• From my experience, don’t follow XP (Extreme Programming) methodology for bigger ERP kind of product development; follow this for smaller teams (~20 members) and 2 to 6 months project.
• If the team is geographically dispersed, don’t even go near this methodology.
• Have real customer, no proxy customer.  Lack of proper requirement engineering leaves customer feedback only choice for validating the requirement to the implementation, so customer role is key to team success.
• Don’t fake, pair programming. I observed many times one team member taking rest (or do something else) while other member coding, this defeat the purpose of getting quality output by pairing developers. Also pairing for non programming tasks (like server builds etc) not going to help, so avoid these.

1. Light weight software development methodology for small to medium sized projects.
No need to follow complex processes and filling tons of documents for anything, save the precious time the mighty programmers have and relieve them from pain of documentation and Bureaucracy.

2. Work elbow-to-elbow with customer in all software development phases (Planning, developing, deploying).
Review and receive feedback from customer all the time, customer need to be aware of the state of the application any given point of time.

3. Release well tested software very frequently.
 Shorter release cycles (weekly/daily/monthly), follow test driven development, automate your testing and deployment.

4. Follow Iterative software development cycles.
 Start with what ever information available, refine and rewrite as things become clear in an iterative way.

6. Work very closely with the team, write code in pairs.
Two person, one computer, one task, quality of the work product will be better in the long run (lesser bug because two brains working on single task). If possible have bigger cubes, and have every one sitting closely together (including the customer).

7. Continuously improve the code to make it better.
 Look for even simpler refinement in past release’s code, and continuously fine tune it.

8. Keep everything very simple and clear; keep it running all the time.
No need for detailed architectural design before starting coding, make it simple, show the result to customer, refine it in later iterations if needed.

9. Have fun.
Following xTreme programming is not that easy when compared to well planned, documented ‘Other’ methodologies, so do all the above without killing yourself and have fun.

10. Retrospect after each iteration.
 Correct the mistakes, do course correction, and become better ‘extreme programming team’, after each iteration.

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer (1934 – 1996), popularized astrophysics and astronomy to wider audience with his COSMOS television series and followed by serious of books related to astronomy, evolution. His crystal clear voice and poetic language mesmerized many people (still mesmerizing), in explaining the complex scientific revelations about human origins and space.

Important events in his life:

• 1934: Born to Jewish parents, Brooklyn, New York.
• 1951: Graduated from Rahway High School in New Jersey.
• 1960: Doctorate in Astronomy and astrophysics.
• 1968: Worked in Harvard University.
• 1971: Director planetary studies, Cornell University.
• 1972: Associate Director Center for Radio Physics and Space Research, Cornell.
• 1972: Assembled the first physical message that was sent into space for NASA (He was adviser to NASA from his early days, one of the main duties worth mentioning during his tenure at NASA was briefing the Apollo Astronauts before their journey to Moon)
• 1996: Taught at Cornell a course on ‘critical thinking’ until his death.

Few of his books in my shelf (worth a read):

• The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark
• Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
• Cosmos (His popular television series).
• The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence.

Important websites about him

• http://www.carlsagan.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan
• http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap961226.html
• http://www.fas.org/sagan.htm

Viral Videos of his work

• Pale Blue Dot
• 4 Billion years of evolution (Snippet from COSMOS)
• Astrology
• Origins of Universe
• A thousand years of darkness

painting-class-4, originally uploaded by haja_maideen_m.

My master piece! ‘WIP’ version of oil painting, Yet to complete two more classes.

painting-class-2, originally uploaded by haja_maideen_m.

My master piece! ‘WIP’ version of my oil painting. yet to complete two more classes.

hashmi-fancy-dress_2, originally uploaded by haja_maideen_m.

Hashmi in S.C Bose attire, for Independence Day celebration at her school

hashmi-fancy-dress, originally uploaded by haja_maideen_m.

Hashmi in S.C Bose attire, for Independence Day celebration at her school

hashmi-fancy-dress_1, originally uploaded by haja_maideen_m.

Hashmi in S.C Bose attire, for Independence Day celebration at her school

Every one knows that, if your job is your passion then success is 100% guaranteed, but most of the time people really don’t know what their real passion is? Majority of the people never feel happiness about their job, and also they, aware that they are not performing to their peek potential, because the job they are doing is not their passion, also they confused what their real passion is. Here are few simple steps, explained in the following sites, which I felt real good material to share, explains how to identify your real passion.

http://www.oprah.com/living/lifemake/passionsteps/lifemake_passion_main.jhtml

http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/homeofficemagcom/2001/march/38294.html

http://www.lifescript.com/channels/well_being/meditations_motivations/find_your_passion.asp

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-to-find-your-passion.html

http://www.itstime.com/feb2000.htm

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-Your-Passion

http://www.briannorris.com/passion/what-is-passion.html