Technology vs Domain

The exit "one on one" discussions are always a fun interaction. Recently one of my colleague asked this question, What's important Technology Expertise or Domain Expertise? And the next question was, How to improve on Domain Expertise? I would've been happy if people ask such questions when they join the team. Here I would like to share some of my thoughts on Technology vs Domain that we discussed in detail on that day.

I always feel that as we gain experience, it is the combined index of Technology and Domain Expertise distinguish the top performer from the crowd. In this job hopping world initial years majority focus on Technology expertise but as years of experience piles up domain expertise plays critical role in grabbing the plum positions.

Now let us move on to the next question, How to improve on Domain? As a kid we all did that, dream as Abdul Kalam said and ask questions then process the information received. What I mean dream is to build hypothesis about big picture of the topic you work on, then learn more on the topic by reading on journals and asking questions to experts whenever such opportunity available. Being curious is the first step, then the rest just follows smoothly.

Like financial experts say the early you invest the more you reap, here to the same applies "Early focus on Domain besides Technology would always yield great results". Being curious and the big picture understanding creates a vision that is critical for advancement in career. Once one of the hypothesis proven right as the person thought, would lead to faster validation of other hypotheses and that helps building confidence. Once a person gains confidence, ze* takes calculated risks and that yields superior results. I feel this is the secret formula for the successful leaders.

What are your thoughts?

*ze stands for He/She

Are we on right track?

I wanna share my experiences of interviewing people. For past 5 years I'm taking interviews quite often and really feeling the change in New breed of engineers but that's not in good direction. I usually enjoy interviews as it's an opportunity to interact with different types of people and at times it helps us to know the level of inability and ignorance we have. Conducting interviews itself a huge learning.

These days so many engineering colleges are there but what they failed is to develop talents. Every college is producing workers who just receive commands and execute it. Majority of engineers have knowledge but lacks in application of it. In most cases they are unable to analyse the root causes of problems. Majority of thought process is superficial not deeper understanding. But I too meet some exceptional talents but such encounters are diminishing day by day.

At times I ponder, am I living with the thoughts of my childhood time? I'm from the generation in India that has seen the transition of analog to digital and the impact of globalization in every household. So by default the curiosity of understanding why buttons are not there in TV?, how a remote control works? Likewise thoughts helped in building and strengthening the thought process. Now for this generation everything abstracted, is it the reason for missing deeper thought process? I'm not able to agree to it as every generation experiences the transformation in technology like 3D printing, Augmented reality to name a few in recent times.

What I strongly believe that the education system have changed? New colleges focusing on results of passing percentage and in that quest missed out on quality. They failed to create independent engineers. In one of the debate show on a private channel majority of the lecturers talking about control over students than giving free learning environment. What a pity! The lecturers themselves not aware of nature's basic Principe of interdependent system. Please don't produce memory machines.

No need to charge the fine amount for failing to wear I'd card. No need to be nice to students. Don't allow them to campus if they don't adhere to rules. Explain to them the rules and basic Principles of the system and stick to the rules. Failure is the good teacher. Let them experience it. Let them learn from others failure too. There's no person in the world who never experienced failure. What they learned from failure is what made them great. Please understand everyone is unique and the world has enough opportunities for everyone. Let them learn to grab those opportunities and progress.

Many more thoughts rushing to mind, but I wanna keep it short, so ending it here.

Ha nice day!

PMP Certification - My Experience & Suggestions

I've recently passed PMP Exam. I would like to share my experience that may help fellow aspirants.
There are many blogs regarding the PMP preparation but the one that helped me out is http://edward-designer.com/web/pmp-guide/. He has summarized quite good way the whole process.

Here let me write down my approach:

1. Fixed the target date to finish the first reading of PMBOK5 as I've decided that only after reading completely the PMBOK5, I would fill the form for the exam. Thanks to my friend who was instrumental in setting up the target date. I was bit slow and really took 25 days to complete but covered first page to last page of PMBOK5.
2. On completion of the first reading I've filled the PMP Application Form and paid the fee. After receiving the confirmation from PMI, fixed the target date for the exam and booked it with Prometric (2 months).
3. Took the decision that at any cost the exam date shouldn't be changed. And started the studies.
4. Gone through Edward's blog and read all the topics for the exam from his blog. http://edward-designer.com/web/introduction-to-pmbok-guide-knowledge-areas-processes-process-groups/
5. Read the PMI code of ethics in Project Management.
6. Revised PMBOK5 again
7. Studied the following Practice Standards
• Practice Standard For EVM
• Practice Standard For WBS
• Practice Standard For Scheduling
• Practice Standard For Configuration Management
8. I wanted to read other practice standards but already I was running late and only 3 more weeks for the exam day so discontinued reading the practice standards of
• Practice Standard For Risk Management
• Practice Standard For Project Estimating
9. Read the book "The PMP Exam Made Easy Your 24-Hour Study Guide to Passing" from PMI.org eReads. This book really helped me to understand the PMP exam in a better way and given lot of confidence.
10. Took the online mock exam of 75 questions from http://www.oliverlehmann.com/pmp-self-test/75-free-questions.htm#providers_
11. The mock exam had really given me the opportunity to understand my weakness and I became so nervous as I've only one more week for the exam day.
12. Started going through the topics where I need improvement by referring the following books from PMI.org eReads
• Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, Tenth Edition by Harold Kerzner
• Critical Chain Project Management, Second Edition by  Lawrence P. Leach
13. Then took the 175 mock exam from www.oliverlehmann.com. I could score only 71% that's way below my target of 80%. This is really a good mock test with detailed information on answers and references. That was very key for my exam preparation.
14. Analyzed the wrong answers by going through the references provided and started taking further exams
• 400+ Online questions: http://passtheprojectexam.com/wp-content/Execution.swf (This is more or less like a simulator, no explanation provided for answers)
• 206 Online questions: http://206-free-pmp-exam-questions.blogspot.in/ (no explanation for answers)
15. Only 3 days left and still I was not reaching my target of scoring above 80% in the mock tests and I got tensed too much. Fortunately I had my spouse, friend and mentor's encouraging words to ease my tension. Then I decided to revise the PMBOK5 completely in 2 days and prepared an action plan for that.
16. In 48 hours I'd spent 24 hours in reading PMBOK5 thoroughly without missing a page and recollecting the key points from the PMP Preparation training that I had attended 3 years back. Thanks to the notes and the passionate trainer, I could remember the key points.
17. Finally the exam day had arrived and I was feeling better as I could revise PMBOK5 for the second time and could do all mathematics comfortably for EVM, ROI, Communication Channels and so on.
18. Reached the Prometric training centre 2 hours early (too much early) and accommodated myself to the environment, that was really helpful to control my nervousness.
19. At last the time has come for the test and gone into the test cubicle after stringent check. Gone through instructions and started the tests. To my dismay the very first question itself was intimidating but I could muster courage and gone through the test. After 4 hours marathon, I could complete all the 200 questions and had only 3 minutes to revise the marked questions. Not managed the time well but was happy that at least I could complete all 200 questions.
20. Anxious 5 minutes of feedback giving and waiting for the result had gone through and when the screen flashed the "Congratulations message" I was completely relieved of all the stress that accumulated for the past 2 weeks.

Suggestions from my learning:

1. Treat the PMP Exam as a project and start with end in mind. Fix the target date and prepare the plan as what to read and when to read, then how many tests to practice.
2. The plan should have the milestone dates (weekly review suggested) so as you can review your progress against the baseline plan and take actions to correct the deviation. Daily minimum of 3 hours preparation should be allocated.
3. Talk to family and friends and win their support. Without their support you're gonna have a very tough task at hand.
4. Always remember the Confucius quotes "When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." Your milestone reviews should happen as per the plan and you need to derive the actions to correct the deviation.
5. The must reads for the exam are
• PMBOK5
• All Practice Standards
• Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, Tenth Edition by Harold Kerzner
• Critical Chain Project Management, Second Edition by  Lawrence P. Leach
• The PMP Exam Made Easy Your 24-Hour Study Guide to Passing
6. Then practice as many mock exams as possible. There are plenty of questions available freely and even in PMI.org eReads.
7. Use PMI.org resources as I believe that's the reliable source and has everything what you need for the exam.
8. Take the exam time as per your comfort and practice the mock exams exactly for that time period. I usually feel comfortable in the evening and I took the exam time between 5 PM and 9 PM. Then I've practiced the mock exams during this time period.
9. While taking PMP exam stay focused and don't worry too much on the question that you don't know. Mark them and move on. If you've time in the end you can spend more time in analyzing that question.
10. Practice, Practice, and Practice mock exams. The more practice the more comfortable you would be. Read the PMBOK5 at least thrice, that makes you clear on the processes.

I took exactly three months in the whole process of preparation with 28 hours weekly spent for this purpose. Only in the last week I've spent more than 50 hours for this preparation. This has worked for me but I cannot guarantee it would work for you. This is just an experience sharing.

Happy Reading! and wish you all the success in your PMP preparation.

P.S. PMP and PMI are registered trademarks of Project Management Institute. I've provided the sources as it is and I've taken utmost care not to infringe any intellectual property. In case of any objections to the blog, please let me know I would rectify it.

What's our Value System?

In the search of the value system of our society?

On the occasion of the Republic Day I was pondering on the 'Republic' we live in. How it's different from other democratic & republic countries in the world. Do we really understand the Independence and the Republic? What's our constitution brought to us and on what value system it's built?

Recent news are sending shivers to my spine. From the film to a sticker in a car, we react immediately without applying the mind. I wonder whether we know the difference between Group-ism and Democracy? One of the core values of accepting the person as is he/she and to tolerate the differences are very rapidly diminishing. Everyone wants other person the way they feel is correct. Right from the present day politicians to corporate honchos to common man, this feeling is very evident. In short everyone is turning to dictatorship, this is what predominantly coming to my mind.

We fight to prove which language is oldest and in the process forget the literature the language brought to us!
We give preference to the statues and in the process forget the suffering of the millions of people!

Tolerance is OUT and Hatred is IN

Persistence is OUT and Flash March for the current Issues is IN

Social Responsibility is OUT and Individual Gain is IN

Mahatma Gandhi words on Ahimsa "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" is possible only through Tolerance and Persistence. Do we need examples for the failure of Ahimsa...?

I understand that in such a large and populous country there is always a multitude of values exist. But I feel the positive points are diminishing while the negative points are spreading so rapidly everywhere. What does this mean to our next generation? Where are we heading? What're our proudest values?!!!

Humble request to fellow motorians of Bangalore...

These days driving in the night in Bangalore become very tough as all motorists want to enjoy the High Beam ride/drive. I really can't understand why do we need high beam in well lit streets! Who to be blamed for this menace? If we're all well educated (I really mean it), this could've been averted in first place. We supposed to learn the rules of traffic and then appear for the exam. Driving schools supposed to teach the students first about the ethics and rules then about the driving the vehicles. But all are in rulebooks, who's following them?

These days even the bikes are equipped with fancy lights and when the high beam is on, its blinding the opposite direction drivers. Not to tell about the modern cars. Our drivers wants to showcase their masterpiece and they don't mind the fellow motorists suffering.

I've done a quick search on the net to find a handbook about Indian driving rules and found some useful links. One such article can be found at http://www.karnataka.com/driving-manual.

It's our responsibility to correct the system and make a drivable place for future generation.

Where are the Heritage Values? Forgotten, Lost Values ! :-(

One week vacation has been fantastic and enjoyed with family as I've taken time to spend with my daughter to explain her the places I'd visited and some fond memories recollected. On the course I've pondered the names which the roadways transport department in Tamil Nadu carried a decade ago, which completely disappeared today due to some crooked groups and unruly political parties. Pallavan (பல்லவன்), Pandiyan (பாண்டியன்), Cheran (சேரன்), Chozhan (சோழன்), Marudhu Pandiyar (மருது பாண்டியர்), Theeran Chinnamalai (தீரன் சின்னமலை), Kattapomman (கட்டபொம்மன்), Periyar (பெரியார்), Thiruvalluvar (திருவள்ளுவர்), Nesamoney (நேசமணி), ...; where are these names?

As a school boy when I traveled different districts of Tamil Nadu, the transport division name was the kinda rekindling our knowledge about the districts and about the freedom fighters of the district and so on. That's totally missing now due to the unruly crowd which wants to create new divisions just to bear their leader's name. Of course the political parties which wants to take advantage of creating the vote bank catered to this kind of request quite a while and later when it can't be addressed, they've taken a simple solution of removing all such names and stick to state name like other states followed. It's like loosing our heritage values which once we're proud to showcase to any person who travels within Tamil Nadu. It's a symbol of unity among diversity. And we're today losing our values! and I see nobody bothers about that.

I wonder, will be able to go back to our original Dravidian tradition?

• treating every person and every religion with respect
• appreciate the goodness in Self and others

Today the crowd is very much busy in committing sins and going to temple to ward off those sins. Olden days the temples are used to meditate and socialize, thus energize the system. But today it's becoming more commercial complexes!

When will we realize our values? Then live to our values not for the fame and name.

Is following traffic rules a punishment in India (Bangalore)?

Recent elections made me to think on corruption. Politicians are publicly debating that they've done less corruption than the other party. Where are we heading? How did we get rid such people? When will we throw the freebies on their face and ask them to do better government? It's the high time to change and fight against corruption. We always point the finger to others for anything. We don't even try to make a change in ourself the way we behave or we react to corruption.

I feel the root cause of corruption is we! We don't follow rules! Even we don't know the rules in many times! As Venkatesh has mentioned in one of his reply to my post on other social networking site, 70% of the time we pay bribe only because we don't follow the rules. Only 30% we're forced to do as we're in a hurry and we don't want or we don't have time to fight for our rights! "5th Pillar" and "I Paid a Bribe" movements made very good positive change within me.

First let us eliminate the chance of getting into the corruption network by adhering to the rules in our daily life. This thought driven me to take the decision to follow traffic rules always! As this is the one aspect most of us take the rules as per our convenience.

After that resolution I've taken the car to office on Saturday (16-Apr-2011) and made conscious effort on controlling speed as per the city speed limit guidelines and follow the lane properly. Here comes the beauty! These days following the rules on road is like a punishment. Normally when I take my car to office through Hosur road on weekend, it takes 30 to 35 minutes. But when I stick to the rules it took 50 minutes. Not so bad in timing but the way my fellow guys on road reacted to me was fabulous!

I was always in left lane until unless there is a free left turn in signals. I never gone above 50 KMPH within city limit and hence blocked huge traffic behind me. Those guys were honking and trying to overtake from left and whatsoever possible ways. Of course right lane too was busy and all fast moving vehicles (we've definitely a different terminology here) going on there. They've tried to make more than two lanes and when those efforts failed they become impatient. Of course motorists were overtaking from left and right as lot of space is available on both side. These problems got reduced as I got into Hosur road. There after Bommanahalli it's 80 KMPH is the limit and that made lot of difference. But there other sort of issues were there! Have you spot any speed-limit board on Hosur road? :-( Do we have turn bays on Hosur road (either for left or right turns)? :-( Our authorities also don't know how to build roads, even such wider road within city limit doesn't have such bays. Then how can we expect such bays in narrower roads.)

The points I noticed were

• Stopping the vehicle on spotting Orange light in traffic signal is a crime
• Not over speeding when the road is empty is a crime
• Following the left lane when there is no traffic on right lane is a crime
• Going in centre of the lane is a crime (as people are not able to make one more lane)

If we are not gonna change the way we drive, it'll one day become nightmare to drive on our roads. It's high time we learn the traffic rules and start adhering to it. Rules are there to protect us and not to punish. They ought to be followed. When we start following it as I've mentioned we tend to face many issues due to uncivilized beasts. But if we make conscious effort, we will be one of civilized human who has participated in the freedom fight against corruption by just adhering to rules in all walks of life. Thus make a positive impact on our kids!

Lets hope for the best and make our roads safer!

Wanna share your experience too! You're most welcome!