Pasting Lotus Notes links to other programs:

We can embed Lotus Notes links into content created with other programs such as documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc.

First create your link (Document, View, or Database) in Lotus Notes



Then in the other application (such as Lotus Word Pro, MS PowerPoint, etc) choose Edit - Paste Special.

Make sure to select "Paste link" and select the "Display as icon" checkbox.




A link to the Lotus Notes object will be added to your document, presentation, etc.

Enable Macros in Excel 2007:

If you’ve recently received a shared workbook containing macros in Excel, you may be having trouble using it if your macro settings haven’t been adjusted. To make changes to these settings, follow these steps.
How to Change the Macro Security Settings
Step 1: Click on the Office button in the upper left-hand corner of the Excel interface, and then click on Excel Options.

Step 2: In the Excel Options window, select Trust Center from the list of categories in the left panel. Then, click on Trust Center Settings.

Step 3: Once in the Trust Center window, select Macro Settings from the list in the left panel of the window.

Here, you’ll be able to see the four different macro security settings:
• Disable all macros without notification – If you select this option, all macros that aren’t in a designated trusted location are disabled. Additionally, you will not receive any alert messages when a workbook you are using contains these macros – they simply will not work.
• Disable all macros with notification – This option also disables all macros that aren’t in a trusted location. However, an alert will be displayed notifying you when such macros are present so that you can enable these tools if you need them.
• Disable all macros except digitally signed macros – This option is the same as the one above, except that digitally signed macros created by people you have designated as trusted publishers will still be permitted to run.
• Enable all macros – If you select this option, Excel will allow any macro to run. This is, by far, the least secure macro setting, and you should only choose this option if you are extremely confident about the contents of all Excel files on your computer.
Step 4: Select the setting that you want to apply and then click OK to exit the Trust Center. Click OK again to exit the Excel Options window.
Note: When trying to get a macro to run in a shared workbook or add-in, many people will get frustrated and just choose the Enable all macros option. Even though this seems like a quick way to access the information you need, it’s much better to take a few extra moments and add that workbook’s directory to your list of Trusted Locations instead. You can perform this function in the Trust Center as well.
To do this, return to the Trust Center and select Trusted Locations from the left panel. Click on the Add new location button and browse for the directory containing your workbook or add-in.

Signature Items:

Signature Items are unique items that competitors do not sell, which differentiate a store or company from the competition. The items are advertised and promoted both in-store and through print advertisements.

Supplier Quality Assurance:

Confidence a supplier’s product or service will fulfill its customers’ needs. This confidence is achieved by creating a relationship between the customer and supplier that ensures the product will be fit for use with minimal corrective action and inspection.
According to Joseph M. Juran, nine primary activities are needed:
1. Define product and program quality requirements;
2. Evaluate alternative suppliers;
3. Select suppliers;
4. Conduct joint quality planning;
5. Cooperate with the supplier during the execution of the contract;
6. Obtain proof of conformance to requirements;
7. Certify qualified suppliers;
8. Conduct quality improvement programs as required;
9. Create and use supplier quality ratings.

Towards bug free code:

The only way to have bug-free code is to mathematically prove the code. Very few programs in the world are mathematically proved. Some industry can afford the price of a mathematical proof, especially when bugs would turn into human death, such as embedded software in planes, trains or cars. Most of us are working on projects that cannot afford the cost of a mathematical proof. We then rely on some tricks to maintain our bug rate as low as possible. We can classify these tricks into 6 categories.

Contract
Automatic test
Empirical approach
Code review
Prioritizing bugs fix over new features development
Programming style and code quality
Static Analysis Tools

Contract - The idea of contracts is to insert correctness information inside the code. When contract is violated it means that your code contains a bug somewhere.

Automatic Test - The important thing to remember is that having a solid battery of automatic tests is an excellent way to decrease significantly the bug rate on tested code, but also to avoid new bugs when code gets refactored.

Empirical Approach - empirical approach is a simple tenet that every seasoned programmer knows:
Most of bugs in a new version are coming from modified code and brand new code
Unchanged code that works well for a long time in production won't likely crash within the next release (what we call stable code). We don't say that stable code don't contain bug, but discovering a bug in stable code is rare.
Code Review - Code reviews are good to enhance quality and to educate programmers. Focus your review on not stable code, i.e added code and modified code. If you release new versions often, the mass of code to review before each release will quickly become an epsilon of the size of your entire code base.

Prioritizing bugs fix over new features development - This popular methodology directly results from the concept of stable code. Prioritizing bugs fix over new features development can be seen as a way to constantly struggle to maximize the surface of stable code in our code base.
Programming Style and Code Quality - Object style programming is more bug-prone than functional style programming. This fact results from the expressiveness of functional style. In other words, functional code is easier to read and understand. Code quality has also a direct impact on code correctness. Anti pattern such as methods with high LOC, high Cyclomatic Complexity or high Nesting Depth, entangled components, methods with multiple concerns, classes with multiple responsibilities… leads to code harder to debug and to test.

Static Analysis Tool - Some tools are already able to detect naïve mistakes. But most bugs are not that easy to pinpoint. By just analyzing the code a tool cannot distinguish between a feature and a bug because it doesn’t know how the application should behave.

Conclusion:
Having a bug-free product to release shouldn’t be the goal. Anyway, every program not mathematically proved has bugs. The goal should then be to tend toward a bug-free product by applying as many correctness tricks as possible.

Towards bug free code:

The only way to have bug-free code is to mathematically prove the code. Very few programs in the world are mathematically proved. Some industry can afford the price of a mathematical proof, especially when bugs would turn into human death, such as embedded software in planes, trains or cars. Most of us are working on projects that cannot afford the cost of a mathematical proof. We then rely on some tricks to maintain our bug rate as low as possible. We can classify these tricks into 6 categories.

Contract
Automatic test
Empirical approach
Code review
Prioritizing bugs fix over new features development
Programming style and code quality
Static Analysis Tools

Contract - The idea of contracts is to insert correctness information inside the code. When contract is violated it means that your code contains a bug somewhere.

Automatic Test - The important thing to remember is that having a solid battery of automatic tests is an excellent way to decrease significantly the bug rate on tested code, but also to avoid new bugs when code gets refactored.

Empirical Approach - empirical approach is a simple tenet that every seasoned programmer knows:
Most of bugs in a new version are coming from modified code and brand new code
Unchanged code that works well for a long time in production won't likely crash within the next release (what we call stable code). We don't say that stable code don't contain bug, but discovering a bug in stable code is rare.
Code Review - Code reviews are good to enhance quality and to educate programmers. Focus your review on not stable code, i.e added code and modified code. If you release new versions often, the mass of code to review before each release will quickly become an epsilon of the size of your entire code base.

Prioritizing bugs fix over new features development - This popular methodology directly results from the concept of stable code. Prioritizing bugs fix over new features development can be seen as a way to constantly struggle to maximize the surface of stable code in our code base.
Programming Style and Code Quality - Object style programming is more bug-prone than functional style programming. This fact results from the expressiveness of functional style. In other words, functional code is easier to read and understand. Code quality has also a direct impact on code correctness. Anti pattern such as methods with high LOC, high Cyclomatic Complexity or high Nesting Depth, entangled components, methods with multiple concerns, classes with multiple responsibilities… leads to code harder to debug and to test.

Static Analysis Tool - Some tools are already able to detect naïve mistakes. But most bugs are not that easy to pinpoint. By just analyzing the code a tool cannot distinguish between a feature and a bug because it doesn’t know how the application should behave.

Conclusion:
Having a bug-free product to release shouldn’t be the goal. Anyway, every program not mathematically proved has bugs. The goal should then be to tend toward a bug-free product by applying as many correctness tricks as possible.

Situational Leadership:

This is a term that can be applied generically to a style of leadership, but that also refers to a recognized, and useful, leadership model. In simple terms, a situational leader is one who can adopt different leadership styles depending on the situation. Most of us do this anyway in our dealings with other people: we try not to get angry with a nervous colleague on their first day; we chase up tasks with some people more than others because we know they'll forget otherwise.

But Ken Blanchard, the management guru best known for the "One Minute Manager" series, and Paul Hersey created a model for Situational Leadership in the late 1960's that allows you to analyze the needs of the situation you're dealing with, and then adopt the most appropriate leadership style. It's proved popular with managers over the years because it passes the two basic tests of such models: it's simple to understand, and it works in most environments for most people. The model doesn't just apply to people in leadership or management positions: we all lead others at work and at home.

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR

Blanchard and Hersey characterized leadership style in terms of the amount of direction and of support that the leader gives to his or her followers, and so created a simple grid:

Directing Leaders define the roles and tasks of the 'follower', and supervise them closely. Decisions are made by the leader and announced, so communication is largely one-way.
Coaching Leaders still define roles and tasks, but seeks ideas and suggestions from the follower. Decisions remain the leader's prerogative, but communication is much more two-way.
Supporting Leaders pass day-to-day decisions, such as task allocation and processes, to the follower. The leader facilitates and takes part in decisions, but control is with the follower.
Delegating Leaders are still involved in decisions and problem-solving, but control is with the follower. The follower decides when and how the leader will be involved.
Effective leaders are versatile in being able to move around the grid according to the situation, so there is no one right style. However, we tend to have a preferred style, and in applying Situational Leadership you need to know which one that is for you.

DEVELOPMENT LEVEL

Clearly the right leadership style will depend very much on the person being led - the follower - and Blanchard and Hersey extended their model to include the Development Level of the follower. They said that the leader's style should be driven by the Competence and Commitment of the follower, and came up with four levels:

D4
High CompetenceHigh Commitment
Experienced at the job, and comfortable with their own ability to do it well. May even be more skilled than the leader.
D3
High CompetenceVariable Commitment
Experienced and capable, but may lack the confidence to go it alone, or the motivation to do it well / quickly
D2
Some CompetenceLow Commitment
May have some relevant skills, but won't be able to do the job without help. The task or the situation may be new to them.
D1
Low CompetenceLow Commitment
Generally lacking the specific skills required for the job in hand, and lacks any confidence and / or motivation to tackle it.

Development Levels are also situational. I might be generally skilled, confident and motivated in my job, but would still drop into Level D1 when faced, say, with a task requiring skills I don't possess. For example, lots of managers are D4 when dealing with the day-to-day running of their department, but move to D1 or D2 when dealing with a sensitive employee issue.

SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Blanchard and Hersey said that the Leadership Style (S1 - S4) of the leader must correspond to the Development level (D1 - D4) of the follower - and it's the leader who adapts.

For example, a new person joins your team and you're asked to help them through the first few days. You sit them in front of a PC, show them a pile of invoices that need to be processed today, and push off to a meeting. They're at level D1, and you've adopted S4. Everyone loses because the new person feels helpless and demotivated, and you don't get the invoices processed.

On the other hand, you're handing over to an experienced colleague before you leave for a holiday. You've listed all the tasks that need to be done, and a set of instructions on how to carry out each one. They're at level D4, and you've adopted S1. The work will probably get done, but not the way you expected, and your colleague despises you for treating him like an idiot.

But swap the situations and things get better. Leave detailed instructions and a checklist for the new person, and they'll thank you for it. Give your colleague a quick chat and a few notes before you go on holiday, and everything will be fine.
By adopting the right style to suit the follower's development level, work gets done, relationships are built up, and most importantly, the follower's development level will rise to D4, to everyone's benefit.

Advanced Shipping Notice:

An Advance Shipment Notice (ASN) is a notification of pending deliveries, similar to a packing list. It is usually sent in an electronic format and is a common EDI document. In the EDI X12 system, it is known as the EDI 856 document. The ASN can be used to list the contents of a shipment of goods as well as additional information relating to the shipment, such as order information, product description, physical characteristics, type of packaging, markings, carrier information, and configuration of goods within the transportation equipment. The ASN enables the sender to describe the contents and configuration of a shipment in various levels of detail and provides an ordered flexibility to convey information.

RSS:

The trouble with living in the Information Age is paradoxical: There's too much information. It's everywhere. How are you supposed to keep track of all the news, sports, weather and blogs you follow? Better yet, how are you going to do that and find time for work, school and family?
If you're addicted to the constant flow of data that we know as the Internet, you're not going to be able to manage it without some help. One way to keep track of it all has grown very popular since its introduction in 1997: RSS. Short for Really Simple Syndication, RSS is a way to subscribe to a source of information, such as a Web site, and get brief updates delivered to you.
These sources are called feeds. When you subscribe, you'll get a feed -- often a series of headlines and brief summaries -- of all the articles published on that particular Web page. This lets you scan the articles on the page more efficiently. Sometimes you'll even spot more headlines that you might never have seen buried on the original page.

Reading RSS feeds can be a great time-saver. In the time it takes you to scan whole Web pages for information, you can review headlines from dozens of sites all collected in one place. On the other hand, the ease with which you can view RSS headlines may convince you that you can subscribe to even more sites. You may end up spending just as much time reading feeds as you used to on regular Web sites.

Protect a Power Point from changes:

Many people need to protect PowerPoint files from changes. There are many reasons for this:
To send presentations for review only (but not editing)
To maintain ownership of the creative content
For legal reasons (for example, if the content has been approved by legal and financial counsel and may not be changed)
To provide presentations for others to deliver but not modify
You can choose from a number of techniques, depending on your situation. One of the easy methods for creating static slides is given below.
Convert to images
If you don't have animation, you can convert the entire presentation to images, so that each slide contains an image of the original slide. Of course, people could still remove slides or images, but this method is easy and is often used for review and maintaining creative ownership. It also allows you to protect some slides and not others. This is useful if you want to allow people to change some of the slides. Follow these steps:
Choose File> Save As. (In 2007, Office button> Save As.)
In the Save As dialog box, click the Save as Type drop-down box and choose the JPG or PNG option. You can change the file name if you want or keep the default name.
Click Save.
At the dialog box asking if you want to export every slide or the current slide, click Every Slide.
Click OK at the dialog box that tells you were the image files were saved. PowerPoint creates a subfolder for them.
Create a new presentation. You now need to insert the images, and there's a shortcut, the Photo Album feature. Choose Insert> Picture> New Photo Album. (In 2007, choose Insert tab> Illustrations group> Photo Album drop-down arrow> New Photo Album.)
In the Photo Album dialog box, click the File/Disk button. Choose the images you created earlier and click Open. (You can press Shift and click the first, then the last image you saved earlier to select them all.)
You'll return to the Photo Album dialog box. In the Album Layout section, choose the Picture Layout you want. Usually, you'll choose Fit to Slide or 1 Picture. Click Create.
PowerPoint inserts one image on each slide and creates a title slide, which you can then delete. Save the presentation.

Calendar Cleanup:

Here's another quick tip to help you reduce the size of your mail file.
Often, you don't need to save old calendar and to do entries. After a certain period of time has passed, you probably won't need to refer back to a calendar or to do entry. So Notes has a feature that deletes past entries that haven't been modified in a long time. You can select how old the entries need to be, and whether to delete calendar entries, to do entries, or both.
Note: Calendar Cleanup deletes calendar and to do entries permanently. If you want to be able to go back and review the entries later, you can either remove them from your Inbox, or archive them.
To use the Calendar Cleanup feature, follow these steps:
1. Open you calendar.
2. Click More > Calendar Cleanup (0r) Tools > Calendar Cleanup.
3. Choose the entries you'd like to delete. Advisable to choose all calendars and to do entries older than 6 months, but you may want to do something different.
4. After you click ok, Notes will delete all entries that have not been modified in the time you specified.

Sub optimization:

A condition in which gains made in one activity are offset by losses in another activity or activities that are caused by the same actions that created gains in the first activity.

Self-Liquidating Premium:

A manufacturer's premium in which the product's cost is recovered through a retail sale of the product.

Properties of Good Tests:

Independent - No test should affect the outcome of any other test. Put another way, you should be able to run your tests in any order and always have the same outcome. A corollary of this is that setup/teardown methods are evil (both because they increase dependence and they decrease readability)
Readable - The intent of each test should be immediately obvious (both by its name and by its code).
Fast - Each test should run as quickly as possible, so the entire suite is also fast. The faster the suite, the more you'll run the tests, and the greater benefit you'll get (because you'll catch regressions quickly)
Precise - Each test should focus on testing one thing (and only one thing) well. Ideally, if a test fails, you should know exactly what part of your production code broke by just glancing at the name of the test. Also, if your tests are precise, it's less likely that a change in your code will require you to change many different tests. In practice, precise tests are short and only have one assertion or expectation per test.

Refresh Rate of a Monitor:

This is the speed at which the monitor's picture is redrawn or flashed in front of your eyes. Slower refresh rates provide a noticeable flicker. Higher refresh rates create a steady picture (and is easier on your eyes). The refresh rate is determined by the video card, but also must be supported by the monitor. The maximum refresh rate will be different for different resolutions. A minimum of 75 Hertz is recommended (TV refresh rates are 30 Hz, which is why there is a noticeable flicker).

Quickly Manage your Incoming mail:

QuickRule is a Lotus Notes feature, which allows you easily create mail rules, helping you manage the burden of email overload.
Select a message in your mail file, and click "Tools- Create QuickRule..."
The will bring up the Create QuickRule dialog box, and the values from the selected message will be filled in for you automatically.
In section #1, you select the condition(s) you want the rule to match: Sender, Domain, or Subject, the values (pre-filled in for you so no typing errors!) and how they should be evaluated: Contains, Does not contain, Is, or Is not.
In section #2, you decide if the rule must match any one of the conditions or all of the conditions.
In section #3, you define the action to take, such as which folder to move the message into.

Seiban:

This is the name of a Japanese management practice taken from the words sei, which means manufacturing, and ban, which means number. A seiban number is assigned to all parts, materials and purchase orders associated with a particular customer job, project or anything else. This enables a manufacturer to track everything related to a particular product, project or customer, and facilitates setting aside inventory for specific projects or priorities. That makes it an effective practice for project and build to- order manufacturing.

Sum the numbers in the filtered list:

After filtering the rows in a list, you can use the SUBTOTAL function, instead of the Excel SUM function, to sum the numbers in the visible rows.
A SUBTOTAL formula will be automatically inserted, while clicking the AutoSum button to total the visible cells in the column or manually keying the formula =SUBTOTAL(109,B2:B9)
The first argument in the SUBTOTAL function is a function number that specifies how the numbers should be calculated. There is a 9 in this example, which tells Excel to SUM the numbers.
Other function numbers can be used, such as 1 for AVERAGE, and 3 for COUNTA. Look in Excel's Help for a complete list.

Pair Programming:

Pair programming is a software development technique in which two programmers work together at one work station. One types in code while the other reviews each line of code as it is typed in. The person typing is called the driver. The person reviewing the code is called the observer or navigator. The two programmers switch roles frequently (possibly every 30 minutes or less).
While reviewing, the observer also considers the strategic direction of the work, coming up with ideas for improvements and likely future problems to address. This frees the driver to focus all of his or her attention on the "tactical" aspects of completing the current task, using the observer as a safety net and guide.
Benefits:
· Design quality: Shorter programs, better designs, fewer bugs
· Reduced cost of development: With bugs being a particularly expensive part of software development, especially if they're caught late in the development process, the large reduction in defect rate due to pair programming can significantly reduce software development costs
· Learning and training: Knowledge passes easily between pair programmers: they share knowledge of the specifics of the system, and they pick up programming techniques from each other as they work
· Overcoming difficult problems: Pairs often find that seemingly "impossible" problems become easy or even quick, or at least possible, to solve when they work together
· Improved morale: Programmers report greater joy in their work and greater confidence that their work is correct
· Decreased management risk: Since knowledge of the system is shared among programmers, there is less risk to management if one programmer leaves the team
· Increased discipline and better time management: Programmers are less likely to skip writing unit tests, spend time web-surfing or on personal email, or other violations of discipline, when they are working with a pair partner. The pair partner "keeps them honest"
· Fewer interruptions: People are more reluctant to interrupt a pair than they are to interrupt someone working alone