Sometimes I feel like Jerry Maguire when I go emailing my moral thoughts or sharing best practices with my colleagues and bosses. I used to do that once in a while, but now I've mellowed down A LOT, in fact I've totally stopped. I've decided to keep to myself, doing the work allocated to me, and not get involved in other discussions that I'm not put in charge of.
Answer only when being asked. Do only when being tasked.
I don't want to end up like Jerry Maguire. I'm not ready to lose my job and start my own business - although I would very much like to. Start a business, that is.
There is also another reason why I stopped. I realise it doesn't make a difference. If anyone really wants to improve, they would be going out of their way to find out how to and do it. They don't need to be pushed. But if it's just not in their heart to do so, you can send them to courses and seminars costing the company thousands of dollars and it still doesn't make a difference. It's the same whether you send them or you don't. Hmm this sounds familiar... yes.... teringat pulak satu ayat Quran..
As for the disbelievers, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe.
Al Baqarah 2:6
Subhanallah, how it fits.
Well, back to the topic.. the reason why I thought of this matter, is.. I came across the following that I sent to my colleagues and our vendor, when we were starting a project .. (yup I'm still spring cleaning emails..). These are really good and real points to note on, for IT projects, and non IT projects. And in our project, we did all the 'don'ts' and ignored the 'dos'.
=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=
Dear ppl,
I have recommended this book to some of you. The book is called "The Mythical Man-Month" by Frederick P Brooks.
I know at this time, nobody has the time to read books, or even have time to have a proper meal or sleep!! :( I've managed to find this compilation of 10 good messages you get out of the book which is so relevant to ANY IT projects.
It is more important to us now than ever. Some of the points may need you to read the book, in order to understand further - but you may also ask me personally - if I can still remember the details of that section.
But anyhow, let's keep up to what's expected of us and the schedules! Me included...
From Frederick P Brooks in "The Mythical Man-Month"
1. More software projects have gone awry for lack of calendar time than for all other causes combined.
2. Failure to allow enough time for system test, in particular, is peculiarly disastrous. Since the delay comes at the end of the schedule, no one is aware of schedule trouble until almost the delivery date.
3. Brook's Law: Adding manpower to a late software project makes it even later.
4. .. He found that his programming teams were missing schedules by about one-half each job was taking approximately twice as long as estimated. The estimating error could be entirely accounted for by the fact that his teams were only realizing about 50 percent of the working week as actual programming and debugging time. Machine downtime, higher-priority short unrelated jobs, meetings, paperwork, company business, sickness, personal time, etc. accounted for the rest.
5. The management question, therefore, is not whether to build a pilot system and throw it away. You will do that. The only question is whether to plan in advance to build a throwaway, or to promise to deliver the throwaway to the customers.
6. When one hears of disastrous schedule slippage in a project, he images that a series of major calamities must have befallen it. Usually, however, the disaster is due to termites, not tornadoes; and the schedule has slipped imperceptibly but inexorably. Indeed, major calamities are easier to handle; one responds with major force, radical reorganization, the invention of new approaches. The whole team rises to the occasion.
7. It is more important that milestones be sharp-edged and unambiguous than that they be easily verifiable by the boss. Rarely will a man lie about milestone progress, if the milestone is so sharp that he can't deceive himself. But if the milestone is fuzzy, the boss often understands a different report from that which the man gives. To supplement Sophocles, no one enjoys bearing bad news, either, so it gets softened without any real intent to deceive.
8. Sharper milestones are in fact a service to the team, and one they can properly expect from a manager. The fuzzy milestone is the harder burden to live with. It is in fact a millstone that grinds down morale, for it deceives one about lost time until it is irremediable. And chronic schedule slippage is a morale-killer.
9. The project manager's chief daily task is communication, not decision making; the documents communicate the plans and decisions to the whole team.
10. How does a project get to be a year late? One day at a time.
Enjoy the week ahead! =)
Madame Blossom's Book of Poems
Monday, May 22, 2006
Saturday, May 20, 2006
It's over..
I still cannot get over my selengehness!!! I don't know WHAAAATTT I was thinking! No doubt this paper is the most challenging. But still, no reason to be all clumsy about it! Paper ni suruh buat 4 out of 5 sections, aku buat 3. And this paper is from the same very-nice ustaz soberi whose paper last year pun I did a similarly selengeh thing - but selengeh yang tak memudharatkan myself like this time .. last year it's do 3 out of 4, and I was happily doing the paper, forgot about the instructions and did all 4 sections. Tu da over confident sangat.
And this year.. out of the 2 balance questions that I DIDN'T choose to do.. one of them I'm sure I could have got half the answers correct!! and that equals to at least 5 precious marks!!! I didn't realise my selengehness until we discussed the questions right after we handed in the paper when time was up. Man! I felt like running to the front to get my paper back and scribble the answers....for a moment there I felt like Mr Bean.
AAAARRRRGGHHHHHHHHHH!
*deep breath*
But now, it's over. I think maybe.. just MAYBE, I can at least pass the paper. I hope.
Pink, Teddie, Baby Nur, Mariam, Titah, Wardah and me, we made our resolutions to start revising and study our subjects early in the next semester, and not wait for the last minute to sumbat everything into our brains. Well actually, we make this same exact resolution after every mid and final semester exams. Okay but this time we must ACTUALLY DO IT.
.......ok!............ do it......... yes.
ANYWAY - Alhamdulillah, this semester is OVER and I guess I did generally ok. Now, I can read other books without feeling the guilt of not reading my course materials instead. The feeling is great.. and if not for my selengehness, the feeling would have been better.
And this year.. out of the 2 balance questions that I DIDN'T choose to do.. one of them I'm sure I could have got half the answers correct!! and that equals to at least 5 precious marks!!! I didn't realise my selengehness until we discussed the questions right after we handed in the paper when time was up. Man! I felt like running to the front to get my paper back and scribble the answers....for a moment there I felt like Mr Bean.
AAAARRRRGGHHHHHHHHHH!
*deep breath*
But now, it's over. I think maybe.. just MAYBE, I can at least pass the paper. I hope.
Pink, Teddie, Baby Nur, Mariam, Titah, Wardah and me, we made our resolutions to start revising and study our subjects early in the next semester, and not wait for the last minute to sumbat everything into our brains. Well actually, we make this same exact resolution after every mid and final semester exams. Okay but this time we must ACTUALLY DO IT.
.......ok!............ do it......... yes.
ANYWAY - Alhamdulillah, this semester is OVER and I guess I did generally ok. Now, I can read other books without feeling the guilt of not reading my course materials instead. The feeling is great.. and if not for my selengehness, the feeling would have been better.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Authenticity
I was springcleaning my email at work, deleting old emails, which were suppose to be deleted a year ago, when I came across the following email, (names and message have been changed to protect the identity of the person(s), so as not to break any of my company's ISM - Internal Security Management rule.)
"Dear Peter,
Doris say, Harry say, Michelle say that Mr John Doe will have the cake and eat it too. "
You see.. this is what we refer to as 'chain of narrators' when we talk about hadith. It's non existent nowadays, except for what I found in the above email. Even then, it was laughed upon when my colleagues read it, if I remember correctly.
But they don't realise, that it can help verify the content of the message. The person, listed in that chain of narrators, will surely correct the content, if they find that the final narrator, have actually misunderstood his/her original message.
In the above email, the 2nd and 3rd narrators (i.e. Doris and Harry) were being copied in the email. Now even though Michelle was not in the CC copy, Harry, who would be reading this email, if he was really working, would be ensuring that he is being quoted correctly, especially when it is quoted that he quoted someone else.
Ensuring authenticity is an important task, that is not deemed as important or perhaps always overlooked, in the current westernised world. We don't have standard work flows ensuring authenticity.
Yup, I'm still very much amazed by the authenticity and how and how much Muslims do, to ensure it in our religion, Islam.
Al Quran is authenticated, as Allah SWT promised. Many a great Muslims memorise the Quran and any mistakes in print is always spotted.
Lo! We, even We, reveal the Reminder, and lo! We verily are its Guardian.
Al Hijr 15 : 9
As for hadiths, previous scholars have helped us do so (as I mentioned before), by studying the narrations and the narrators, and making classifications of those authentic, not very authentic and false ones. Read more about the Science of Hadith >>
Sohih Bukhari is said to be the most authentic book, after Al Quran. Imam Bukhari, sacrificed and worked very very hard in his lifetime in his effort to consolidate only authentic hadiths. ('work very hard' NOT in modern day context, where walking up 2 flights of stairs is considered hard work!) And it is said that before each single hadith is added into his collection of hadith sohih, he would do the 2 rakaat prayers, asking for guidance from Allah SWT. May Allah bless him and reward him for the tremendous effort.
SO, after all these, how can any of us, still doubt or not feel strongly about the truthfulness and greatness of our religion??
"Dear Peter,
Doris say, Harry say, Michelle say that Mr John Doe will have the cake and eat it too. "
You see.. this is what we refer to as 'chain of narrators' when we talk about hadith. It's non existent nowadays, except for what I found in the above email. Even then, it was laughed upon when my colleagues read it, if I remember correctly.
But they don't realise, that it can help verify the content of the message. The person, listed in that chain of narrators, will surely correct the content, if they find that the final narrator, have actually misunderstood his/her original message.
In the above email, the 2nd and 3rd narrators (i.e. Doris and Harry) were being copied in the email. Now even though Michelle was not in the CC copy, Harry, who would be reading this email, if he was really working, would be ensuring that he is being quoted correctly, especially when it is quoted that he quoted someone else.
Ensuring authenticity is an important task, that is not deemed as important or perhaps always overlooked, in the current westernised world. We don't have standard work flows ensuring authenticity.
Yup, I'm still very much amazed by the authenticity and how and how much Muslims do, to ensure it in our religion, Islam.
Al Quran is authenticated, as Allah SWT promised. Many a great Muslims memorise the Quran and any mistakes in print is always spotted.
Lo! We, even We, reveal the Reminder, and lo! We verily are its Guardian.
Al Hijr 15 : 9
As for hadiths, previous scholars have helped us do so (as I mentioned before), by studying the narrations and the narrators, and making classifications of those authentic, not very authentic and false ones. Read more about the Science of Hadith >>
Sohih Bukhari is said to be the most authentic book, after Al Quran. Imam Bukhari, sacrificed and worked very very hard in his lifetime in his effort to consolidate only authentic hadiths. ('work very hard' NOT in modern day context, where walking up 2 flights of stairs is considered hard work!) And it is said that before each single hadith is added into his collection of hadith sohih, he would do the 2 rakaat prayers, asking for guidance from Allah SWT. May Allah bless him and reward him for the tremendous effort.
SO, after all these, how can any of us, still doubt or not feel strongly about the truthfulness and greatness of our religion??
Allahu'alam.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Nadhrah turns 4!! (today)
Yesterday, we celebrated Nadhrah's 4th birthday and Cik Yah's (Cik Yah is much older than 4). The few weeks before, Uda kept thinking it was going to be her 5th birthday!? His own daughter?! But then again, it's probably because she's very smart, she reasons like a big girl - it's hard to believe she was 3 - ANYWAY now she's 4.
She has been looking forward to her birthday party since the start of this year. She has even decided on the cake she wanted since many months ago, and was adamant on it. That is until the last minute, AFTER we ordered the cake. Then she wanted Mama's Strawberry Shortcake cake. (Mama is not me.. I wish it's me, but errr.. I don't bake cakes, in fact I generally don't bake.) And so we ended up with 2 birthday cakes.
Cik Alin a.k.a. 'Mama' to the children, is a jolly good baker..
breaks into a song : For she's a jolly good baker 3x, and so say all of us!.
She has been baking all the birthday cakes for the family's birthday celebrations. Oh, and mother's day too. It's good to have someone in the family who actually bakes. :)
Thanks Cik Alin - we love you!
As usual there were loads of fun and food, and the food bungkusing session at the end. But poor baby Rushda and Ummul Rushda, had to leave early, to fix her dislocated elbow. Yup, the baby dislocated her elbow, and NO, we we were not having any WWF-kind-of-games for the kids. At press time, Rushda's elbow has already been fixed, Alhamdulillah, and she can carry baby weights now.
Pictures tell a better story, so here are some pics on Nadhrah's birthday >>
And by the way, in case you're concerned, last Saturday's exam papers were not too bad. Although there was one known silly mistake I made...... Aarrrgghhh!!!. But ok, it's over and done with. Don't know if the colours will fly.. but they'll be there, InsyaAllah.
And...while writing about the dislocated elbow , I'm suddenly reminded of a conversation I had with my girlfriends about 'simpul biawak' (cramps).
Somebody ( I forgot who it was..) was telling us, she had simpul biawak, and couldn't walk properly (I think she said something to that effect..). We asked her which leg. She said that it's not on her leg, but on one of her toes. MasyaAllah, a simpul biawak on a toe.
Mai exclaimed," alahai, cute nyer! "
Memang cute, I never knew someone could get simpul biawak on a toe.
She has been looking forward to her birthday party since the start of this year. She has even decided on the cake she wanted since many months ago, and was adamant on it. That is until the last minute, AFTER we ordered the cake. Then she wanted Mama's Strawberry Shortcake cake. (Mama is not me.. I wish it's me, but errr.. I don't bake cakes, in fact I generally don't bake.) And so we ended up with 2 birthday cakes.
Cik Alin a.k.a. 'Mama' to the children, is a jolly good baker..
breaks into a song : For she's a jolly good baker 3x, and so say all of us!.
She has been baking all the birthday cakes for the family's birthday celebrations. Oh, and mother's day too. It's good to have someone in the family who actually bakes. :)
Thanks Cik Alin - we love you!
As usual there were loads of fun and food, and the food bungkusing session at the end. But poor baby Rushda and Ummul Rushda, had to leave early, to fix her dislocated elbow. Yup, the baby dislocated her elbow, and NO, we we were not having any WWF-kind-of-games for the kids. At press time, Rushda's elbow has already been fixed, Alhamdulillah, and she can carry baby weights now.
Pictures tell a better story, so here are some pics on Nadhrah's birthday >>
And by the way, in case you're concerned, last Saturday's exam papers were not too bad. Although there was one known silly mistake I made...... Aarrrgghhh!!!. But ok, it's over and done with. Don't know if the colours will fly.. but they'll be there, InsyaAllah.
And...while writing about the dislocated elbow , I'm suddenly reminded of a conversation I had with my girlfriends about 'simpul biawak' (cramps).
Somebody ( I forgot who it was..) was telling us, she had simpul biawak, and couldn't walk properly (I think she said something to that effect..). We asked her which leg. She said that it's not on her leg, but on one of her toes. MasyaAllah, a simpul biawak on a toe.
Mai exclaimed," alahai, cute nyer! "
Memang cute, I never knew someone could get simpul biawak on a toe.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Peradaban sms
You sms your close friend : "Hi! You know what? I bought myself an interesting book! Show it to you later. Want to meet at 12pm, Starbucks?"
After about 1-2 mins or so, you hear your phone playing the silly song, alerting you that you have an incoming msg. You smile. There is a little bit of joy and satisfaction when someone replies to your sms fast. You open the sms from the friend.
It says..................... " k.."
'k'?.......hmm.... 'k'?.........'k'?!?!
No...no..no... You DON'T reply to a msg with a mere "k"!
It makes the sender feel that all the hard effort typing on that small keypad, and time spent on searching for the letters, to send you that sincere, hopeful msg, is unappreciated and that the you don't care much.
You can sometimes tell, how the sender is, just by how they reply and 'k' doesn't tell much. It's not even really the word for ok.. which is already short form for 'okay'. " k".. could also very well mean .. "kodok" or "keledek!" ... kaza wa kaza
Here is one of the unwritten rules about peradaban sms, according to mua:
If a person smses you with a one sentence question - it's ok to give a one word reply (word, mind you..). But if the person has taken the pains to write 2 full sentences.. the least you could do is to reply with 2 words, e.g. 'OK so-and-so!' If the person writes three sentences.. you could reply with a 3 word reply e.g. 'OK sure so-and-so!' For 4 sentences onwards.. it's ok, to give a sensible reply with at least 3-4 words at the minimum.
After about 1-2 mins or so, you hear your phone playing the silly song, alerting you that you have an incoming msg. You smile. There is a little bit of joy and satisfaction when someone replies to your sms fast. You open the sms from the friend.
It says..................... " k.."
'k'?.......hmm.... 'k'?.........'k'?!?!
No...no..no... You DON'T reply to a msg with a mere "k"!
It makes the sender feel that all the hard effort typing on that small keypad, and time spent on searching for the letters, to send you that sincere, hopeful msg, is unappreciated and that the you don't care much.
You can sometimes tell, how the sender is, just by how they reply and 'k' doesn't tell much. It's not even really the word for ok.. which is already short form for 'okay'. " k".. could also very well mean .. "kodok" or "keledek!" ... kaza wa kaza
Here is one of the unwritten rules about peradaban sms, according to mua:
If a person smses you with a one sentence question - it's ok to give a one word reply (word, mind you..). But if the person has taken the pains to write 2 full sentences.. the least you could do is to reply with 2 words, e.g. 'OK so-and-so!' If the person writes three sentences.. you could reply with a 3 word reply e.g. 'OK sure so-and-so!' For 4 sentences onwards.. it's ok, to give a sensible reply with at least 3-4 words at the minimum.
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