Software People Stories

Listen to this conversation between Sridevi Devathi from HCL and Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting as they talk about Sridevi's career and journey around - How she started as a developer and then moved to quality Moving into estimation and setting up the estimation CoE Different generations of software architectures / models and various models for software development Some challenges that have continued to bother teams over the last couple of decades related to estimation Relevance of historical data based on standard estimation models, in the new and emerging approaches to develop software Her thoughts on using AI/ML for estimation Use of Function Points in the Financial Services industry Relevance and utility of structured methods for estimation for startups Effectiveness of Agile approaches including having the right coaches even in uncertain problem domains How art [or a hobby] can be a stress buster as well as provide motivation Sridevi comes with 24 years of IT/Software industry experience, of which she has spent 21 years with HCL. She has worked across Quality, Delivery Excellence, Process/Estimation Consulting, Presales, Project Delivery/Management and Software Development areas. She has been a trainer and consultant in Quality, Project Management and Estimation areas; and is managing HCL Estimation COE for past 10 years. She has participated in few industry forums, and was a panel member in two recent ISMA conferences. You can reach her via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sridevi-devathi-b4638018/

Joins us in listening to Paul Arieckal from Global Automation and Sivaguru from PM Power consulting as they have conversations around Paul's experiences in -  Learning the rigour of software development as computing resources were scarce Considering constraints at the time of design Making assumptions while designing applications: timetracker story Relevance of top down design in the age of cloud and microservices Trimming the footprint of an application from 2 GB to less than 200 MB Drawing inspiration for software from gardening What learning to play the violin taught him about writing software The importance of a test-first approach, in gardening or coding What is easier to debug? A crash or a functional bug? If you want to know what Paul compares debugging to - to get a high, listen carefully! Importance of not getting lost on the frills and focus on the core How can one avoid a burnout in the supposedly stressful field of software Paul is the Director, Engineering at Global Automation India Pvt. Ltd.  He has been with Global Automation for over 24 years and in the current role for 4 years. He is responsible for leading the software product development efforts starting with product conceptualization to delivering to market, through the phases of prototyping, requirements and specifications, test-marketing, software coding, testing, build and release. He is also responsible for managing the computing and networking infrastructure through deployment of state-of-the-art tools and technologies, providing a scalable and secured development environment for Global’s team. Prior to the current role, he was managing the development of a diverse set of software products, a hardware/software appliance implementing ndmp protocol for deployment in data centers for improved backup efficiency, an enterprise JAVA based private equity portfolio management application. His other interests include integrating iOT devices for affordable domestic home automation systems, and irrigation systems that utilize minimal water for water starved urban homes. Paul can be reached via https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-arieckal-085b6620/

Vasu and Chitra, colleagues at PM Power Consulting are in a free wheeling conversation as Vasu shares myriad nuggets on - -  Starting his career in Tata Steel - Generating PLOP reports for management review (its in the podcast!) - Developing products at Wipro; from idea to product; building a cost effective project management product. - Secrets of MS Project & software development - Experiences from product development & finding ways to gain customer insights - How he stayed at companies for long tenures - How he got into coaching & what it means to be a good observer - Making coaching successful - Being genuine when helping and communicating with people

In this episode, Mosesraj R, CIO & Head of Delivery Excellence at Brillio and Chitra from PM Power are in conversation as Moses shares stories on - Where his career began - Fundamental principles working across manufacturing and IT - Understanding the meaning of value to deliver the right solutions & build successful products - Managing customer expectations - Balancing the roles of CIO & delivery excellence head - Some tips to enable digital transformation - A back to the future retrospective Moses is the CIO and head of excellence at Brillio.   He led the cloud transformation of the enterprise.  Over his 20 years of career, he has led multiple change management initiatives to drive better delivery to customers.  His interests are storytelling, imagining products that break barriers and motivating people by helping them see life as a whole.  Moses won India Top 25 CIO awards in 2016 in ICMG Architecture event and has been invited to many organizations / events to share his views. Moses has 20+ years of Work Experience and is a B.E (Mechanical) from Government College of Engineering, Salem and M.S (Software Systems) from BITS, Pilani  Moses has given a some interesting talks at various forums: Questions that make you a better manager (@PMI - PM Footprints) – Introduces three questions as challenges to managers, when answered will help in becoming a better manager Lessons from Modern Coaches for Project Managers (@PM+ conference) – A study of modern sports coaches as to what managers can learn from them Customer Centric engineering team (@Harman) – Introduces the Need & Value paradigm, on how engineering teams can build value consistently Story Telling for Agile Coaches (@Prowareness) – Introduced coaches to the art of story telling with examples. Demystifies story telling that anyone can become a story teller Bridging Eagles Eye and Worm’s View (@HMBP Conference) – A talk delivered in HMBP (High Maturity Best Practices) conference about roll down to goals to team level measurements

In this candid conversation Neeraja Ganesh, Head for JobsForHer foundation and Chitra Gurjar from PM Power Consulting, talk about Neeraja's experiences through her journey. She shares - Learning from whatever came her way as a means of growing and sustaining herself Discovering the power of asking Personal transformation from an introvert to being a confident communicator Process implementation to suit different functions Being uncomfortable with comfort in a role & using her strengths to play different roles Passion about growing people in their career, specially women Stepping out of a work & home only life to network & gain new perspectives after a long corporate career Lessons for women wanting to get back to work after a break Neeraja Ganesh is the Head of the JobsForHer Foundation which has been setup to bridge gender gaps in India.Neeraja has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry having worked for a variety of companies like Cap Gemini, ANZ and others.She is a designated career mentor on many mentorship portals. She was awarded at a TEDx Women event organised by the Dayananda Sagar Institutions for her 25 years of achievements in the corporate world. In her pursuit to share her experiences and learnings with the ecosystem around her, she delivers talks on a variety of topics which serve as inspiration and learning for others. She has also recently been bitten by the writer’s bug and has written a few articles, again with the intention of helping everyone learn from her experiences. She actively engages with industry bodies and other organisations who work on Women Empowerment initiatives. She is an active member of the Women Empowerment Committee of BCIC(Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce).One of her favourite topics which has had rave reviews everytime she has delivered talks on it has been on “Networking”. She brings in her professional experiences to every aspect of the topic which makes the audience relate, understand and immediately learn and start implementing the tips given by her. She can be reached via  https://www.linkedin.com/in/neeraja-ganesh/ https://www.facebook.com/neeraja.ganesh.1 https://twitter.com/neeraja_ganesh

Anecdotes from heterogenous experiences. In this conversation Milind and Chitra, colleagues at PM Power Consulting are in a conversation as Milind shares his experiences on - - Curiosity and liking for computers, with an aptitude for software & a natural ability to write code.  - A love for deep learning. - Writing a pascal compiler, assemblers & deep insights into systems software - Interoperability between proprietorial systems & other heterogeneous environment challenges. - Customer management by knowing people as they are, being transparent, being together as a team & doing a release at scale -  Sensing signals while working with different cultures - Transitioning through roles in sales & mkt, business development &product  engineering. - The journey into coaching and  helping people understand the values and principles of agile. - A deep passion for Sanskrit.

In this episode Veena Samartha, CEO of VeCrear Technologies is in a free flowing conversation with Chitra from PM Power consulting. She shares her experiences with - Developing technology from india with convergence of wireless tech & IoT - Having an inquisitive nature & experimenting v/s aquiring knowledge - Experiences building fault tolerant systems - Journey to entrepreneurship - Developing other capabilities to run a company - Facing dilemmas of market forces v/s delivery capabilities and the importance of having a clear vision - Tips on motivating employees in a small company - Willing one's self into a natural flow - Ad-hoc learning & power of networking to keeping abreast with current trends - Some future thoughts on staying positive with joy & serenity amidst change Veena Samartha the Executive Director and CEO of the Bangalore based IoT venture, VeCrear Technologies. Harnessing her technology experience in the areas of mission critical software, embedded systems , servers and file system domains through decades of work experience in companies like Wipro & HP, Veena endeavors to create a niche for innovative technologies from India in the global landscape. LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/veenasamartha/)

The Software Lifecycle Stories, brought to you by PM Power Consulting, has come quite some way since the first episode was published. This is a special episode dedicated for our listeners from us saying, "Thank you for tuning into our show!" To help us continue to bring engaging episodes, we would like to hear from you.  Please spare about 5 minutes to respond to our [survey](https://forms.gle/gS4t9p9gvH5kySyAA) OR If you wish to record your feedback, please attach your recorded message and email us at info@pm-powerconsulting.com with the subject title “podcast”. Please also leave your rating and review on https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/software-lifecycle-stories-754600/reviews

In this episode of the Software Lifecycle Stories, PM Power colleagues, Sivaguru and A Narasimhan, also known as AN, explore several facets of AN's experiences that include -  * How he launched a startup with some friends * Innovative features by trapping OS interrupts * Importance of process orientation, even for small teams * Getting into techno marketing * Instilling or having a sense of ownership intrinsically * The need to adapt one’s coaching style or delivery based on the geography or culture of the participants * Can anyone become a coach ? * How to connect with individuals, when you are a coach * Helping individuals to open up, to improve teaming effectiveness * Some of AN's favourite games & activities * His interest in philosophy * How pairing in a team can significantly improve quality and productivity

Designing for the future, fulfilling today’s needs Welcome to this episode of the Software Lifecycle Stories. Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting is in conversation with Vandana Abraham, Head of Design at Atlassian, India. In this conversation she shares her perspectives on  * The difference between design and art * Aptitudes to be a designer * Bridging engineers and designers with empathy * Building experiences for a global audience  * Some ideas that were far ahead of their time * Designing for the future  * Career breaks and flexibility for women Note:This episode was recorded prior to Women's day (8th March 2019). It is covered through a dialogue in the episode. Vandana Abraham has over 20 years’ providing leadership in product strategy development, and experience design for mobile consumer applications & business platforms. She has set up and led design studios for product and service design and studied Textile Design at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India.  She currently heads design at Atlassian India.