Innovate in Level-1 and Collaborate with Level-5

One last ditch attempt to create a paperless office led me to my own definition of Capability Maturity Model (CMM). There it was scribbled on a post-it.

SEI CMM - a software development model where-in an engineer focuses virtually on everything except coding; Has largely been responsible for beating creative software development to death; Soon to be replaced by a more lethal CMMi. [Naren 2002-2003]

I can't believe I said that. That was a while ago; but it still holds true. In fact the greatest of the systems consultants, Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister have better insights to offer on what they call the paradox of process improvement programs.

If you are already a CMM Level 2 or higher organization, remember this: The projects most worth doing are the ones that will move you DOWN one full level on your process scale. [Peopleware]

It is 100 percent true; none of the innovative and interesting companies perceive CMM certification as a competitive edge. For a second, imagine Google a “CMM level 5 certified” search engine; would you think that CMM is the key differentiator not the page rank algorithm? If so, you must be a Software Quality Assurance (SQA) guy in Indian IT Company ;)

A magnanimous guinea pig (customer) once came along and said “You come up with a high value product and you will get a dollar if I am happy. But, if you screw up you get nothing. On the other hand, you can have a dime now and excel in a monotonous support job that demands high quality. You have a choice to make.”

Thanks to risk-averse business model, much of Indian CMM frenzy IT service industry has long stayed clear of innovation unlike the high value companies in Silicon Valley.

Consider this – Go ahead use CMM for your new product development; churn out piles of documentation like use cases, UML diagrams, test cases and system integration plans, live project plans; quantify all the unknowns with stereotype metrics. Sure that sounds like a plan. But remember this is what that is going to happen. Your competitor, a startup working on a shoe string budget has already captured the market while your architects are talking about a generic framework for integrating with “third-party” products.

I neither want to sound preaching nor bitching. But I guess it is high time the big software companies gave the control back in to the hands of engineers.



A quick search on Amazon and Google shows how popular CMM is. CMM is not at all a bad thing as I perceived it to be in the first place. It is in fact ideal for improving operational efficiency of a mature system. No doubt processes form the back bone in any service industry.

Let creativity, chaos prevail during the innovation phase. Most of the times you want it to prevail through out the life cycle of the product. At times you have to let it go. In that case, instead of institutionalizing CMM stack, apply it at a micro level as a methodology for product life cycle management as some sort of migration strategy for seasoned CMMers. See the self explanatory diagram below.

Psyche yourself

People say in spite of being bad in mundane matters, I am good in BED. Hey, don't get me wrong, I meant good in basic engineering design;-) When I was a kid, I wanted to be a scientist. Instead, I have become a software engineer. More dangerous than a scientist, ain't it?

While sorting my personal library, I discovered a some of my dated scribblings. Let me warn you, what follows is bits and bytes of my inked pieces. Now you are at the liberty to read or ignore.

Edison, Einstein, Feynman, Linus Pauling, C.V.Raman were my childhood inspirations. I used to read them over and over again to psyche myself.

Albert Einstein
Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity. Science without religion is Lame. Religion without science is blind. Science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with aspiration toward truth and understanding.

Edison
Work never ceased for Edison. When he was 'up to something', he didn't go home for days on end, taking short naps on a laboratory table with a couple of books for a pillow. There is hardly a technical or scientific field to which he did not apply his fertile brain. He once said genius was only 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

Gauss
His father wanted him to become a brick layer. In Brunswick, Germany in 1780, a statesman was calculating wages due his workmen at the end of the week. Watching was his 3 year old son. "Father", said the child, "the reckoning is wrong". The boy gave a different total which, to every one's surprise was correct. No one had taught the lad any arithmetic. The father had hoped that his son would become a brick layer, but thanks to his mother's encouragement the boy, Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), became a great mathematicians in the history.

Euler
A tireless mathematician - Leonhard Euler(1707-1783) authored 734 memoirs. And he did all this under a severe handicap.

Pasteur
Men in libraries and laboratories are usually absorbed in their tasks to worry about themselves. Research men rarely have nervous breakdowns. They haven't time for such luxuries.

Grace Hopper
"Take risks", She admonished them "A ship in port is safe but that is not what it is meant for. Sail out to seas and do new things".

Alexander Hamilton
All genius I have lies in this - When I have a subject in mind, I study it profoundly day and night it is before me. I explore it in all its bearings. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the efforts that I make are what people are pleased to call the fruits of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought.

Kalidasa (A famous Indian poet)
Look to this day!
For it is the life of very life
In its brief course
lie all the verities and realities of your existence
The bliss of you growth
The glory of action
The splendor of beauty
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope Look well, therefore to this day !
Such is the salutation of dawn.

Sir William Osler
The best way to prepare for tomorrow is to concentrate with all your intelligence, all your enthusiasm, on doing today's work superbly today. That is the only possible way to prepare for future.

Feigenbaum
At the age of 29 had already become a savant among savants an adhoc consultant whom scientists would to see about any intractable problem. One evening he arrived at work as director of the laboratory. When he worked, he worked obsessively, when he could not, he walked and thought; day or night, and night was best of all.

Lorenz (quoting from the book chaos )
Lorenz was an odd sort of meteorologist. He had the worn face of a Yankee farmer,with surprising bright eyes that made him seem to be laughing whether he was or not. He seldom spoke about himself or his work, but he listened. He often lost himself in a realm of calculations or dreaming that his colleagues found inaccessible. Lorenz spent a good deal of his time off in remote space.

Thomas S.Kuhn
The historian of science, his view on 'True scientist' . He emphasized a contrast between the bulk of what scientists do, working on legitimate, well understood problems with in their disciplines and then there is exceptional, unorthodox work that creates revolutions. Under normal condition the research scientist is not an innovator but a solver of puzzles, and the puzzles upon which he concentrates are those which he believes can both stated and solved with in the existing scientific tradition. There are revolutions. A new science arises out of one that has reached a dead end. Often a revolution has an interdisciplinary character, its central discoveries often come from people staying outside the normal bounds of their specialties. The problems, these theorists have are not recognized as legitimate lines of inquiry. Thesis proposals are turned down or articles are refused publication. The theorists themselves are not sure whether they would recognize an answer if they saw one. They accept risk to their careers. New hopes, new styles and most important, a new way of seeing. Revolutions do not come piecemeal. Old problems seen in new light and other problems are recognized for the first time.

Gotchas for succeeding prior to Web 1.0 era

• mind your own business
• work hard
• do not waste time in futile arguments
• talk less
• celebrate every moment spent in quenching intellectual thirst
• utilize every resource that may lead to success
• make the best use of your lab
• read scientific journals and develop ideas from those
• associate with good scientific organization

In an online world, their relevance is diminishing!

Intel inside, Oven outside - The Sony Vaio

It is 4.45 am EST and a nocturnal monster like me sacrificed sleep only for a greater purpose, to pass on a message to all the men and women who burnt their laps and an unknown count of unaware men that turned infertile. And the message is loud and clear - Never ever buy a Sony Vaio and if you must then do away with your oven and iron box.


Boot up your Sony Vaio and after say

1. 10 mins and onwards - Keep your coffee warm and make your omelette
2. 30 mins - Toast your bread or iron your formals
3. 60 mins and onwards - Boil rice, cook vegetables and meat
4. After 3hr Bollywood (or Karan Johar directed) movie - All you are left with is a twisted brain and a pair of roasted nuts (you know what I mean ;))

There are companies like Notepal that are out there taking advantage of this hot situation. One more software solution SpeedFan looked pretty neat and its free, so check it out.