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Showing posts from March, 2022

Trust and Communication

From a trust perspective, not advice but a possible suggestion is that if you think you have some misunderstanding with Mr or Mrs X , pls give it a try talking to him/her first and  go to next level only if that doesn't work.   Irrespective of the title, we are all humans and we all have our blindspots, we respond, react and many times we lose the actual issue and intent and start magnifying issues inadvertently. We are all here to help each other and for work. When it comes to communication, focus need to be "intended goal", may other things play a role that spoil the purpose. Our monkey mind many times confuses and make us get into "fight" or "flight" mode and  It is about how we train our mind and teaching it that "there is no war, this is no harm and the other party is not enemy". It is always Ok to talk to other person and if it is not going Ok, "Party" can tell "Other Party" that I am not comfortable discussing with

Mindful conversations

Life is not about fighting. We are not owners but tenants on this planets. When we know the big picture, we will work towards the intended goal and not get lost into the winning and losing trap. In order to have better results from your conversations, try to focus. Be present.  Be in the moment. Not in yesterday or not tomorrow or not being lost into some random thoughts.  Be open: As much as you present your thoughts, listen to the other party and their perspective. When you present, please have your data with you that is easily comprehending.  Similarly listen and sincerely try to understand other party. Train your monkey: Our mind plays monkey and thinks of too many things and some times these monkey thoughts start controlling you inadvertently. The way our mind is designed is to protect your self and it's dedication some times works negatively.  We need to keep telling our monkey mind that we are not into war and there are no real losers or winners sepately in a conversation. I

A philosophy of software design

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My notes from the book  "A philosophy of software design".   this helps for me as a quick refresher and also can help others who do not find book reading interesting but are ok to read a blog post in few minutes. 1. Cognitive load  How  long does it take a new hire to push his first serious commit? is it day 1 or day 2?    if it is few weeks to months, then you got a serious problem.  Its cognitive load, if we need to burn lot of brain power to understand something, then it's a problem. Make it simple, don't pretend it to be simple. It is not about you, it's about other developer(s).  2. Tactical programming Just in time fixes that meet the current bug or need without worrying about complete design or long term aspects add more debit.  You get things working quickly, happy. But please note your code starts the clock and counts the interest. You or  your successor(s) have to pay back or go bankrupt.     Instead of tactical programming, we need to look for a cleaner

Being apologetic

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 It was a moment of discovery and retrospection. I was crying for few hours but before I do that I apologized  everyone as a group and  many individuals personally.   Anyone who knew me know what I am and what it means to be. I was fighting bigger  causes for larger good and never hesitated to speak out openly and do not regret for that. It looks like I made some people sad and they have or may  build grudge against me,  it would be hurting them more than it can do to me.  Engineers are the core of IT companies and last thing I wanted to do is to hurt someone, what ever may be the underlying issue.   Mangers are typically plenty or easily replaceable but engineers and leaders are not.    I was doubting myself, what kind of a person I have become if I could hurt some engineer to a level they are not open to talk me?   thats terrible thing. It is against my own will, conscience  and existence.   Last thing I want to do is be a reason for some good people to lose sleep over thoughts of me

Make your own path

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 The ironical sad thing about this world is that, it makes  binary decisions. You can either be a leader or follower.  If you are not taking control of your life, then it makes sure you follow something, sometimes you may make conscious decision on whom to follow but  many times you are just forced to follow something or someone.  Its very hard to figure out if you are in between (not being a leader or follower but something in between). Inertia in all forms and shapes follows the standard laws and will try to stop doing what you are doing but if you persist, your change is accepted eventually and becomes a standard thing.  when you want to make your own path, do not expect lot of manpower and resources and everyone waiting for your command, think of you being in a deep forest with no where to go, you have to do everything by yourself. build your own road.  But when you run into caves, don't struggle to  build the road, you MUST build the bridge.  You are not here to fix the univer