Improve your Vocabulary
When I look back at life, I found a lot has been changed. I'm not talking about physical change, but about change in social status, change in friend circle, change in way I do things. I really can't say why things have changed, or rather if anything has changed at all. Let me jot down the points, to see if I can make out any change or not.
As a kid, I remember my friends saying what they like doing & call it as their hobby. When I think of myself, I don't see any reason of liking something more than the other. I wanted to do/learn everything & anything. The irony was I had a lot of time to learn but was lacking in sources. I want to learn whatever I can. The difference is that now I have a lot more sources to learn, but no time (or rather I should say, very less time). I used to see my friends chit-chatting with their girl-friends, I always wanted to do the same (had a lot of female friends though). But, never had 1:(. Now, I no more want a girl-friend (not because my preferences are changed, but because of the commitments I have with myself) but managed to have 3 (one at a time of course) :(. I used to go to school & back home, unaware of where will I reach if I take a different turn. Now that, I have travelled continents (not the whole world yet :P), wondering & admiring the different cultures at different places. This makes me more curious to travel even farther. I always see, big-guns in the world & wanted to be respected & be rich. Today, I’m rich (compared to what I was in earlier : P) & respected both in professional & personal life; I still see the big guns & want to be respected & be rich even more. If something used to go wrong, I always wanted to get out of the mess without giving a second thought to what better could have been done. Today, if something goes wrong, I’m always ready to give it a second thought & think how differently we could have done things to avoid conflicts. I used to see everyone as a friend. My experience taught me to identify the beasts. I used to panic during tough times. My experience taught me to smile & be patient. I have failed & ran away. My experience taught me that every failure is a new opportunity in itself.
Whatever it is, whether it’s a change or no change, it definitely is a game – A game with no rules. I would call it a mind game.
Be patient, learn from the experiences, and most importantly, make sure not to commit the same mistake twice. The universe is a plethora of astonishing things; don’t think just start doing whatever you want to do. One life span is a very short time to reach the horizon.
Labels: Change , Game , Life , Mind speaks
As a student, I wasalways confused in various Capability Maturity Models.
Based on my practical knowledge, organizational experience & knowledge gained through various sources of information, I will try to explain the 5 different CMM levels.
As we are moving up in the level, we can see effective & efficient software development processes. The reason being with each level the organization learns something new. For eg: from an ad-hoc process to a well defined process, from measuring an individual's performance to setting up metrices for measuring of management
LEVEL 1 - Ad-Hoc
This level shows inconsistency in performance. The tasks are not performed in the same way by different people. Individual's knowledge & expertise is of prime importance in L1 organizations. Here management manages people, they establishes goals for individuals & the team without concerning about how the goals will be achieved.
These are mostly schedule driven. There are no standards to measure an individual's performance, so it is highly dependent on feedbac from various stakeholders. This normally creates a politically inclined environment.
In order to move from L1 to L2 the work process needs to be defined, get the people trained & assure compliance to those work processes.
LEVEL 2 - Control
A defined process will be followed, this helps in reducing variability & a relatively constant output will be achieved.
These processes are defined without considering the minimal skills needed & impact on other processes.
Management can use theses processes & using various techniques can check the compliance to defined processes. These results can then be compared to a set of predefined results to measure people's performance.
In order to move from L2 to L3 the organization will need to build & define the core competencies.
LEVEL 3 - Core Competency
At this level the organization identifies its core competencies & then re-engineer the processes defined at level 2 to perform these competencies efficiently & effectively. It will then identify the skills required to perform those processes & staff will be recruited with the required skillset.
In order to move from L3 to L4 the organization should be able to measure quantitatively the performance of an individual.
LEVEL 4 - Predictable
At this level the organization develops the quantitative standards of work processes defined in L3 & sufficient skills are required in managers to measure manage quantitatively. This results in a predictable work process. Knowing the normal performance of the work process, management can easily measure the problems through quantitative measurements & keep projects on schedule & budget. This level of predictability uses measurement to manage as against measurement of individual's performance.
In order to move from L4 to L5 the organization is required to innovate new processes, based on available technologies.
LEVEL 5 - Innovative
The organization aspires to be a true leader in industry & always try to measure itself against industry standards & define innovative ways ti achieve higher levels of performance. This level requires constant innovation which gradually leads to constant learning both in an individual & in an organization.
From a tester's perspective : an organization with lower maturity level will tend to deliver a lower quality of software & hence bigger challenge.
Labels: CMM , Software Quality , software Testing