Software Engineering best practices we do ‘Not’ follow at our own risk by Rahul on February 17, 2012

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Software engineers all over the world were at sometime or the other taught in their initial days some best practices to treat as the Bible while developing software and writing codes. But most of the time, we fail to undertake these steps. Due to lethargy, or time constraint, or taking things too easily, we skip the so very essential part of the best practices which can lead to some immense trouble and loss to others in the future. We will be discussing some of these serious issues now. And how we can focus on fixing our habits. 

Commenting
Often we will see Oracle, Java, Unix or for that matter codes written in any technology, often named without following the convention and reveals little about the utility of the piece of code. A coder when looks at the file in the future will have little or no idea as to what it was written for until he goes through each an every line of the code. Imagine the amount of time lost for the simple task of getting to know the functionality of a few hundred lines of code. Always include at least a few words of comment for each code block, naming conventions,  snapshot of the code (with the author name, version history, purpose). A few seconds taken by you will save many people in the future from putting their brains out to figure out the purpose of a code.

Development team in UAT
The role of the development team should be up to code delivery and implementation. At most they can guide the user how to proceed with the testing. Rest scenarios should be entirely left in the hands of the user. For obvious reasons, if the developer is involved in his own work, he is bound to influence the testing scenarios of the user unintentionally on a subconscious level. This is not to blame anyone, but something pretty natural by human behavior.

Allocation of due time for each phase in SDLC
Each of the phases in SDLC must be given due weightage and time. It often happens due to strict timelines, the analysis and design phases are shortened. But this can lead to severe consequences as the solution approach might prove to be unsustainable on the long term. All sorts of feasibility, cost, adaptability, flexibility study should be completed with proper discussions and brain-storming which will also benefit in team-building.

These practices need to be strictly followed by budding engineers and experienced professionals alike. It’s ought to be like the untold rules of software engineering.

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Team work and the odd ones out in IT sector by Rahul on January 22, 2012

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The IT sector boasts of team work and team spirit at the very core of its values. It comes as no surprise that the kind of work that is being done inevitably demands absolute team work. A perfect mixture of the experienced and freshers in the team is the ideal scenario when it comes to effectively cost-planning a team. All experienced professionals in the team would throw the profit out of the organization. All freshers will be an obvious disaster.

Now coming to team work, people are really considered lucky here if they are in a good    team. That is because there are many teams where people suffocate into and are forced to look for other options. A nice team to start with in your professional career is truly a boon. You get to learn a lot of things which will help you in your career in the long run. Things you learn not only helps in you current job role, but also to grow as a working professional. People get less tired mentally and even physically when they are into a good team. Productivity of an employee increases by leaps and bounds when colleagues around him are always ready to help and cooperative. The productivity of the team as a whole rises inevitably amidst such positive atmosphere.

According to popular studies of human psychology, people tend to feel stress a lot less when they know there are people around him whom he can rely upon in times of distress. Your  body would thus respond more positively in case such a stress situation arises. Working in a good team also teaches you interpersonal skills which are vital in the service sector.

Getting to know people from all sorts of backgrounds is another advantage in a team. Sometimes we need to adjust ourselves just a bit to move along with the team. These all are lessons in their own way. It seldom happens that all the team members are from the same region or have the same tastes and values. It is pretty normal for them to differ and that's why individuals are individuals. Your team member might get stuck in a tricky assignment which you are pretty aware how to overcome. It becomes your moral obligation and duty to help him out. Well, if you are selfish, then also you need to help him out. Guess, why? Here comes the tricky part.

We human beings always perceive of others as a neutral being from the beginning. Even if

we converse, and seem to be friends, it’s what in the subconscious mind that defines what we do and when we do. Your helping hand to your colleague in the time of distress will etch a mark in his subconscious mind about the supporting hand you lent out. When your time of stress comes, he will not hesitate to go beyond the usual limits to help you out (just in case he is not too generous, in which case he will help you out even if he doesn’t know you and you should consider yourself superbly lucky to have such a gem of a team member in your team).

Also, another trick of the trade is it always helps to share your knowledge with others. Who know, who might come handy when you are on a holiday or vacation! This is not the intended reason, but it always help because knowledge sharing always enhances one’s knowledge and acts as a superb value addition to the team.

Now coming to the odd ones who find it difficult to cope in a team. Their stress level undoubtedly rises. If he’s the good guy finding himself or herself surrounded by a sea of politics and work is being extracted out of him and passed on as other’s work and his visibility to his bosses is being reduced to the minimum so that everyone else gets the credit for his work, it is indeed a nightmare for him. He is the sole person working. He cannot raise his voice. This is when it gets out of hand. Because we cannot keep on accepting injustice forever. Everything has an end to it. The higher management would be informed about this sooner or later and actions are bound to be taken. If that is not the case, unfortunately and inevitably, the person will try to move someplace else.

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