Sunday, December 30, 2012

What I learned in 2012

It was supposed to be the end, coupled with a film made out of it, but it wasn't. So life goes on...

2012 has been a difficult year for me personally, as I learn to cope with difficult situation in life. I am not going to say, my situation is more difficult than others, but it was definitely difficult compared to any other years any time.

With the incident, I have decided on the same conclusion that I have came to every year when it comes to year end, that I have to live my life to the fullest and give it my best shot in fulfilling my aspiration. Same conclusion, but I felt that it came with a deeper and stronger conviction this year to ensure that things are done.

I will be mindful also that life is a roller coaster and it goes up and down, situations and emotions. I will not take into granted the moments I have with my family and friends while trying to reach for the stars. I realized that they are there for me during my worst days. And I have to be there for them in their rainy days as well. I will cherish my family and friends, though family members to me, sometimes, felt like they are the ones that helped us most in our life but seem to be the one that is less cherished or taken for granted.

I will challenge the impossible, not with the same motivation of how I used to, but with a renewed feeling of doing something of a greater worth for family/friends and the society. Challenging what seems impossible used to be something that I think I do that to be special or I can boast about it, but that kind of motivation doesn't sustain in the longer run. The only way to have motivation for an uphill tasks, is really to do something that is of great worth to people around me.

And of course, to sustain the drive to seek fervently for God. I will continue to learn to be a servant and to follow my shepherd. Life is after all temporary here for a mere 80 years (plus/minus), what is more important is seeking him who made us and ask for his protection upon my household.


~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Saturday, November 03, 2012

Visual Studio 2010 Best Practices by Peter Ritchie (Book Review)




Visual Studio 2010 Best Practices by Peter Ritchie is an interesting book for both beginners and professionals using Visual Studio. Right now, as I am writing the review Visual Studio 2012 would have been launched. Visual Studio has grown to become an application life cycle management tool that it not only covers software development environment and compiler, but it now has also integrated components such as program/task management, code repository, test framework that allows the creation of environment as well as a set of test tools.

So, other than software developers, there will be a lot of software professionals drawn into understanding Visual Studio better. The book can be read through or dive directly into a chapter that is of interest. The first chapter deals with Best Practices, which the author defines what it is and definitely not a once size fit all solution but a series of solution given the context or situation we are in. The author reminds us again that there is no best solution, but with a quick guide for us where to start in the context or situation that we are currently in. In my opinion, this is important as we sometimes expect that the author is tempted to jump straight into the nuts and bolts of Visual Studio without having understand the overarching principle behind it.

In the second chapter, it deals with source code control. Typically, to use the source code control effectively, you would need a consultant to come in and analyse your needs. The author provided a glimpse of different context of which you can tweak or configure Visual Studio to best work for you. Once tweak to your need, it can be a powerful tool to make software development less hassle, effective and source code controlled properly without too much additional efforts. It could speed up development and avoid potential release mix up as well.

The author then shares c# knowledge in Chapter 3 and then low level architecture good practices that is often forgotten in Chapter 4. In the midst of design and coding, it will be hard to catch up on low level architectural practices and very often, in the midst of coding and problem solving, this good practices are forgotten. We'll get some insight from Peter Ritchie in this area. Chapter 5 deals with deployment options, typically the area of installation package that we are accustomed with. This is a big area and Peter concentrates on the commonly used ones available in Visual Studio.

Chapter 6 concentrates on automated testing capability of Visual Studio. Some of the concepts discussed are Test Driven Development (TDD) / Behaviour Driven Design (BDD). I have spent a lot of time in software testing and I found some sound advice on the usage of automated tool to quickly assist development and to share the burden of ensuring bug free system. For example Test Driven Development takes a lot of discipline and time, but done correctly, it greatly improves the product quality. This would be essential especially for projects that has fast release and critical role.

Chapter 7 is an interesting one, as Peter again, based on his experience helps us to optimize Visual Studio and how to make it a better tool for the development team. Maybe it is my choice of books, but I don't see topics on this area a lot, so it helps. It starts from as basic as the recommended computer specifications to creation of project, again looking into the context to best help us to visualize what is best for our situation. Since software developer is going to look at it 8 hours a day, how it is visualize and customization so that it is as developer friendly as they like it.

In Chapter 8 we look at one of the most common headache of software developer, threading. Peter would again, explain what practice best suit your context of situation. This chapter detail some practices for parallelization of code that includes principle, threads, thread synchronization, asynchronous operations, division of labour, task parallel library, Visual Studio 2012 asynchronous programming and reactive extensions.

Chapter 9 helps the reader to appreciate the complexity of distributed system, that is, application that runs from multiple system. This is an important component for big system and enterprise system. Finally, Chapter 10, a chapter dedicated to building web based system, which is important because almost every system is moving towards the cloud and run from the browser. The last two chapters alone of course are big area and could be converted into a volume on its own.

For those who wants to look beyond what is covered in the book, the author also helps by recommending other books in the summary section just in case what was covered isn't adequate. Overall, I feel that this book prepares the reader to be a consultant going into a Visual Studio development team and how to improve the product quality, cost and time, not too much on the nuts and bolts of the setting and configuration. However, this is not a quick fix or typical book that recommends you the best solution. If that is what you are looking for, you may be disappointed. I rate this book 4 out of 5.


~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Handling exhibition booth



I got my first taste of standing in front of an exhibition booth and promoting for one day, recently. It was fun but definitely tiring. I have learned from this one day experience and I am about to put it down in writing before I forget any of this valuable experience that I have had the chance to experience.

1. Drink a lot of fluid
By the end of the day, I was really tired and exhausted. I dreaded drinking too much because I do not want to be walking in and out of the wash room  However, by the end of the day, I felt dehydrated, tired and really don't feel like even eating. I suspect that breath can smell as well, if dehydrated. Given that if I have to do this again, I would really bring myself a big water tumbler just to ensure that I can have fluid all day long.

2. Understand the material and be prepared
I was rehearsing in my mind several key items that I am going to share with people who visits my booth. Truth to be told, rehearsing in my mind is not the same as rehearsing out loud. I find myself tonque-tied for the first several attempts. I am not sure I understand myself too well during the first few conversations. I am going to do a bit more rehearsal of the material and several intro-line to the exhibition objective, and then open the floor to questions. It is not about repeating the same story to everyone who visits, but it is really to ensure that everyone gets the same story when they visit, and of course they are more then welcome with questions after the sales pitch :)

3. Look at the mirror
This is not something I like to do. I don't feel the need to look myself in the mirror because I always have the impression that what we know matters. But really, after going out often on social events and functions, I do need to confirm that I am well shaved, nothing sticking out of my nose, black patches on my teeth, tie not properly kept or dirty patches on my coat. Yes, what we know matters but, if our first impression is not there, the conversation wouldn't even happen in the first place. And nowadays, people look for imperfections, and the mind could well start with distrust like the following, "How could I trust this guy and what he said if he cannot even take care of himself properly".

4. Smile
The innovation and the creativity of the 21st century is not about the abundance of knowledge, but the way that we could connect the dots from our experience and look into implementing it in our everyday challenge. Every facet of our everyday activity boils down to having good communication, teamwork, collaboration, openness, acceptance etc. Smile, and we may have the better opportunity in connecting to people that visits the booth. The eye contact goes hand in hand with a gentle and sincere smile.

5. Listen
I learned not to blab the entire script I have without looking at the facial expression of the person I am talking to. Do take time to get feedback and response from the person we are communicating with. Blabbing the entire script of what we want to say isn't the objective, having the person understand what our message is, takes precedence.

There you have it, my 5 things I will ensure that I will be doing if I have the chance to stand in front of an exhibition booth again. Have a magnificent week ahead.


~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Feel, Felt, Found Strategy

Recently heard of this 3F Strategy to overcome rejection

I can certainly understand how you feel.
I have friends who felt the same way as well.
Then they found that using this (whatever), things has become better...

Sounds like a simple and brilliant strategy :)

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

CMMI vs ITIL


CMMI and ITIL are two distinctly different maturity models. The fundamental difference between CMMI vs ITIL is that while CMMI focuses on software process maturity, ITIL is broader in scope and focus on all areas of infrastructure, including software and hardware.

Origins

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)’s Software Engineering Institute developed the first Capability Maturity Model (CMM) in 1990, and followed it up with the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) that integrated multiple CMMs.

The United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC) developed the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) in 1986 to provide guidance for service management. These set of guidelines has since then emerged as the international de facto standard framework of best practices for IT service management and infrastructure. ITIL originated as a collection of books, each covering a specific practice within the IT service management.

Scope

CMMI is a proprietary maturity model that consists of the best practices applied in the development of software, derived from the industry. CMMI segregates the best practice knowledge into five levels: initial, managed, defined, predictable, and optimizing, based on the expertise of the organization in applying such best practices. Each level progresses to higher standards and addresses the development and maintenance of products and services through the product life cycle from conception through delivery and maintenance.

ITIL is a set of comprehensive and coherent codes of best practices, and ITIL scope extend to controlling and managing all aspects of IT related operations.

Comparing CMMI vs ITIL, ITIL does not rank or grade the organization based on the extent or level of its compliance. ITIL instead offers three popular certification levels for practitioners: foundation, practitioner and service manager, based on the extent of competency of the individual in ITIL. ITIL is a non-proprietary tool that encourages the private sector to develop services and products such as training, consultancy, and tools to support ITIL.

Application

The basic difference between CMMI vs ITIL lies in application. While CMMI is focused toward software development, maintenance, and product integration, ITIL is broader in scope and provides a framework for IT service management and operations including a hardware life cycle.

CMMI is geared specifically to software development organizations and focuses on continuous improvement, whereas ITIL addresses IT operations issues such as security, change and configuration management, capacity planning, troubleshooting, and service desk functions.

While the application of CMMI helps the organization gain competency and expertise in software or product development, ITIL applications help align the entire IT process and resources of the organization to business processes.

Structure

CMMI is a prescriptive approach that orders process areas along a maturity model with maturity levels. A CMMI model is not a process but a description of effective process characteristics.

Unlike CMMI, ITIL is not prescriptive and orders the processes in sets. CMMI for instance, recommends requirement analysis but does not specify how to do a requirement analysis. ITIL on the other hand, provides solutions on how to undertake the requirement analysis.

Similarities

Both CMMI and ITIL are process maturity frameworks that follow a similar and structured approach. Both emphasize development of processes to improve product development and customer satisfaction and support the coordination of multi-disciplinary activities related to a project.

Although both CMMI and ITIL are similar in structure, the amount of duplication is, however, small and there is no contradiction between the two models, making it possible to apply both CMMI / ITIL models simultaneously in an organization. CMMI is the de facto quality standard for software development, integration, deployment, and maintenance processes in organizations and ITIL is the first choice of organizations for standards related to operations and the infrastructure side of IT.

Implementation of CMMI / ITIL also aids organizations in reducing the cost of quality, improve turnaround times, and arrive at a precise estimate of efforts required that helps in costing products.

References

    * Digite.com. CMMI to ITIL: An obvious graduation?
    * FoxIT. Introduction to The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL).
    * Serge Thorn. ITIL and CMMI synergies



~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Men's Guide in Selecting Wife

Treasure found in the Internet, credits to the owner.



~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.


How to take on the World!! A Collection of Wisdom and Guides

At times when I feel burned out and asked the question like, why is this happening to me, why ONLY me, does this happen to other people, why it doesn't happen in their lives, why God is so unfair, why, why, why. All this questions enclosed myself in a situation of self doubt, self limiting and self defeating rant to myself (at least in my own head), and discourage me until I lose my way.

Well I was thinking this has to stop, especially now that I am playing many roles, not just as a friend, a colleague, more importantly a father, a husband, a son, a leader etc. It not only dis-empower me but also the people around me and the people who look up to me when they are in situations. I am quite sure I am mature enough not to do a scene in public, but those thought in my mind will eventually be sensed by those around me.

True enough, some people do ask if anything was wrong with me, especially closer friends. Well I try to tell them what the problem is but I cannot pin point the problem. That leads me to begin to think, what is wrong in my head... Well there is no real problem actually, but the combination of repeating the same things day in and out as well as negative thoughts being repeated in my head causes me to not see the richness of life which I already enjoy on a daily basis. It is time I wake up and take on the world, as the title of this post says it.

Here are a few lines I'm sure I will take a look every morning from now on to ensure that the negative thoughts will not distract me off my awesome life.
1. God made me special and awesome :) Stop comparing my life with others. They're probably not as awesome. (By no means I am putting anyone down, it is just something to appease my competitive spirit inside so that I feel better than others, haha, no friends or family are hurt in the process)
2. Misfits will do what misfits do best - Not try to fit in with the rest of the world. This one is from a friend, I read it and liked it immediately.
3. I decided that my life IS extraordinary. Therefore I have extraordinary problems as well, don't look at others and say 'why it happens to me'. My reaction to problems in life will be extraordinary. Bring it on!!
4. Problems are my best opportunities.
5. For anything to happen, I have to take action, not anyone else.


Well that is at least how I motivate myself. I hope you guys have your own ways as well. Have an awesome life, friends.

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Friday, June 29, 2012

The Future of Quality and Lean Six Sigma

ASQ and FMM is working together to bring you this interesting topic. We are in the midst of finalizing the line up of speakers. The main speakers are all firmed up and we have some minor details to settle. I think this topic is important for professionals working in the quality field. I felt that the idea behind it is part of innovation in the quality movement. For e.g. we have Six Sigma and we have Lean Management Concept. Putting those two together, we have Lean Six Sigma. Of course, it would be interesting to see expert dissect and explain the details of what it is all about.

Future of quality relates to me personally about my own walk as a quality professional. As I am involved in software testing, I do ask the question what is the significance, contribution or will it even exist 5 to 10 years from now with technology changing in a very fast pace. Would it get evolved into something else, that, perhaps, if I know now, I could work on carving those skills for future use. Similarly the 2 day seminar will cover this topic as well. Anyone who wants to sign up, do contact me or do so directly with our partner FMM.

This is pretty near the deadline, but I think it could be worked out if you are interested. And the fees is really good, I know for a fact that you couldn't find this rate anywhere else for the topic as well as the speaker that we are trying to bring in.

http://www.fmm.edu.my/trainingView.aspx?trainingID=fb577d9d-b1fd-413b-bbe9-8b80cbad3b12

Rock on, Quality Professionals!!

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Perhaps


Quiet yet restless,
Wandering yet thoughtful,
Tired yet Unwilling to rest,
Staring blankly at 3am.

Sleep? Perhaps to be awaken by the feeling of drowning in the sea...
Rest? Perhaps the worries floods my mind...
Nothing to do? Plenty, yet, the feeling of I don't feel like doing it...
Purpose? Many roles and responsibilities, yet unfulfilled...

Why then, when I am suppose to be thriving on this that I felt the weight too heavy on my shoulder?
Perhaps I need a holiday, perhaps I need rest
Perhaps I should be looking outward for the answer,
Perhaps I should look to God for an answer,
Perhaps I should look inward and ask my unknown self.

Perhaps I don't know myself well enough until now,
That I may have made decisions that my 'self' don't agree to.

What do you want, 'self'?
Perhaps I should continue telling my 'self' and tell him to obey
Perhaps I should try asking my 'self' and ask him what he wants?
Perhaps conversation with close friends and family may be able to help me?
Perhaps a quiet conversation with my 'self' would be interesting...

Where do I find my 'self'?
Perhaps, the Bible...
Perhaps, with all the Gurus and Teachers of motivation...
Perhaps, in meditation and isolation...
Perhaps, in giving and helping others, I may help myself...
Perhaps, in self indulgence, I may appease myself...

Perhaps...
This is how human feels, just that it is not talked about
Perhaps...
I am mentally disturbed and require medical attention
Perhaps...
That I am thinking too much, and I should just chill off and go back to life
Perhaps...
This is a call for journey of self discovery, that I need to embark in the one thing,
That will spark me to life again, the one thing that may be the purpose of my life.

Perhaps...


~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Little chat with Ethan

Early in the morning somewhere this week, while I was about to go to work....




Me: Daddy wants to go to work already
Ethan: Don't go, don't go
Me: Daddy don't go to work no money to buy milk for you
Ethan: (silent with stone look)
Me: Daddy don't go to work no money to buy toys and raisins for you (his favourite)
Ethan: Daddy go work la..
Me: "

Obviously raisins and toys are more important to him than milk. I hope he has a great time growing up :)



~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Ethan (2 years 2 months)

What a 2 years old toddler is capable of? He made sure that he tires me enough so that I am not able to try to stay up and watch football at night, and he made sure that I am so tired I couldn't even touch my PC and do some work at home.

By now, he has developed a strong set of teeth, always wanting to munch on something, be it raisin, bread, fruits and of course like every other toddler, he loves sweet stuff, so I have to be very careful what I feed him. We enjoy going to the park as well, walking around, looking around and I notice he loves to observe what other kids are doing, and he later goes and try it out on his own. Not that it is a bad thing, but sometimes it gets real tough trying to tell him not to do what other kids does, especially they are doing, well, dangerous or naughty stuff.

Enjoying himself in the shopping mall

At this stage, he developed a habit of asking questions. He really applied the "5 why" better than the professionals does at work. You know what is 5 why? Well you ask why, you get an answer, and you ask why again based on the answer, and you continue doing that for 5 times to go get to the root cause of issues or problems. So, here he goes asking why for everything under the sun, and I sometimes struggle to give him a simplistic yet logical and truthful answer for him to think about further. I somehow realize from the look of his face, that he is able to think and comprehend a lot more than I can imagine, so I wouldn't want to tell him a lie just to get off my back.

Whatever and however tired, however frustrated, I am going to try to enjoy myself watching him grow up. It is not easy at all but, what is easy in this life that is worth anything to us? Something that worth a lot to us usually requires an equal amount of effort as well. Happy Father's Day to me and all the father out there with toddlers. Thank you Dad.


Full of Expression...
Cheeky smile
~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Innovation put into Focus

Last few months to almost a year now has been somewhat challenging for many people ( I was referring to 2009). The economic slowdown inflicted directly or indirectly from the collapse of loan system and ultimately the banking system slowly sink in to almost every industry and alerted an immediate caution in all organization and individuals alike. Given the gloom outlook, people stop buying, organization produce less, less worker needed, subsequently retrenchment is a continuous and vicious cycle that affect worldwide economy almost every 10 year cycle.

My thought would be to save up for the rainy days ahead and caution on spending my pocket money. Is there more to it? No.... wait.... What happen 5 years from now and during that time, can I or the organization I work in continue to challenge the market space and market segment we are in? Why I ask this question is because every economic downturn, and its eventual recovery (it will always recover), and at that time, where am I or my organization?

Innovation is never a one time thing, it should be ingrained in the K-economy. In the K-economy, people contribute best by inter-mixing and sharing knowledge to be put to innovative use. Knowledge on its own is of not much use, knowledge overloading would be the same as well, meaning if you do buy 1000 books and not reading it at all, is no use. Now knowledge shared and applied is the key to opening up the k-economy. The best way I can think of is then by applying and using Internet sharing and collaboration tools which by the day is increasingly entrenched into our every day life, that innovation begins to flourish. By sharing and tossing ideas with almost anyone connected to the Internet in this planet, we have a platform for success.

With the technology, we are continuously being challenged, in terms of producing our work the most efficient and effective way. We continuously improve on the things we work on and perhaps to a certain extend revolutionize the way we work. Of course the pressure on workers or entrepreneurs of our time increases as well, as more people are being enabled, those of us who did not keep striving and improving will then fall behind, especially those involved in the Internet businesses.

Perhaps it is time to move a gear and ask what can we Evolutionize in our organization today. The challenge to do so has never been stronger. And the need to do so has never been more urgent. It is interesting to see the rise of Samsung and Apple iPhone to topple Nokia and Sony Ericsson almost out of existence as far as I am concerned. Success today just takes a matter of months to be toppled, evidently from what we see with Nokia and Sony.

I can only conclude that the opportunity is great, and the challenge seems greater. Hitting success may just be a start, and if not maintained will go the very next day. We have to be on our feet, whatever we do, to ensure that we stay at the top of our game. The tools available to us today, is helping us and also putting pressure on us to buck up, as we can be easily overtaken if we do not concentrate on the tasks at hand.


~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Another Scam in my Mailbox

Scam comes in a lot of ways and shapes. Now I have another piece. I don't know if someone who stands to gain 7.2 million USD would want to come and give any share of it to me. Sorry scammers, my philosophy of life is always 'you have to earn everything, except for grace of God'. Have a nice day and don't fall for this...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good day,

This is a personal email directed to you for your consideration alone, I

request that it remain and be treated as such only. Please bear with me for

now and do not ask my name. I am a banker with HSBC here in Malaysia

I have an interesting business proposal for you that will be of immense

benefit to both of us. Although this may be hard for you to believe, we

stand to gain 7.2 million USD between us in a matter of days. Please grant

me the benefit of doubt and hear me out. I need you to signify your interest

by replying to this email..

Most importantly, I will need you to promise to keep whatever you learn from

me between us even if you decide not to go along with me. I will make more

details available to you on receipt of a positive response from you.

ooi Tek
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Father's Day

My dad is a man with few words. Not that he does not say anything, but I sometimes find it hard to talk to him. The time that I have talked to him, he usually listen quietly, with a frown and later on, he will always come back to me with an answer, guide or already solved that issue for me. Even though he may be busy, he wouldn't dismiss my problem as something trivial and send me off to go find a solution for myself. He'll come back, maybe not immediately, but always ready to offer advice as well as solution and even help me solve the problem itself. That's the way he shows love to me and my siblings.

I remembered there was an occasion that I got stuck in a road accident situation. I was young then, and I panicked. I called him, and he came like 5-10 minutes later, went on and talked to the folks involved and settled the situation immediately. Well, I got a lecture after that, but it feels great to have dad to settle the issues and I still have the feeling up till today that he is capable of handling any situation in the world.

With dad, sometimes, I take things for granted, and I know that I should not. Learning now, really to be more thoughtful wherever possible. As I take care of my son now, I realize how much that dad has sacrificed for us and given his very best for the family. Well he took care of the three of us and I am only taking care of one right now, and already I am exhausted :p And in my dad's case, he has three children, all with our own unique set of needs and wants. He groomed us well, at least in terms of moral value as well as good values in life.

I get grilling all the way from when I was a kid to now an adult, but I know that he has walked the path and just wanted to make sure that we don't fall into the same set of problem all over again. I sometimes don't take it seriously and argue back, but, where I stand right now, I know that all those advice given were for my own good.

Dad gives many small and little advice throughout the years. I think all this forms the my personal value as well as principle in life. I remember a postcard which he sends to me when he was flying off to US to work. It was but a few words and it goes something like this "He who works hard has everything". At that time I was just in early secondary education and that somehow gave me a lot of encouragement as well as enthusiasm at that point of time. I still remember it now and cherish that little but important message he has for me.

My dad is a work-horse. He believes in good work, he believes that we must work our way to success and not by taking short-cuts. He shares with me ideas that he hears from reading as well as from friends that he heard of. Like all dad, he wants the best for me.

Thanks dad for preparing us for everything, and we love you for a great dad that you are.

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Cow Scandal

I am just wondering, where do we get a one stop all truth, non-spinning, truth account version of any story that is in the news today? Everything seems to be biased, either way, and I don't see that this is a good thing. If I have all the time in the world, I would read both side of the argument, think through it logically, get supporting facts and then make a conclusion myself of what is or is not the truth.

However I think 99.9% of Malaysian are busy, hence, unable to do the above. What is then left of us who reads one source of news? We will be biased. It is time to re-think press freedom and I think how Malaysian think will be very much rooted to the type of news that we subscribe to. Not everything that is within reach should be used to fight political war. We need a society that is able to receive neutral and truthful information and let them think what is right and wrong in their own perspective. No?

And a side stuff, I have just replaced my blogger profile with that of my google+ profile. My google+ profile is a little bit more of my professional profile. I just figured that I might have one less profile to worry about then. So goodbye blogger profile.

Profile
"I tend to take my life simple, like to achieve a lot of different objectives in life, want to strive hard to achieve things because I feel that life is too valuable to be wasted on not getting anything done."



~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

The Urban Poor - Another Side of Kuala Lumpur


We are all capable of running into a routine that we are so rooted to that we do not want to change it at all after a while. I am guilty of this, having rooted myself into my daily work routine, taking a day off for my organization's Global Impact Day. The question of whether it is going to be fun, will I learn something, will I be penalized for not ensuring that the work is done and so on filled my selfish mind.

Fortunately, I decided, whatever the outcome it would be, I would just sign up and offer up myself to do my bit whether it is lending a hand or spending some time for a cause. And I must say that I am handsomely rewarded, much more than I could have imagined.

The mission that I took was to distribute food to the urban poor. The other three choices was to offer donation, offer to help up in an office fund raising event or to take the children for a visit at the National Science Center.

Somehow the 'urban poor' captured my attention and I decided that is what I want to be part of and that is what I really want to see with my own eye. We went into the heart of KL, Jalan Imbi if I can remember correctly for a place called Kechara Soup Kitchen (KSK), a place that distribute free food to the needy as well as the urban poor. From the shoplot itself, we can see people dropping by for a meal. We loaded the food required to be brought to the village, and waited for every participant to get ready. Some of us travelled in cars while others travelled with the KSK van.

As we arrived, the folks, mainly old folks from the area starts to line up for their food. We distributed food, biscuits and fruits. After we are done with the folks that has waited for us, we then carry the ration in boxes to distribute them to who were not able to come forward. We went though several houses, spent some time interacting as well as took some photos. To me, it is really a mixed feeling as I would not have imagined somewhere in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, we have a village area, with mainly older folks and are classified as urban poor. They are friendly and are open to us.

What can we do more for this folks? I'll probably not dwell too much into that, but if any of you are into giving time and resources back to the society, there are plenty and it is time for us to take action if we have not done so.

On mission accomplishment, not to be outdone by our colleagues who is having an extended makan time at the all famous Yut Kee Restaurant. All the blogs and recommendation on the Internet seems to be true. It is pretty good. And I just managed to capture one shot of my colleague who happen to be sitting between me and the menu board behind her. She is an awesome driver!! And here is the photo of us on the way back as well. Thanks Team.

P/S: After I have given a few thoughts, I purposely removed the name of the place that I visited along with those photos so that no one feels hurt for classifying a certain area as 'urban poor'. People who is in need are everywhere actually, and as much as this folks that I visited needed food, they need as much attention and friendship as well. Have a good day :)



~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

2012 A New Lean & Agile Year

Every new year I sort of take stock what happened last year, what were the achievements and what I could have done better. Overall, we see a trending towards a leaner and more efficient way of doing things. Agile concepts and Scrum methodology flourished. A few years back, we were looking for that perfect foundation or framework to be the overarching framework of how things to be done, sort of like a unified theory of the perfect testing framework. Only for the recent trend of Agile tells us that, the only best way to get something done is to do it in small repeatable yet emphasize on transparency and openness. This is the way to go...

I personally have seen the successes in Scrum and Agile methodology in organizations. To this I would like to add, how is the software testing world adapting or taking part in Scrum or Agile. Some Scrum still leaves testing out of the sprint, some adopt testing into the sprint but seems isolated in the way testing work is done and most have no ideas. A have seen a book or 2 on how agile testing is supposed to be but to bluntly put it, it is still not very commonly practiced, at least, not in Asia Pacific.

The ever changing software industry required us to move with the pace, and I believe that software testers have to keep up with the methodology and concept and learn how to work with the agile developers now. This is the best way I know of how to provide good value to our organizations.

I wish all of you a great New Year and happy 2012: the New Lean And Agile Year.

~~~ Life is an adventure where we search for the meaning of the outcome.

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