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Soar beyond fears - Why walk when you can fly
about 1 year ago | Yashashree Barve: Life is Beautiful !!
Once there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent falcons from Arabia. They were peregrine falcons, the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained.
Months passed and one day the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.
The king summoned healers and sorcerers from all the land to tend to the falcon, but no one could make the bird fly. He presented the task to the member of his court, but the next day, the king saw through the palace window that the bird had still not moved from its perch. Having tried everything else, the king thought to himself, "May be I need someone more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this problem." So he cried out to his court, "Go and get a farmer."
In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high above the palace gardens. He said to his court, "Bring me the doer of this miracle."
The court quickly located the farmer, who came and stood before the king. The king asked him, "How did you make the falcon fly?"
With his head bowed, the farmer said to the king, " It was very easy, your highness. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting."
We are all made to fly -- to realize our incredible potential as human beings. But instead of doing that, we sit on our branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to us. The possibilities are endless, but for most of us, they remain undiscovered. We conform to the familiar, the comfortable, the mundane. So for the most part, our lives are mediocre instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling.
So let us learn to destroy the branch of fear we cling to and free ourselves to the glory of flight.
-- From the Book "Why walk when you can fly"
Of VIPs and 93 friends
about 1 year ago | Yashashree Barve: Life is Beautiful !!
A couple of small talks thanks to my kiddo...
Whenever we cross the toll bridge on the expressway, we would read the signs on the lanes, one of those would read VIP. My son asked me what it means and I said Very Important People. He asked me whether we are VIPs, I said why not ! Since then he wants my hubby to get our car in that lane.
The other day he asked me how do they decide who is a VIP and who is not. I said, in my opinion people whom we care for, or without whom our work gets stuck is a VIP for us, everyone including my family, my colleagues, my domestic help and my favorite people who make a difference in my life is a VIP for me. I just wished the toll bridge people also think so, and treat people equal !
The other day my son was talking to one of our family friends, and they asked him about his friends. He started telling them his friends' names, and suddenly said, "My mother has 93 friends!". I was overhearing and was bowled over by this. I asked him later what is this 93 number, and he said he had seen it on my facebook profile the other day. Wow ! 93 friends ! He was proud that his mother has so many friends, and thinks he has not yet reached that number of his friends. For him the friends are yet all face to face and real friends, and not virtual ones like me though :)
It's Diwali Time folks ! Happy Diwali
over 1 year ago | Yashashree Barve: Life is Beautiful !!
Diwali is just around the corner, its actually nearer than that :) and it really really excites me. Have lots of plans this time, as its a 3 day holiday. So lots of rangoli, crackers, sweets, cooking, lighting, new dresses, diya, lanterns. It all really fills so many colours in life. Kids are also excited and spending a lot of time in making diwali greetings for their cousins / friends, and trying their hands at rangoli too.
India is really big on festivals, and Diwali is undoubtedly the Queen. People splurge on things that they would not otherwise, irrespective of how much they earn. It gives a zing to the routine boring life.
I have been finding out and telling stories about why we celebrate diwali to kids. So all stories of Narakasura, Laxmi's birthday, Bali-Vaman, Bhaubeej, Ram returning home from Lanka, Pandav returning from their exile, and what not. So many reasons to celebrate, isnt it?
Engineering practices !!
over 1 year ago | Yashashree Barve: Life is Beautiful !!
I would be speaking on one of my favourite topics "Engineering Practices" at Agile Tour 2010 in Pune India this Saturday i.e. 23rd Oct 2010. This is the first time Agile Tour conference is happening in India !
Am really excited to think about the event, and specially my presentation. Looking forward to hear new ideas, new thoughts to feed my mind.
The agenda looks exciting, They have 3 tracks, one technical, one process, and one on organizational change management.
So inviting all you folks in Pune and in Mumbai, who are passionate about Agile, to participate in this event, and wish me luck!
What's in my DNA today?
over 1 year ago | Yashashree Barve: Life is Beautiful !!
Around 4-5 years back, when I was a loyal reader of Times of India, I saw this advertisement of a new newspaper being launched. It read "What's BMC digging for? a) Water b) gold c) Petrol". It was so apt looking at the roads that are always dug by BMC for some reason or the other. I tried to give DNA a shot, and really fell in love with it. Today after 5 years, it has become a part of my life, and I really look forward to what's in the DNA today.
It brought in many concepts of Web 2.0 such as readers contributing to news, as well as opinions on latest happenings. It also has a separate edition for kids on sunday called YA! which my kids simply love.
DNA is celebrating its 5th anniversary, and enjoy a snapshot of the cartoons published over these 5 years !
Looking forward to a continued relationship with you DNA !
What 'MindFood' are we eating?
over 1 year ago | Yashashree Barve: Life is Beautiful !!
Read a nice article in DNA today, and it got me thinking.
We make so much fuss about the food we eat, to ensure the right healthy food, fruits and salads, and our tastes and so on. It's essential to keep ourselves healthy, isnt it?
Do we take out time to see that we are feeding our mind with? What do we talk to people around us? What do we hear, and what do we read? What do we think when we are alone, and so on. Do we really put in efforts to ensure that things that we are putting in our mind are healthy :)
Talking /reading the positive things, and listening to those too, can really help us. And pushing off all those negative energies that might come to us from people around us, would definitely prove useful !
Good mindfood for me for today at least :)
Indian Innovation
almost 2 years ago | Yashashree Barve: Life is Beautiful !!
Attended the technical architects's conference in my organization last week on 30th March.
Want to talk here about the inaugural talk about India's next global export - Jugaad. It was by Prof. Prasad Kaipi, who is heading executive director of Center of Leadership, innovation and Change at ISB, hyderabad.
He talked about 'Jugaad - an Indian model of Innovation', where necessity and resource / time crunch has given rise to innovative solutions to existing problems. It was nice to hear the examples that he cited about solutions of using tractor as a vehicle, and washing machines as lassi-makers, and firing pins for russian tanks and so on. There have been criticism like Jugaad being only a stop-gap or work-around solution, so how do we take this globally around the world.
He talked a lot about making the Jugaad solutions in India meet the global standards.
He focused on 6 attributes to pay attention to making the Jugaad solutions acceptable world-wide:
- Scalable
- High Quality
- Sustainable
- Inclusive - Open innovation -Wisdom of crowd rather than self-declared experts developing solutions. Use diversity of perspectives, Not letting the IQ affect the EQ.
- Strategic
- Affordable
His talk also contained some agile principles of being effective rather than efficient, and others like failing small and learning and so on.
It was really heartening to hear these principles that we believe in from an expert. Also discussions around the Indian Innovation were thought provoking. Definitely plan to think about it further, and spread the word.
For more information on Jugaad, have a look at this article in Business Week.
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2009/id2009121_864965.htm
Why do I go to office !
almost 2 years ago | Yashashree Barve: Life is Beautiful !!
Some days back, my 5 year old son had this question about why do I need to go to office. My husband and I tried to explain to him how I earning money helps us to buy him toys, chocolates etc. He did not seem convinced, and said that his father is already earning money! Discussion got into another topic, and this was left as is.
Again yesterday he talked to me about why do I go to office, when the lady at my neighborhood is a home maker. I thought probably he sees lot of women who are not working, and are home makers, and hence this question is still on his mind.
Thought of giving a different answer to him this time. Started explaining him that everyone chooses a field that they like, study in that and later work on it. I said, I liked engineering, so studied that, and then got into this computer field, and I love doing that now. So I go to office, because its my choice. Some do not go, because they like don't like to. I also tried to push in examples of how his teacher likes to teach them and hence goes to school, which is her office. He loves his teacher, so probably was happy that she goes to her office :)
I hope he liked the answer this time, as he hasn't come back to me with this question again. But I am glad that he is thinking about what he sees around him, and talking to me about it. It makes me think as well :)
almost 2 years ago | Yashashree Barve: Life is Beautiful !!
Read about this 10 year old boy creating mobile Apps, Looks like its time to jump the wagon, or else my kids would develop mobile apps before I do !
Talking Agile to an Agile Guru
almost 2 years ago | Yashashree Barve: Life is Beautiful !!
Last to last week I got a chance to talk to an Executive General Manager from an Insurance Firm about what Agile means to us. This firm trains people in Agile, through Agile Academy.
I was amazed at how well I could connect with this senior fellow through the Agile Thread. We spoke about the team behavior, the team events, the workshops in our Agile journey. I could see a twinkle in his eyes when I showed him the comparison between Agile with Twenty-Twenty cricket made by one of our teams.
He shared his views on pair programing, skeptics, blurring line between specialized roles of developers and testers. So many common things. Agile helps them not only in software development, but in complex business strategies. This was indeed interesting to know.
We also talked about our experiences of teaching agile to freshers vs experienced. I commented that freshers connect easily with Agile principles, as their minds are not polluted with waterfall, and they bring in more energy. This organization also believes in the power of fresh thoughts. Incidenly they have special programs where they recruit fresh graduates, and get wonderful results out of their work.
It was really a pleasure to know that someone could see our passion towards Agile, and appreciate. I really think its a great start to this year! I look forward to more such interactions, and sharing the same with the world.
