Thursday, July 29, 2010

Lotus Notes – Shortcut Key to access Lotus Notes Databases:

http://www.keyxl.com/aaa221f/167/IBM-Lotus-Notes-email-software-keyboard-shortcuts.htm

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Why we need Documentation:

Documentation always seems to be the most difficult part of the project to complete. There is little glamour and no major kudos in doing documentation. That does not diminish its importance, however. There are at least five reasons why the project manager and team need to do documentation on the project:
Reference for future changes in deliverables. Even though the project work is complete, there may be further changes that warrant follow-up projects. By using the deliverables, the customer may identify improvement opportunities, features to be added, and functions to be modified. The documentation of the project just completed is the foundation for the follow-up projects.
Historical record for estimating duration and cost on future projects, activities, and tasks. Completed projects are a great source of information for future projects, but only if data and other documentation from them is archived so that it can be retrieved and used. Estimated and actual duration and cost for each activity on completed projects are particularly valuable for estimating these variables on future projects.
Training resource for new project managers. History is a great teacher, and nowhere is that more significant than on completed projects. Such items as how the WBS architecture was determined, how change requests were analyzed and decisions reached, problem identification, analysis and resolution situations, and a variety of other experiences are invaluable lessons for the newly appointed project manager.
Input for further training and development of the project team. As a reference, project documentation can help the project team deal with situations that arise in the current project. How a similar problem or change request was handled in the past is an excellent example.
Input for performance evaluation by the functional managers of the project team members. In many organizations, project documentation can be used as input to the performance evaluations of the project manager and team members.

Resize Power point photos in Same Location:

How many times have you resized a photo on a PowerPoint slide and then must take the extra step of moving it back to the correct location? This shortcut will allow you to resize your photo and keep it still in the same place on the slide.
Resize One Photo on the Slide
1. Click on the photo to select it.
2. Hold the Ctrl key while you drag the corner selection handle to resize it to the desired size. Notice the outline of the new size while you drag the mouse.
• Note - Dragging a corner selection handle of the photo retains the proportions of the photo.
Release the mouse and the Ctrl key and the new resized photo will be centered in the same location.
Resize Two or More Photos on the Slide
1. Click the first photo to select it.
2. Hold the Shift key while you click on the remaining photos to resize. (Holding the Shift key allows you to select more than one photo on the slide.)
3. When all photos are selected, release the mouse and the Shift key.
4. Now hold the Ctrl key while you drag a corner selection handle of any one of the photos (it does not matter which photo you choose). All photos will be resized and remain centered in their original locations.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Test Harness:

A test harness is a small program specially written to test a particular subroutine or module. It feeds known data to the module being tested, and displays the results. It often has a Graphic User Interface, so that you can make up test data and pump it into the module being tested, but it can also have test data hard coded or stored in external files.
Frequently, a test harness will create a log file (a simple text file), so that there is a permanent record of what has been tested and what the results were. More complex test harnesses will save that data in a database for later analysis.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Apache Subversion:

In software development, Apache Subversion (formerly called Subversion, command name svn) is a revision control system founded and sponsored in 2000 by CollabNet Inc. Developers use Subversion to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages, and documentation. Its goal is to be a mostly-compatible successor to the widely used Concurrent Versions System (CVS).
Features:
• Commits as true atomic operations (interrupted commit operations would otherwise cause repository inconsistency or corruption).
• Renamed/copied/moved/removed files retain full revision history.
• The system maintains versioning for directories, renames, and file metadata (but not for timestamps). Users can move and/or copy entire directory-trees very quickly, while retaining full revision history.
• Versioning of symbolic links.
• Native support for binary files, with space-efficient binary-diff storage.
• Apache HTTP Server as network server, WebDAV/Delta-V for protocol. There is also an independent server process called svnserve that uses a custom protocol over TCP/IP.
• Branching and tagging as cheap operations, independent of file size (though Subversion itself does not distinguish between a tag, a branch, and a directory)
• Natively client–server, layered library design.
• Client/server protocol sends diffs in both directions.
• Costs proportional to change size, not to data size.
• Parsable output, including XML log output.
• Open source licensed — Apache License in the projected 1.7 release; prior versions use a derivative of the Apache Software License, v1.1
• Internationalized program messages.
• File locking for unmergeable files ("reserved checkouts").
• Path-based authorization.
• Language bindings for C#, PHP, Python, Perl, and Java.
• Full MIME support - users can view or change the MIME type of each file, with the software knowing which MIME types can have their differences from previous versions shown.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Paste as CSV:

To prevent copied numbers from being pasted as text, you may be able to paste the data as CSV.
1. Copy the data in the other program
2. Switch to Excel
3. Select the cell where the paste will start
4. Choose Edit>Paste Special
5. Select CSV, click OK

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

How to find perfect programmers for the Specific problem:

Certainly, it is better to find the programmers with the best qualities. But these geeks are expensive, often unavailable or will be bored with your problem.

Therefore,
• Understand the problem before hiring. Assess the required level for each quality. Prepare questions and even tests.
• Build a perfect team with not necessary perfect programmers. Just ensure that a sum of qualities of team members matches required levels. Probably only cooperation is very important quality for every team member.
• Create environment that enables most effective use and growth of these top qualities. Use right leadership style. Make programmers happy.

People with good core qualities will pick up the best approaches including writing unit tests and refactoring; learn design patterns and what is most important – deliver great and useful software.

Perfect programmers are not born, they just work on the right for the problems.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Using Sender Colors to manage emails:

Here's a simple tip that everyone should know about. You can change the background and text colors of the messages in your Inbox to add visibility to messages that need immediate attention. We all get a lot of email, and it's easy to miss things here and there. Lots of times, we know where some of our more time-sensitive messages come from.

To do this, go to the Mail section of your Notes preferences and navigate to the Send Colors tab. You can also add more than one name to each color.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Ad hoc Testing:

This means impromptu testing; that is, someone sits down and makes up test cases on the spur of the moment, as quickly as possible, as ideas occur to them. This kind of testing generally finds most bugs in new software in the shortest possible time.
It is usually not comprehensive, because it is difficult to think of everything in a short session, but it is often inventive, and frequently uncovers a myriad of problems. It is often exciting and rewarding because testers get satisfaction from making things fail!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Layaway:

Definition: The act of taking a deposit to store merchandise for a customer to purchase at a later date.

Alternate Spellings: Lay-A-Way

Examples:
Because our layaway policy is a three month maximum term, we see a huge increase in layaways beginning in October.

Friday, July 16, 2010

AutoFilter for a Text in a Long String:

You can use the Custom option to filter for cells that contain specific text. However, if the text is located after the 255th character in the cell, it won't be found. Also, the long text strings don't appear in the dropdown list in the heading cell.
As a workaround, enter the search text string in a cell on the worksheet. Then add a formula to check for the text.
1. Insert a new column in the database, and in the heading cell, type the word you're searching for, e.g.: Shop
2. Enter the following formula in row 2 of the new column:
=ISNUMBER(SEARCH($B$1,A2))
3. Copy the formula down to the last row
4. Filter column B for TRUE
5. To filter for a different word, type a new string in cell B1, and reapply the filter in column B.
Note: SEARCH is not case sensitive. For a case sensitive filter, use FIND, e.g.:

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Best Leadership Style for the Software team:

What should be the qualities of the best leader for the software team: strong decisive knowledgeable or quiet supportive cooperative? Best leaders have two main concerns – people and getting things done. Both concerns have cumulative effect – high concern for people makes them motivated and therefore more productive, high concern for production creates sense of achievement and makes people more satisfied at work.
However, there is no one leadership style that suits all situations, projects and individuals. There are 4 main leadership styles, which could be effectively used in software development: The Commander, The Coach, The Supporter and Self-Organization.

1. The Commander

In tough times people need a strong leader – the person who can take responsibility and make decisions, the person who could motivate and inspire, the person who could move against winds and resistance.
Commanders are needed
 in crisis, when bold, quick and direct decisions should be made. The project is doomed, customers are leaving or there is fire in the building.
 when changes are necessary and there is strong resistance and barriers to make them. The leader creates a vision, finds a way to accomplish it and leads a change. The company moves to the new market or adopts new approaches as Agile.
 when people lack commitment, faith in company and willingness to work, because of previous failures, degrading environment or unpopular management. The leader can wake them up, inspire and move forward.
Commanders make and influence most decisions. The downside of this leadership style is that leader can slide to autocratic methods, demotivate and annoy people. Often decisions are not optimal – they don’t take in consideration all available information, options and perspectives. This style is effective in short-term, in long-term it could be dangerous for people and projects.
Skills and traits of Commanders are very important as they are the main factor of success. The Commander should be energetic, confident, decisive. Also as Commanders make most decisions they should be knowledgeable, forward-thinking and broad-minded.
2. The Coach

The Coach is experienced, knowledgeable and supportive person, who is needed when team lacks focus, expertise and understanding what should be done and how.
Coaches are concerned about growing people, creating enabling and trusting environment. This leader makes decisions collectively with a team. The Coach explains rationale behind decisions, listens and provides feedback. He encourages personal growth, builds long-term capabilities and prepares team and individuals for independent work.
This style has high relationship focus. The downside of this style could be micro-management and low concern for productivity.
Important qualities for Coaches: knowledgeable, empathetic and cooperative.
3. The Supporter

Supporters are needed to help teams, remove barriers and coordinate activities. The Supporter is an ego-less quiet leader and facilitator. Supporter makes joint decision with the team as equals, delegating majority of decisions to the team. In addition, this leader concerns about creation of harmony and balance between team members.
Important qualities for The Supporter: good communicator and facilitator, socially skilled and diplomatic
4. Self Organization

A cohesive, motivated and confident Team doesn’t need formal leaders. The team makes most decisions, while every member could step in and become leader in specific areas and situations. People are highly capable, committed and self-driven. The team should have diverse and independently thinking team members to prevent groupthink.
It is most preferable and most difficult to achieve style. Usually the team transcends through previous steps and becomes truly self-organized team after experiencing victories and failures, growing and gaining experience together. The Team have shared purpose, principles and values. Team members trust, support and respect each other. Almost everything is possible for such team.
Selecting Style
Teams and leaders use these 4 styles depending on a situation and specific people. The best leaders guide their team and people through these stages to the point when formal leaders are no longer needed – self-organizing team. It is possible that a self-organizing team will need a strong leader in tough time, a coach when moving to the new domain or a supporter to resolve external problems. However, the team, which experienced flow, independence and self-organization will strive to get back to this state again.

Important factors
1. Commitment - are people ready, motivated and willing to accomplish goals?
2. Competence and clarity of direction: do people know what to do and how to do it?
3. Cooperation and cohesiveness: can team effectively work together, make decisions and avoid conflicts? The larger group need more coordination.
4. Resources and support: does team have necessary tools, money, people, etc? Do they face serious barriers and require support?
5. External coordination: does team need to collaborate with other groups?
6. Leader - last, but not least: does leader have necessary authority, knowledge and experience?
All these styles could be effectively used in software development. But at the end, the most important factor of success is people. The style should match people commitment and capabilities. It is mistake to command skilled and confident team and it is mistake to give reins to unmotivated and inexperienced people. Leadership style is one of the secret ingredients of the Software Creation Mystery – it could bring great success or miserable failure on the same project with the same people.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Setting User Information:

When you first install Word, it asks you for your name so it can personalize the registration for your program. It also writes your name into the user area. This area includes your name and initials, and can include your address. This information is used by various Word fields, in the document summary information, in annotations, and in the Envelopes and Labels feature. If you need to change the user information, follow these steps:
1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. You will see the Options dialog box.
2. Make sure the User Information tab is selected.
3. Change the information in the Name, Initials, and Mailing Address boxes as desired.
4. Click on OK.

Monday, July 12, 2010

3P of TQM:

3Pis a 3D model of TQM (Total Quality Management), having People, Product and Process as the 3 axis.
For Implementing TQM, all the 3 parameters should be improved.

1. People: Satisfaction of both Internal and External customer.

2. Product: Conforming to the requirements specified.

3. Process: Continuous Improvement of all the operations and activities is at the heart of TQM.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Top 10 Qualities of a Perfect Programmer:

Every quality of a perfect programmer has a range depending on the specific problem and context. There is no absolutely perfect programmer for all the problems. And the perfect programmer for particular problem should have,
1. Intellect- can understand the problem, translate and express ideas in clear and readable code, has analytical and logical mind (range: building programs for narrow well defined requests to conquering freaking complex problems in elegant way)
2. Personality - has right mixture of personal traits (detail-oriented vs. creative, flexible vs. disciplined, sociable vs. independent)
3. Expertise - knowledge and experience for solving client’s problems in the specific context with chosen technologies (range: a specialist in one technology to a veteran programmer with broad experience in different domains and platforms)
4. Motivation - cares about work, shows enthusiasm, interest and love for programming (range: from working for money only to implementing interesting ideas in spare time without pay)
5. Maturity – knows and uses sound software development principles, practices and approaches as agile, design and architecture patterns, domain-driven design, unit testing, refactoring (range: from an enthusiastic amateur to a black belt guru, who can invent new approaches on the go)
6. Pragmatism - understands what is possible, loves simplicity and avoids over-engineering; understands business goals, keeps touch with reality and focus on what should be done (range: from a spontaneous artist to a self-driven pragmatic achiever)
7. Cooperation - listens, accepts that other people could have better ideas, supports team goals without hidden agenda, shares ideas and knowledge and coach others (range: from idea challenger to a team coach)
8. Communication - effectively communicates and exchanges ideas, supports knowledge and decisions about the system with clear explanations, justifications and answers (range: from a quiet introvert to a system evangelist)
9. Potential - has professional goals, good learning skills, curiosity, adaptability and performs constant self correction (range: from person who reached his limits to the future programming star)
10. Vision - sees the big picture, understands context, trends and people, aligns actions with team and company implicit goals, contributes into building shared vision for the software system (range: from interested in programming only to entrepreneurial visionary)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Reasons for Invalid Data entries in Data Validation drop down:

Although you have created data validation dropdown arrows on some cells, users may be able to type invalid entries. The following are the most common reasons for this.
Error Alert
If the Error Alert is turned off, users will be able to type any entry, without receiving an error message. To turn the alert on:
1. Select the cell that contains a data validation list
2. Choose Data|Validation
3. On the Error Alert tab, add a check mark to the Show error alert after invalid data is entered box.
4. Click OK


Blank Cells in Source List
If the source list is a named range that contains blank cells, users may be able to type any entry, without receiving an error message. To turn prevent this:
1. Select the cell that contains a data validation list
2. Choose Data|Validation
3. On the Settings tab, remove the check mark from the Ignore blank box.
4. Click OK

Note: If the source list contains blank cells, and is a range address, e.g. $A$1:$A$10, it will block invalid entries with Ignore blank on or off.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Kiosk:

The term kiosk, as related to retailing, refers to a small stand-alone structure used as a point of purchase. This can be either a computer or display screen used to disseminate information to customers or may be a free-standing, full-service retail location. Kiosks are often found in malls and other high-traffic locations.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Recall Sent Messages:

The ability to recall mail messages is one of the most requested features for IBM Lotus Notes and Domino V8. Enabled on the server and client by default, this new feature lets you recall mail messages that were sent in error.
Message Recall is simple to use from a user's point of view. You simply open the Sent view of your Lotus Notes V8 mail file, highlight the mail you want to recall, and click the Recall Message button in the Action bar (see figure 1).

Figure 1. Action bar showing Recall Message button on the right


A dialog box then displays that shows the original recipients, any of which you can deselect or choose to get a response (see figure 2).
Figure 2. Recall Message dialog box


After you click OK, the recall request is acknowledged with a dialog box. If everything is set up properly, the messages are removed from the recipients’ mail. You receive a report telling you which messages were recalled (and whether they had been read) and whether any messages could not be recalled and why.
Message Recall works only on mail that is routed over NRPC. This means that neither mail routed to the Internet nor internal mail routed over SMTP can be successfully recalled.
Only mail that resides on a Lotus Domino V8 or later server can be successfully recalled.
Message Recall is not available with IBM Lotus Domino Web Access. Mail sent to a Lotus Domino Web Access user can be recalled if it is on a Lotus Domino V8 server and the recalling user has a Lotus Notes V8 mail template to use to initiate the recall.
Message Recall works only for email, not for Calendar and To Do items.
A copy of the message must be saved in the sender’s mail file to recall it successfully.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Replace all the fonts in the Presentation at One time:

Is one of these scenarios familiar?
• You have started a new presentation and copied some slides from another presentation into it. However, the fonts of the combined presentation are different.
• You have a basic starter presentation but want to change all the fonts for this new version.
• You are reviewing a presentation for a colleague and would like him to change the fonts before the big day.
Answer:
PowerPoint has a convenient feature that allows you to make a global change to all the fonts in the presentation at one time.
1. PowerPoint 2007 - In the Editing section on the Home tab of the ribbon, click the Replace > Replace Fonts...
2. PowerPoint 2003 - Choose Format > Replace Fonts... from the menu.
3. In the Replace Font dialog box, under the heading Replace, select the font you wish to change from the drop down list of fonts in this presentation.
4. Under the heading With, select the new font for the presentation.
5. Click the Replace button. All the text in the entire presentation that used the original font is now replaced with your new choice.
6. Repeat the process if your presentation contains a second font that you wish to change.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Types of Programming Errors:

Even the most experienced programmers make mistakes, and knowing how to debug an application and find those mistakes is an important part of programming.
Programming errors fall into three categories: compilation errors, run-time errors, and logic errors. The techniques for debugging each of these are covered in the next three lessons.
Compilation Errors
Compilation errors, also known as compiler errors, are errors that prevent your program from running. Most compiler errors are caused by mistakes that you make when typing code. For example, you might misspell a keyword, leave out some necessary punctuation, or try to use an End If statement without first using an If statement.
Run Time Errors
Run-time errors are errors that occur while your program runs. These typically occur when your program attempts an operation that is impossible to carry out.
An example of this is division by zero. Suppose you had the following statement:
Speed = Miles / Hours
If the variable Hours has a value of 0, the division operation fails and causes a run-time error. The program must run in order for this error to be detected, and if Hours contains a valid value, it will not occur at all.
When a run-time error does occur, you can use the debugging tools to determine the cause.
Logic Errors
Logic errors are errors that prevent your program from doing what you intended it to do. Your code may compile and run without error, but the result of an operation may produce a result that you did not expect.
For example, you might have a variable named FirstName that is initially set to a blank string. Later in your program, you might concatenate FirstName with another variable named LastName to display a full name. If you forgot to assign a value to FirstName, only the last name would be displayed, not the full name as you intended.
Logic errors are the hardest to find and fix, but debugging tools make this job easier, also.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Top 10 Tips for Customer Service Excellence:

Excellence in customer service is no longer the privilege of a few, but the expectation of many. As part of the process of improving customer care, businesses need to learn from and share 'worst practice', not just best practice.

There is always room for improvement, so let continuous improvement be the Everest you seek.

1. Recognize and remember -People remain the centre of customer service.
2. Identify customer needs and expectations -respond to them.
3. Handle difficult situations swiftly, thoughtfully and firmly –avoid escalation.
4. Be quick to admit when wrong –customers prefer honesty when mistakes are made.
5. Engage with people in a friendly and professional way.
6. Focus on delivering best customer service -based on getting it right first time.
7. Provide accurate and timely feedback to customers (internal and external).
8. Be prepared for and respond to changing needs of customers.
9. Develop customer service policy that gives life to your Customer Service Charter.
10. When dealing with customers, the mantra is Courteous Action Required Every time.
Show CARE!