Nirav Mehta on life, technology and future

I was in search of a good project management system 16 months ago. And I am searching for one again!

I reviewed more than two dozen task / time tracking / project scheduling / collaboration systems this time too. The requirements are the same as last year. Something simple, usable and effective. Something that ties the different processes together. This time, we want it to support partners/contractors as well. This time, we would like to integrate the communications too.

As of now, I have three solutions in my shortlist:

• activeCollab - has good set of features, and will allow any customizations I want
• devShop - handles the main problems in software development - estimation errors, distractions and confidence score
• Intervals - superb tracking of time, and good features overall

And then, I want to hook it up with Openfire / Spark / Red5 for communications / conferencing.

Am I looking for too much? Not sure why I can’t find a system that solves my problems!

What do you use?

Congratulations Kartik for becoming a Debian Developer! You make me proud! It’s been a long journey. You have stayed on course despite all the odds. Congratulations!

Thanks for the graphic Kunal

I took a 3 hour session on How to Make the Most of your Internship Projects at Viva College in Virar yesterday. The session went great. Out of 95 attendees, 80%+ said they got great new ideas for their internship projects. 80%+ said they also got powerful insights in managing & implementing their projects. Here are some more reactions:

• Mind Blowing - Rajesh Gaikwad (professor in charge)
• Awesome - Brijesh Joshi (professor)
• I have attended other seminars, but this was the best ever!
• Where were you two months ago? (internship project planning started two months ago for the college, and many people repented the session did not happen two months ago)
• Superb - as usual - from you!
• I created some great project ideas by the end of the session.
• Excellent. Thank you!
• Truly motivating. This will help us a long way in our projects.

I am thrilled by the results! And am looking forward to see what projects the students do!

Here are the slides from the presentation.

World’s Best Presentation Contest

Would you like me to speak at your organization? Contact me at nirav at mehtanirav dot com.

I’ve been playing with a few open source CMSs for my new book. And I am actually surprised! Most of them are just so darn difficult to use! Not only they are jargon filled, but they are also unintuivie!

I am looking at both user side and the admin side.

I think WordPress excels in usability. The design is good, and it’s easy to figure out how things are laid. It follows task-centered approach to design. Which is great.

Joomla is confusing. The action buttons are above the form where you fill in the information. That’s very sad. The content adding interface is overly complicated and difficult for an intermediate user too.

Drupal makes me feel I have landed in wonderland! The taxonomy and nodes tangle me! And where is the WYSIWYG interface? That should be on by default!

What’s been your experience? Which CMS is best in terms of usability?

We work on outsourced software development projects. One of the biggest challenges in that is to communicate effectively. We started having weekly telephone calls with customers to improve project execution. Here are some tips on drastically improving your effectiveness of handling conference calls with customers.

1. Connection: Have the number to call handy. And an alternate number to call in case the first does not work. Understand the timezone difference. Where will the client be when you call? Get connected 2 minutes earlier than scheduled.
2. Accent: Just as our clients have accent, for them, we have an accent. Indians have a variety of accents (per their cultural background) and that makes it even difficult for the client to understand what we say. Speak slowly, make sure each word is clear.
3. Disturbances: If there are disturbances on the line, don’t keep saying “are you there”, “can you hear me”, “i can hear you” etc. Keep going slowly. If you did not understand something because of the disturbance, tell the client “I didn’t get what you said (about …)” and let them answer.
4. Echo: Mute your microphone when you are not speaking. You may be on a speakerphone in a conference and the client may get echo of what he is speaking if you are not on mute. The same may happen to you if the client is on speakerphone. You can request them to mute their line while you are speaking. This will even save you some bandwidth if you are using VoIP.
5. Homework: Be prepared for the conference call. A conference call is a meeting. So be prepared with the agenda, be ready with your status updates or questions.
6. Culture Difference: Be aware of the culture difference. Your client’s expectations and understanding will not be the same as yours. The slang will be different. Some clients will be very demanding, some will be easy. Watch for this and act accordingly.
7. Cutting Long Conversations short: You or the client may keep on talking. Cut this short - unless it’s contributing. If the client is repeating himself, check whether you understood what they said, and if you reiterated that to them. Go ahead, explain the client what you understood. This will most probably reassure them that you got what they wanted to say. When needed, remind the client about the agenda and time limit for the meeting. And get back on track. Tell them you “would love to get to work on what’s been discussed. And will give an update at the end of the day”.
8. Correct Grammar: Speak good English. Incorrect grammar can upset the customer. It will not only make it difficult for your client to understand you, but will also give a bad impression of you. Practice speaking.
9. Greeting and Closing: Greet with a “good evening” (or similar, depending on the client’s time). And close with a “Thank you”. At the end of the meeting, summarize the actions to be taken now, and provide an update on when can the client expect to hear from you.
10. Listening: The most important thing on any call, is to listen to the other person! Listen actively. Repeat what the client says in your head. This will help you understand it. If you don’t understand, say what you did, and request the client to explain the rest. Practice listening! This is one thing that can elevate your performance anywhere!

What do you say about this? Are there any other tips you’ve got? Any experiences you want to share? Feel free to comment!