Top DevOps Myths from The Phoenix Project Book

- Popularly touted as “The Goal” for IT Projects
-The authors constructed "The Phoenix Project" in a way that would help enable a shared understanding of the problem that affects all the silos

-Which inevitably leads to a downward spiral where Development and IT Operations can't meet their objectives and become locked in inter-tribal warfare. 

-By the end of the novel we’re reminded that DevOps doesn’t mean everything will work flawlessly with frequent deliveries, stable platforms and business-IT alignment. 
-Instead it shows that with genuine collaboration in place everybody can give their best contribution to resolve problems and support the business in an agile and controlled fashion without resorting to the blame game

-Just as with any transformational and disruptive movement, DevOps can be misunderstood or
mischaracterized.

-Presenting for you some of the top DevOps myths.

10 Powerful Life Lessons from The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is one of the best-selling books in history. The story of Santiago, the shepherd boy on a journey to realize his “Personal Legend” has inspired people all over the world to live their dreams. Here are ten of the most popular passages and lessons to apply to your life.

Edward Snowden on Passwords: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Start using Pass-Phrases...

'Laadki' - Sachin-Jigar, Taniskha S, Kirtidan G, Rekha B - Coke Studio@M...

Very beautifully sung
A life story of a girl -- Laadki...

The word Laadki is a fond way of addressing a daughter. In this brand new composition by Sachin-Jigar, they capture a beautiful conversation between a Father and his daughter. It is the celebration of their unique bond and the journey of a girl growing up to be a woman. The parts of the little girl are sung by Sachin’s daughter Tanishka Sanghvi; while Rekha Bharadwaj has sung the parts of the woman, adding an extended level of charm with her melodic voice. Lending a beautiful touch of Gujarati Folk is Kirtidan Gadhvi, who delivers a sublime vocal performance that transcends the mood of the track

The name of the angel

A baby asked God, “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”

“Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.”

The child further inquired, “But tell me, here in heaven I don’t have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.”

God said, “Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel’s love and be very happy.”

Again the child asked, “And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don’t know the language?”

God said, “Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.”

“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?”

God said, “Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.”

“Who will protect me?”

God said, “Your angel will defend you even if it means risking it’s life.”

“But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.”

God said, “Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.”

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, “God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel’s name.”

“You will simply call her, ‘Mom.'”

 

(unknown)

Source: http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2017/10/02/the-name-of-the-angel/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PauloCoelhosBlog+%28Paulo+Coelho%27s+Blog%29

Happy Navratri

Happy Navratri as we start the 9 day-night long dance festival..

Indian National Anthem in Drums/Tabla

Indian National Anthem in Drums/Tabla... Amazing!
Please tag the artist if you know who he is...

Key Quotes from Paulo Coelho's books

The Best of Paulo Coelho from his books...

AT&T Mobility Celebrates the HIP week with a Learning Day!

AT&T Mobility Celebrates the HIP week with a Learning Day!

                What happens when a set of brilliant minds come together to do good for the team... Pure Magic Right? This is exactly what the AT&T Mobility Core Team was able to do for the “Learning Day” which was planned and executed on 14^th June.

                What started a small spark in HIP week content discussion, transformed into a full form working team. A team that had the Development Managers of the AT&T Mobility themselves. The PMs after conceptualizing the event for a couple of meetings, went deep diving into the activities for the event.

                Each of the amazing 8 Development Managers and the ADM (Pdev) picked up an area or an activity to ensure end-to-end learning for both “All Mobility” as well as customized learning for their own team. Everyone was driven by a desire to do something good for the Scrum team and AT&T Mobility as a Whole.

                From the 5 Events that ran one after other for the Learning day to the exclusive items for the teams, led to a total of 15 activities executed to perfection by our own Experts who taught the teams and the account at large.

Since the Learning day was in the HIP week of the last Iteration of the Release, we were able to also Release people on time and urged them to go home atleast 30 minutes earlier and spend some quality time with their Family. An idea which was really appreciated by people all across the world alike.

As in every event where the main contributors are highlighted as leaders, we would like to highlight the people who made it possible that is: Ravit Yitzhari Shnizak, Nitin Mittal, Limor Barzel, Sanjay Agarwal, Cristina Ilinca, Danmal Jain, Koyeli Roy, Thiyagarajan Kathavarayan, Assaf Benbenisti, Praveen Bhurlekar and Sanjay Ishwarlal Upadhyay. Also great was that all the AT&T Mobility CSU Leadership took the time from their busy schedule to come and encourage the teams to “Learn Harder as they are already working Hard”

                This is just a start, looking forward for many more Rocking Days in AT&T Mobility!!!

              

Amdocs OMCC closes a week long Fun Fiesta with a Bang!

Of the Team…

            For the team…

                        By the Team…

                Surprised at the use of the Democracy analogy by Ab Lincoln, being used for a CC Level Fun Fiesta? Don’t be, this is exactly what the OMCC Events Committee did for the Week Long Event.

                What started as an initiative by few minds at OMCC transformed into a full working committee. A committee that was “Of the Team”, nominated by the OMCC India Leadership. The team after conceptualizing the event for a couple of meetings, went deep diving into the activities for the event.

                Each of the amazing 8 Event core-Committee members picked up an area/ \activity to ensure end-to-end execution with the finesse of a skilled artesian. Who said Event/Project Management is a science, It is an Art, an Art that comes from the heart and is driven by a desire to do something good for the Scrum team and OMCC as a Whole covering both Pune and Gurgaon

                The “For the team” function kicked off with an impromptu “Flash Mob” on multiple floors. For the uninitiated, OMCC occupies a significant portion of 3 floors of Tower 2 in Amdocs India. What followed after was a full-on people engagement exercise where a seemly simple “Lemon Spoon Race” was played across Bays to ensure no-one is missed. By the End of the day, each Bay had participated and won significant spot awards to start the “Vibe for the Event”.

                Then came the star of the show, an innovative step by OMCC India team to study and resolve the Big Question India was facing then à “Why did Kattapa Kill Bahubali?” Around 500 people @ OMCC spent Wednesday morning watching the super-hot movie. Roughly translated, the movie “Bahubali – the Conclusion” is equivalent to the “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” in the USA. Face Painting was the star attraction another day where 10 teams participated to show their love for Environment and Wild-life in addition to their drawing skills.

                Ongoing through-out the week, we had Scavenger Hunt and the Themes for people and teams to win multiple awards. What was amazing is OMCC team’s enthusiasm while dressing up for the day, themes ranging from Yellow Color day to Twin day to Tie-Scarf day to Costume Day to the Traditional day. A look at the dressed up people and you could make out the enthusiasm level of the OMCC team in the OMCC Fun Fiesta week. And did you know that even the Event name had a competition, the Winner of event OMCC Fun Fiesta name “By the Team” was Neha Hans.

                The One Minute Games which had their knock-out rounds in the week, led to a finale show-stopper where in addition to the contestants, the PMs of OMCC fought too to get a prize in the Finale.  The roast of the Scavenger Hunt by our two lively comparers left the audience laughing in splits. And did we mention, like any other event one of the Best part was the food which left the people full and proud to be part of the lively OMCC.

                Two “Silent Heroes” team from Pune and Gurgaon were recognized in the Finale. The winning teams from Vodafone Ireland and AT&T Enterprise were stars of the Finale… Each taking cool “Taj Vouchers” to celebrate with the team J

As in democracy where the main contributors are highlighted as country leaders, we would like to highlight the “Of the Team” which is: Neha Hans, Sanjay Agrawal, Sharan Pal Singh, Manisha Agarwal, Mayuresh Kulkarni, Archana Patil, Sureeti Saraf and Sanjay Ishwarlal Upadhyay. Also great was that all the OMCC India Leadership and Adi Roditi took the time from their busy schedule to come and encourage the teams to “Party Harder as they are already working Hard”

                This is just a start, looking forward for many more Rocking Events in OMCC!!!                                                    

               

               

Testing | Then vs Now – day in the life of an Amdocs Test Engineer

The days of endless manual testing, manual status reporting and lack of formal testing methodology are over. Watch to see how Amdocs BEAT platform automates the entire testing life cycle enabling fast cycle to production.

What are Paulo Coelho’s 5 Smartest Advices for Students

As always Paulo Coelho at his suggestive Best!!

Innovation and Time off Grid…

Innovation and Time off Grid…

                Sounds like a Si-Fi movie title doesn’t it… Let me assure you it’s not. It’s actually what we as Innovative people could do on a regular basis. Every day we are surrounded by enormous number of electronic connected gadgets which track each of our moves from the time we are awake to when we sleep.

          The day starts with checking mails on Smart Phones to social contacts-Facebook, Twitter etc. on iPad or iPhone. The calendar of activities is managed by calendar in either phone. The daily calls for personal/work aspects starts early morning and does not end till late night. So much are we dependent on these machines (read smart phones) that we won’t even leave for lunch on time if the reminder for the same does not appear.

·         So, what are we proposing? Simple aspects… Leave the reliance on the smart phones for that time and go “Off Grid” to Innovate

·         How do we do it? Simple… On a non-critical time i.e. when you do not have production of UAT crisis, simply switch off the phones and enjoy life…

·         Shocked!!! Does this idea sound shocking or revolting to you, then it is just right for you to Innovate

 

As revolting as the concept might seem, there is a wide-spread acceptance like: National Day of Unplugging

You can watch videos of the same at:

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUIZx3OWZh4

Or

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LReU9FSeyzc

Try it… It will give you time to do things you craved for in life like Innovating and even sparing more time for reading a paper-back, or spend time with your kids or loved ones…

Try it once and I’m sure it will change the way you look at your smart phones and Innovation!!

 

 

Life Lessons from Mahashivratri that we Can Apply To Our Lives

 

Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated annually
in honour of the God Shiva.

There is a Shivaratri in every luni-solar month of the
Hindu calendar, on the month's 13th night/14th day,

but once a year in late winter (February/March, or
Phalguna) and before the arrival of spring, marks Maha Shivaratri which means
"the Great Night of Shiva"

It is a major festival in Hinduism, but one that is
solemn and marks a remembrance of "overcoming darkness and ignorance"
in life and the world.

 It is observed by
remembering Shiva and chanting prayers, fasting, doing Yoga,

and meditating on ethics and virtues such as
self-restraint, honesty, noninjury to others, forgiveness,

and the discovery of Shiva. The ardent devotees keep
awake all night. Others visit one of the Shiva temples or go on pilgrimage to
Jyotirlingams.

 

Lets try to incorporate Life Lessons from Mahashivratri that we Can Apply To Our Lives





~~ Sanjay Ishwarlal Upadhyay

Instant gratification and Mentor Together

 

     How many times have we left an activity mid-way because we did not see a result? How close were we to give up when we made a major breakthrough? In the current super-fast life of connected world we want everything now!!! This Instant gratification is the biggest killer of Mentor Together Journey. How does it Impact? Read On…

     Any Mentor Together Journey has two main parts, the bonding and the implementing and both cannot be done in a hurry. Any rush through either of the process has negative impact not only on the Journey at hand but also on the long term final result.

    The bonding phase of any Mentor Together Journey by design needs freedom of time. The opportunities being generated for opening up are few and far between. Most bonding are built upon the initial talks which were mostly neglected. It is this refinement and improvisation that makes Mentor Together Journey so much appealing.

    The next step of implementation is just as crucial and time consuming. Being a new Journey which neither the mentor, nor the mentee has done before... it’s only logical that the same can be achieved an approach of trial and error, till we reach a final agreeable product. The changes that we need to install in the Mentees to make them interview ready and later industry ready can only be done one step at a time and is time consuming. Both the mentor and the mentee learn a lot in the process.

    Take for Example the Steps in the Mentor Together Journey which goes from Connect to Level to Evolve to Empower… Each one of them take its own sweet time to show results. Anyone with a bit of less patience will find it overly excruciating for both the Mentor and the Mentee.

    As is quite apparent from the Mentor Together Journey above that in no condition does the fast forward of the final solution help, so what is the solution?

   We can resist the urges in 3 steps:

·         Delay the urge to expedite any Blossom Activity

·         Consciously decide not to give in to fast-forward

·         Enjoy the Mentor Together Journey and do not fret over it.

  I’m sure with these 3 steps you’ll be able to get over whatever difficulties for expedite you face.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy the Mentor Together Journey to the fullest as the Journey is more important than the Destination.

And do not forget to fill your Mentor Together Logs on Time!!!

         

The final word... or is it not possible in Innovation

The final word... or is it not possible in Innovation

          In every project there is someone who has a final word on things... Be it quality, technical, decisions or timeline. It could either be experts from their domains or the CDM-Program Manager or Pdev for timeline. In a larger scheme of things it’s a necessary setup to ensure that in case of a conflict or disagreement we have someone to go to and people follow the direction.

However in Innovation it is not possible to have a “final word” Why so? Read On…

          Innovation by definition is an art which needs freedom of expression and flexibility to fail. The beauty of innovation lies in building up on an idea which might be rejected in the first place. So have a gate-keeper of sorts who has the “final word” would be counter-productive.

          Both in Ideation and the Implementation phase, the teams need a free hand to decide and implement their vision. However, we cannot let the program go hay-wire, we need someone to assist, advice and accentuate the final goal of the activity. We need someone who would not emphasize authority but would get the work done.

          These is where Agile along with innovation helps. The Product Owner like position in Agile is needed to drive Innovation projects. While people approach Product Owner for vision and conflicts. Product Owner ensures that the team stays on the right track with end user-experience always in mind.

          The Agile approach and Product Owner with a vision can do wonders in achieving. The Innovation teams would not feel the pressure of regular release; at the same time the end goal is never out of sight. It is our responsibility as the Program Sponsor to ensure that the team gets the freedom they need and the Product Owner is equally empowered.

So what approach do you employ when you want to implement an ideated product? Let us know too…

        ~~ Sanjay Ishwarlal Upadhyay