There are many managers who could be great Leaders, but always rely on management tactics when it comes to day-to-day running of a team. Most common reason given is that it is not easy leading such a *team*.

My personal belief is, yes it is difficult but not impossible. With bit of extra effort, it is possible to *lead* a team – than *manage* it.

Here is my list of 9 mantras for Leading a team:

1. Share the Vision. This has become a bit of a cliché but it still is true. I have seen managers coming up with great ideas, but just because it wasn’t shared early enough with the team, they don’t buy into it. Let them own the idea and see the difference.
2. Call on favors sparingly. But be available all the time. There are times when you need your team member to put in that extra hours. Don’t make that a habit – call on them once in a while when really necessary, protect them from unwanted overtime. But be available to them when they need you. Put in those extra hours yourself once in a while as well.
3. Lead with example. Set high ethical-standards for your work and see them reciprocate.
4. Empower them. Once the vision or any task for that matter is set and agreed on, empower them. Let them find their own way around, give them freedom to talk to other managers, senior managers, colleagues, etc. The more insecure you feel, more insecure your post will actually get. Step back and guide them.
5. Treat them with respect. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. Understand them, adapt to them and respect them for what they are. Give them tasks that they enjoy; the ones they are good at. It is good to have a team with various skill sets and of different level.
6. Give answers. A very simple statement, but yes I have seen many a times, a team member comes to you with a question and returns to his desk with more questions in his head and the original one is still unanswered. Give a bloody answer. More of ten than not they sincerely have a question for you and are not acting cheeky (i.e. testing your knowledge). If you don’t know the answer, accept it. Work with them, involve them in the process and find the solution. Don’t ignore them.
7. Get hands-on. This is mainly true with managers like me in technology area. There is nothing wrong in being less knowledgeable than your junior, what is not good is ignoring that and not doing anything about it. Get hands-on and try to understand what they are doing and how it works.
8. Ask for new ideas – and you’ll be surprised. Create a culture of continuous improvement. Motivate them to recommend new ways to improve their productivity at work. This could be tweaking the strict process your team has to follow or something like team building activities. Ask for ideas and of course carry out the practical ones.
9. Create a secure work environment. Everyone is an expert in their own right. Give them their space and opportunity to display their strengths. That does not mean you restrict them and not let them explore new challenges, but everyone once in a while likes to be in their comfort zone.

I bought it a bit less than a year ago. Six months ago rear camera was the first to stop working. I had to send it back to Apple and they replaced it with a new iPad.

This time the touch screen is malfunctioning. Look at the video below to see what it does.

Update: Ubertec have confirmed they’ll be replacing it with a new one.

Update 2: It’s now on TradeMe

My various other presentations are also available here: My Presentations

University of Auckland recently upgraded to PeopleSoft Campus Solutions v9.
In fact it was more of an implementation rather than an upgrade. Why an implementation? Well for various reasons, and to name a few:
Firstly, University was on a 10 year old version of PeopleSoft SA v7.6
Secondly, technically it was almost impossible to have an in-place upgrade. So the plan was to start afresh.

1 – Data Migration: While the plan was to start fresh, all the existing data was still supposed to be migrated across.
2 – Business Process: The business processes were re-written. Number of staff members was also affected by this change.
In saying so no institution that I am aware of has ever implemented an out-of-the-box or a so called vanilla version of PeopleSoft systems. We were no different…
2 – Enhancements: A long wish list of customisations was ready even before the process workshops had started.
3 – Interfaces: In addition to that there were number of systems that integrated to Campus Solutions – and all this integration was supposed to be re-developed using Web-Logic Integration (WLI) messaging system.
4 – Identity Management: To top that off identity management was being dropped from PeopleSoft and our internal Identity & Access Management (IAM) system was supposed to be re-implemented and integrated to PeopleSoft CS v9 system.
5 – Infrastructure: Wait there is more – finally, the infrastructure where all this was planned to be hosted was new as well.

Well, with these many changes in scope, there was no doubt that it will require thorough testing. Not just business process testing, but also all the other types of functional and non-functional testing like, usability, integration, performance, load, security, etc.

The complete project – from planning to implementation – was 20 months long. If you ask any traditional Project Manager they would say – testing will start some time halfway through the project and the Test Manager is only required may be a month before that. But senior management had decided they wanted to be prepared rather than sorry at the end of the project. As a result we had the Testing Manager involved in the project from the beginning. The testing team also started on the project much earlier than norm.

This was one of the aspects where we took a different approach from some of the traditional Project Management approaches.

The presentation will cover what else was different! An in-depth overview of approach taken by University of Auckland in terms of test planning and testing for PeopleSoft Campus Solution v9 implementation.

My take on future of testing has always been – in fact I think it is the current state now, that:

1. Testing is not just functional GUI testing
2. Desktop apps are a thing of past
3. With the advent of Web 2, SOA, Cloud, etc. it is getting more and more technical
4. Performance
5. Security
6. Usability
7. Integration
8. Automation
9. …are the areas where the testers of today need to develop skills in

I have interacted with all kinds of testers, testers from different schools, contexts, methodologies, level of experiences, and most of them specialise in functional testing. But if you would really like to be future-proof – then I think Technical Testing is the way forward.

To add fuel to the topic Goranka Bjedov did a great presentation recently at a conference in Wellington: STANZ

In the presentation she shares her past experiences in software testing, especially last couple of years of her life when she comes across some hard reality of life/software quality. And she ends her presentation with the following summary:

1. We can reduce dev time (and costs) by writing productivity tests
2. We can bring in quality by adding smart system tests in right places
3. Think performance, scalability
4. Think usability
5. We can reduce number of machines needed in dat centers
6. We must start calculating and communicating the value of our work (dollar amounts)
7. We must stop being the cost center

I was testing the ‘churn’ sample from the book. The actual issue was I had one ruby file which contained the code base called ‘churn.rb’ and then there was another file to unit-test the code called ‘churn-tests.rb’. Both these files were under a custom folder under ‘D:\blah\blah\code\’

‘Churn-tests.rb’ includes ‘churn.rb’ file to be able to test it. The command used to include is: “require ‘churn’”.
Initially in previous versions, since both files were in the same folder, Ruby would simply load the code file – ‘churn’. But as of Ruby v1.9.2, as part of the default installation, the code directory: “.” has been removed from the $LOAD_PATH.

As a result my code (unit-test) just wouldn’t work. I tried various options but no luck.

Finally, I came across few ways of fixing it, and those are:

1 – Provide the relative path:

require ‘./churn’

2 – Get current file’s path and reuse it:

require File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), ‘filename‘))

3 – Same as above but bit more readable:

require Pathname.new(__FILE__).dirname + ‘filename’

4 – Spell out the complete path, but obviously that’s not ideal

Hope that comes handy to someone.

Happy Coding… oops… Testing!

The original list is not available any more. Dazzlepod has though made the list available without the passwords so people could check if any of their email addresses have been compromised. The list is available here: http://dazzlepod.com/lulzsec/?page=1

Requirement:
There are almost 62,000 email addresses and Dazzlepod has divided the list in to 120 pages.
I would like to go through the list and check if any of mine or my family member’s email has been compromised. Going through 120 pages and searching for almost 10 aliases on each page is a daunting task.

Solution:
So I went ahead and automated the process, that is scripted a spider (kind of). The spider goes though all 120 pages and reports if any of the aliases I know of have been compromised.

This script is created using iMacros plug-in for Firefox.

Instructions:

• Download and install Firefox (if you don’t have it already).
• Download and install iMacros for Firefox
• Click here to download my iMacros script and copy it to iMacros folder. It is mostly (C:\Users\<username>\Documents\iMacros\Macros) in Windows-7 environment.
• Open the script in editor and update the values in var mynames = new Array(“alias1“,”alias2“) with your aliases. Do not include domain name and suffix.
• Now run the script and you should get the response in 5-10 minutes. Depending on number of aliases and website speed.

If your browser blocks the download of a ‘javascript’ file then here is the script for your reference:


var i, j, retcode;
var report;
var ret;
var macro;
var jsLF = "\n";
var iPages = 120;
/*NOTE: Change the list in next line to include all the email aliases you'd like to check.
E.g.: ("alias1","alias2","alias3","alias4")
*/
var mynames = new Array("alias1","alias2")

alert ( report );


UPDATE:
1 - There is a longer list now on Dazzlepod with almost 260,000 emails: http://dazzlepod.com/lulzsec/final/
2 - They now also have a search box, so that makes this script redundant

Adaptability – Quickly Adjusts to Change

People from the middle down are never the first to know anything in an organisation. They are usually not the decision makers or policy writers. As a result, they must learn to adapt quickly.

When it comes to leading in the middle, the more quickly you can adapt to change, the better it will be for the organisation. Here’s why. All organisations contain early, middle, and late adapters. The early adapters are won over by new ideas quickly, and they are ready to run with them. Middle adapters take more time. And then the late adapters slowly (and sometimes reluctantly) accept change.

Since you, as a leader in the middle, are going to be asked to help the people who follow you to accept the change, you need to process change quickly – the quicker the better. That may mean there will be times when you must embrace a change before you are even ready to do so emotionally. In such cases, the key is you ability to trust your leaders. If you can trust them, you will be able to do it. Just keep reminding yourself, Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape.

Need I say more? So if he is bending you out of shape, then you know what you need to do.

Happy bending!

…are some of the adjectives attached to someone who is ‘ready to change’ or NOT.

Many a times I’ve heard ‘Change is Inevitable. Growth is Intentional’. In regards to change what matters is:

• when you see it
• how you respond to it

I believe there are four types of people:

1. Some predict the change
2. Some are catalyst to it and help bring that change
3. Then there are some who adapt to the change. Sometimes willingly and other times not
4. And then there are those who ignore it and continue to live in their bubble

Which one are you?

I was recently recommended reading ‘Who moved my Cheese’. I’ve just started reading it, let’s see what lesson that comes up with.

This week Steve talks about usability, how it is gaining importance now in whether it is software or service industry. His current and past experiences in the industry while working for some prominent clients in New Zealand like Air New Zealand and University of Auckland.

I personally have worked with Steve and he is great colleague, friend and person to work with. Always turned on and always has that great new idea up his sleeve that will make your product better usable.

Here is the link again to the podcast. Listen before it goes behind the paid firewall.

Happy Listening!