three meals a day and have a good night's rest. One of the recipients has attempted to access the file immediately after seeing the email and found an access issue. So, he has jus...

I had attended a workshop in early December on Technical Writing. In response to a particular question around writing, the speaker said, "There is always a simple rule to handle some situations; They say,"Swalpa Adjust Maadi" in Kannada. This translates to "Just adjust a little" in English." This one fragment got rooted in my mind. For the last one month, I have said this phrase many times to myself to ease simple, common, unnecessary stress that we all face each day. I just thought this whole idea is worth a post. More often than not, it is the trivial commonplace events that cause more stress [ small unnecessary stress usually cascade through the day and lead to bigger problems ] to us than the relatively serious ones. Here's one to help you visualize better: You are driving to work. You had set out well in advance from your house and you have had a great start of the day and your feel-good factor is good enough. Your favorite melody is on and the t...

In software projects, there is a lot of inter-dependency between the various functions - Development, Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Documentation, Release Management, and Project Management. In one of my project discussions with a project leader friend of mine, I saw a drastic difference in scope of the project. I wanted to know if the timeline also moved and to my surprise he said the time line does not move by a second, but the project scope definitely has moved more than anticipated. In response to my question on how they were planning to handle this kind of a scope creep, the sincere project leader's answer was very simple : Cope with the Scope is the mantra. True ... Day in and day out we in software industry constantly try to cope with the ever increasing and rarely diminishing project scope. Instead of continuing to see scope creep as a problem, my friend has given a challenge dimension to it and made 'Cope with Scope' as a norm at work. Gives a lot of chance f...

I chanced to attend this very interesting session in one of the conferences yesterday that said, Look for the Zen moment always... Ever seen a flower bloom? Even seen one petal fall off a flower? Ever watched the moment you understood a concept in class? Ever kept tab of the moment you understood a joke? Ever watched the flutter of a butterfly? Ever taken time to watch the color of a sunrise change? These are some of the heavenly/interesting/wonder filled moments that cannot be defined, however much a wonderful prose writer or poet you are. It is that one moment ( could be less than a second ) that turns around your perspective towards something... It is called Zen Moment. Though Zen sounds slightly philosophical there is a lot of practicality in this. Every day is a new day with new challenges at work. Most of us easily rate the work after a few years of experience, as 'Just the usual' or 'Nothing unusual about it'. That's when work becomes a monotonous and stressf...

I was talking about Project Management to a senior friend of mine....He told me about the most striking analogy from a lecture that he once attended on Project Management. The lecture goes to say that the best example of Project Management is the Indian Wedding Muhurath . [ pronounced as 'Mo' as in 'Move'[Mu] , 'Who' as in 'Whose'[ Hu ] ' , 'Ru' as in 'Rumble'[Ra] , ' th ' as in 'thrive'[ th ]. I am sure you can 'google' the word, but to put it in simple words: Muhurath is the chosen moment when the bride and the groom get married. Different customs are followed to mark this celestial moment of matrimony. In traditional weddings, a number of elaborate rituals precede and succeed the ' Muhurath '. The bride's parents and the groom's parents agree to get the wedding done on a specific date and time. For the guy and the girl, this event means 'Engagement' where they get formally engaged to...

That's the question I heard from Ms. A to Mr. B. Here is the conversation that followed: Ms.A : Hey, How are you? Long time... Mr.B : Fine, thanks :) Am on my way out!!! Ms.A : That was fast... Where are you off to?? Mr.B : Am off to XYZ software company. Ms.A : Good.. When is your last working day here? Mr.B : Day after tomorrow.. :) Will send a mail. Ms.A : Thanks, stay in touch :) All the best!!! :) So, if you have not met someone for long in a software company, don't be surprised if you hear such kind of response to your 'How are you?'... Life in software industry is like this of late :) At work, spend time with your friends and remember to call if you do not see someone in his cube for long.. For all you know the person would have left the place permanently.. :-)