As I continue to move in the Boston software development / high tech job market and talk to more and more people in the area, I not only come across the term “Scrum” in many job descriptions, but it is a word that is frequently bandied about by both recruiters and hiring managers. It is clear that there is alot of confusion in the Boston area about what “Scrum” really is, and how it relates to Agile.

There is no substitute for the experience of running Scrum daily for years, as I have done. My heartfelt advice to anyone looking to adopt Scrum in their organization is to be flexible, take it easy on the cutsey names, and keep the daily meetings very brief. If you are the “ScrumMaster”, stay organized and lead the conversation around the room, notating all limiting factors, as that becomes your to-do list. Drop me a line with your own insights or comments on Scrum!

Scrum, as some people already know, is a project managemnt methodology named after a contentious point in a rugby match. The Scrum project management method enables self-organizing teams by encouraging verbal communication across all team members and project stakeholders. At its foundation, Scrum’s primary principle is that traditional problem definition solution approaches do not always work, and that a formalized discovery process is sometimes needed.

Scrum’s major project artifact is a dynamic list of prioritized work to be done. Completion of a largely fixed set of backlogged items occurs in a series of short (many of 30 days duration) iterations, or “sprints”.

Every day a brief meeting or “Scrum” is held in which project progress is explained, upcoming work is described, and impediments are raised. A brief planning session occurs at the start of each sprint to define the backlog items to be completed. A brief postmortem or heartbeat retrospective occurs at the end of each sprint.

A “ScrumMaster” (my advice is to never call yourself this in actual human life in an office of programmers and IT personnel…but know the job well and do it well nevertheless if you are the individual who finds themselves in this role) removes obstacles or impediments to each sprint. The ScrumMaster is not the leader of the team, as they are self-organizing, but rather acts as a productivity buffer between the team and any destabilizing influences.

A couple of weeks back twenty-nine Symbian eco-system tools creators spent the day sharing plans, strategies and goals here in the Bay Area.  We had representatives from handset manufacturers, package owners, chip vendors, startups, tools vendors, and service providers. This is after all an open community.

Let me share that with you and see if you’ve any ideas for improving our process or thinking. For those not in the tools business but with an interest in Symbian – why is this important? Going forward we need to create ways that people not steeped in the Symbian tradition can participate, easily, effectively and collaboratively in the contribution process – i.e. taking the OS and tools forward.

There are more SIG meeting details and presentations on the Symbian wiki. Meantime we agreed to create a Working Group to create a better organization of the tools for documentation, installation and usage.  See the Symbian tools forum for more details.

As we like to keep a close eye on all things Google here at ADZ Media, we have recently been invited to test the forthcoming product, called Google Wave. In a nutshell, this works as an online communication and collaboration tool which allows for seamless real-time interaction. It is possible to send and receive richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps and other types of content all from one place. There are some similarities with social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. What makes Google Wave work differently is the fact that you can add people to join any ‘wave’ and they can reply any time and anywhere as well as editing content and adding more people to become wave developers. It is also possible to rewind waves with the playback functionality, to see what happened and when. With live messages, as you type, people can have faster conversations and interact with extensions in real-time.

I mentioned this before, but I think I have a serious problem.  I collect updates.  Check out the below screenshot – yes, it’s jailbroken, but only so I can tether to my MacBook Air while I write blog posts like this…

Right now, I have 17 updates waiting:

• Ping!
• WHERE
• HDR for Free
• Newsstand
• Civilization Revolution Lite
• Facebook
• Google Earth
• Remote
• Best Buy
• eBuddy
• Camera Plus
• Tozzle Lite
• Wikipanion
• Trapster
• Bump
• Flash for Free
• Mover Lite.

Yeah, there are a few kids games on my phone still… thats because I used to let my daughter play them as a means of obtaining the holy grail of parenthood – silence.  :)  Now that she is a fly 2 years old, I gave her my first generation iPhone.

Where was I?  Oh yeah…

I like that feeling I get when I see that little red badge adorn my App Store icon.  I love it so much, that I never actually see it disappear.  The higher the number in that red sphere of ‘new and improved,’ the better!

It’s such a strange habit.  I can’t bring myself to actually instal the updates.  It’s as if I am waiting for the mother of all updates to post.  But why?  I still wouldn’t even update them!  I would leave the fresh updates sit only to serve my own joy.   I know I should download the latest fix to stop my RSS reader from bugging out (pun totally intended) but I just can’t do it.

Honestly, I have my favorite apps and those are the ones I really look out for on a near daily basis.  Each day, I probably check the store for updates about 6 times.  Sad really, because I should be doing other more productive things like LEARNING HOW TO CODE!

So what say you?  Do you like racking up updates like this?  Do you blindly go forth and download them immediately?  Do you update from the phone or from your computer?  Comments?

A lot is being said about commercial property foreclosures and the falling values of real estate with high “bases”, but what does that mean under an asset to asset microscope? JCR Capital gave a presentation a while back that highlights what is happening as assets lose value, returns get squeezed, and leverage dries up.

2009 Dice Technology & Engineering Career Fair Boston: Event at Marriott Burlington, Burlington, MA

Thursday, December 10

11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Marriott Boston Burlington • Rt 128 & 3A (One Mall Road) • Burlington, MA 01803

Admission is FREE

Meet recruiters and hiring managers from these companies: Cambridge Interactive Development Corp., e-Dialog, •Raytheon, Research In Motion, Tufts Health Plan.

Register for this event online by clicking here!

As I’m sure a lot of you are aware the popular and truly excellent music service Spotify is now available on Symbian.

For all of those not in the know, Spotify grants you instant access to a vast array of music that you can store on your device and listen to whenever you want even if you haven’t got decent reception, i.e. in offline mode. The service is currently only available in Europe and does require a monthly fee to use which no doubt helps keep the music flowing, but considering that you won’t ever need to buy another MP3 it seems like a pretty good deal to us!

The beautifully designed UI was constructed by the much hyped The Astonishing Tribe (TAT) who have truly exceeded expectations with this effort.

Have you got any thoughts on the app or found any weird and random songs that might be of interest to other readers?

Thanks a lot and enjoy the music with the Spotify App!

Despite the fact that I’ve been a technical writer since 2001 when we started our first Agile Sprint in January I found myself feeling like a Junior Writer again.  I was adding topics to our in-house Wiki when I sent my manager the following e-mail:

Could we add this [Documentation] link to the navigation sidebar on the Wiki?  I don’t have permission to edit the MediaWiki:Sidebar page. And while we’re at it, could we please alphabetize the list of navigation links?

His reply was

Doc is now on there. Alphabetical? We are engineers we don’t alphabetize info, we sort it by the checksum of the title!

Checksum?  I am a stranger in a strange land. 

Up until now I’ve generally had Product Managers as my subject matter experts.   But now I’m spending more time in the Land of Developers than I ever have before.  And if I’m going to live here, I need to be able to speak the same strange language as the developers.

Luckily my technical writing certificate program was equal parts writing and programming.  In the programming half of the course we studied machine language, assembly language, and wrote a short program in C for our portfolio.  My first technical writing job was documenting an application written in Java, so I also took a Java course, to give me a leg up in talking to our developers.

Unfortunately that seems to be about the equivalent of knowing how to say “Please” and “Thank you” and “Where is the bathroom?” when you visit a foreign country.  It gets me brownie points with the natives for attempting to speak their language, but the fact is, I’m still translating from geek into English on a daily basis. (However, every time I explain modular writing as being like object oriented programming but for writers, I can see the lightbulbs go off.)

When I was still working full time, after almost every daily stand up meeting I found myself running to Wikipedia and Google to look up new terms.  Agile software development comes with a whole new vocabulary:

• Burn down
• Chickens and Pigs
• Product Backlog
• Product Owner
• Scrum
• Scrum of Scrums
• Scrum master
• Sprints
• Velocity
• User Stories
• Xtreme programming (XP)

And then there are terms that developers use that technical writers don’t:

• Binaries
• Checksum
• Kernel panic
• Refactoring
• Unit Testing

My Wikipedia reading sometimes led to the discovery of other, more colorful terms that I didn’t hear at the office, such as code smell or yak shaving, which I believe is similar to activities that my evil twin Skippy refers to as “Hoovering the cat.”

Understanding what developers are talking about is really your passport to Developer Country. A couple of good sites if you’re trying to get up to speed on Agile terminology:

• Wikipedia – Definition of Scrum
• Mike Cohn’s site – Mountain Goat Software

*****

FYI – My manager was just joking about sorting on checksum.

RNA Palazzo Mumbai

RNA Developer project Palazzo at Kandivali west West in Mumbai. RNA Palazzo offers 2 bedroom apartments. Stilt + 2 Level Podium Parking + 33 Residential Floors.

RNA Palazzo Location:

RNA Palazzo is located at Ahead of Dhanukar Wadi, M.G. Road, Kandivali west West in Mumbai.

RNA Palazzo Amenities:

Car Parking.

RNA Palazzo Options:

Type——–Size ( Sq. ft. )——-Price (INR)

2BR-2T——–1350————–8437500

2BR-2T——–1380————–8625000

About Developer:

RNA Corp. is one of India’s leading property development companies, with over two decades of experience in developing, building, managing and leasing property and other allied real-estate related services catering to both individual and corporate customers. The Company’s industry expertise and knowledge of the local markets, coupled with its unfailing focus on customer satisfaction has today resulted in its impeccable reputation and track record of performance. At RNA Corp., delivering projects of superior quality, on budget and on time has been the corner stone of its stringent performance standards. Successful real estate investment is a product of meticulous planning and able management. In last ten years, the company has successfully developed 10 million sq.ft of diverse projects and about 51 million sq. ft. is under development across residential, commercial, Hospitality and Retail Sector. Every project from RNA Corp. today is a landmark in its own right and stands testimony to the strong bond of trust and confidence that it enjoys with its customers.

Contact: 9999998663

allcheckdeals.com (A naukri.com Venture)

Maithali Signet ,1401 14th Floor, Opp Vashi Station Sector 30A,Vashi, Navi Mumbai-400 703, India
+1- 646- 367-2921(USA) +44-208-819-3959(UK) + 9999998663 (India)

RNA Royale Park Mumbai

RNA Developer project Royale Park at Kandivali West in Mumbai. RNA Royale Park offers 2 bedroom apartments. It is still + 2 level Podium Parking + 20 Residential Floors. It is ready to move.

RNA Royale Park Location:

RNA Royale Park is located at M.G. Road, Ahead of Dahanukar Wadi, Before Hindustan Naka, Maharashtra Nagar, Kandivali West in Mumbai.

RNA Royale Park Amenities:

Car Parking.

RNA Royale Park Options:

Type——–Size ( Sq. ft. )———–Price (INR)

2BR-2T———1260—————–90,72,000

About Developer:

RNA Corp. is one of India’s leading property development companies, with over two decades of experience in developing, building, managing and leasing property and other allied real-estate related services catering to both individual and corporate customers. The Company’s industry expertise and knowledge of the local markets, coupled with its unfailing focus on customer satisfaction has today resulted in its impeccable reputation and track record of performance. At RNA Corp., delivering projects of superior quality, on budget and on time has been the corner stone of its stringent performance standards. Successful real estate investment is a product of meticulous planning and able management. In last ten years, the company has successfully developed 10 million sq.ft of diverse projects and about 51 million sq. ft. is under development across residential, commercial, Hospitality and Retail Sector. Every project from RNA Corp. today is a landmark in its own right and stands testimony to the strong bond of trust and confidence that it enjoys with its customers.

Contact: 9999998663

allcheckdeals.com (A naukri.com Venture)

Maithali Signet ,1401 14th Floor, Opp Vashi Station Sector 30A,Vashi, Navi Mumbai-400 703, India
+1- 646- 367-2921(USA) +44-208-819-3959(UK) + 9999998663 (India)

RNA Courtyard Mumbai

RNA Developer project Courtyard at Mira Road East in Mumbai. RNA Courtyard offers 2 and 3 bedroom row houses. It is ground + 8 floors. It is ready possession project.

RNA Courtyard Location:

RNA Courtyard is located at Shanti Nagar, Opp, P.V. Doshi Hospital Behind Poonam Complex, Near Shrusti, Mira Road East in Mumbai.

RNA Courtyard Option:

Type——————-Size ( Sq. ft. )———Price (INR)

2BR-2T ( Row Houses )—–1182————-41,38,182

3BR-3T ( Row Houses )—–1950————-68,26,950

About Developer:

RNA Corp. is one of India’s leading property development companies, with over two decades of experience in developing, building, managing and leasing property and other allied real-estate related services catering to both individual and corporate customers. The Company’s industry expertise and knowledge of the local markets, coupled with its unfailing focus on customer satisfaction has today resulted in its impeccable reputation and track record of performance. At RNA Corp., delivering projects of superior quality, on budget and on time has been the corner stone of its stringent performance standards. Successful real estate investment is a product of meticulous planning and able management. In last ten years, the company has successfully developed 10 million sq.ft of diverse projects and about 51 million sq. ft. is under development across residential, commercial, Hospitality and Retail Sector. Every project from RNA Corp. today is a landmark in its own right and stands testimony to the strong bond of trust and confidence that it enjoys with its customers.

Contact: 9999998663

allcheckdeals.com (A naukri.com Venture)

Maithali Signet ,1401 14th Floor, Opp Vashi Station Sector 30A,Vashi, Navi Mumbai-400 703, India
+1- 646- 367-2921(USA) +44-208-819-3959(UK) + 1860 500 5559 (India)

Umiya Seascapes Row Houses Goa

Umiya developer brings a new residential project Seascapes, Sancoal in Goa. Umiya Seascapes offers 3 bedroom row houses. Umiya Seascapes is thus situated in the most convenient, yet peaceful locations of Goa, with breathtaking permanent views of the sea.

Umiya Seascapes Row Houses Location:

Umiya Seascapes is located at Sancoale – a prime location just 4 km from the Dabolim Airport. 15 minutes to the bustling world famous beaches, Calangute, Baga, Anjuna and Vagator, 15 minutes from the spectacular beaches of Bogmalo, Benaulim, Betalbatim, Varca and Majorda.

Umiya Seascapes Row Houses Amenities:

School, Colleges Play Area, Hospital.

Umiya Seascapes Row Houses Options:

Type—————–Size ( Sq. ft.)

3BR-3T————–1746.03

3BR-3T————–1897.53

3BR-3T————–2264.12

About Developer:

Umiya Holding set up base at Bangalore city in 2000 and in this short span has impressed one and all with the quality of its work. The Company develops residential apartments in the luxury segment and world-class commercial premises. Supervised by a team of professionals checking for quality at very step, promising to deliver only the best. An organization known for discipline and dedication is run on well oiled wheels.

Contact: 9999998663

allcheckdeals.com (A naukri.com Venture)

E – 2, Sector – 1, Noida – 201301

+ 1860 500 5559 (INDIA) +1 646 367 2921(USA), +44 208 819 3959 (UK)

The sorely needed Transbay Terminal Transit Center is continuing to gain momentum in San Francisco as the above rendering was just released. There are still many hurdles to get the full plan built including an upcoming environmental impact report slated for completion in the Summer of 2010.

From the San Francisco Planning Department City Design Group website:

“The Planning Department has received funding from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to draft a comprehensive plan for the area around the Transbay Terminal, including mechanisms to direct any increased development value to help fund the construction of the Transit Center Program in addition to other public improvements. This Plan will build on the City’s renowned 1985 Downtown Plan that envisioned the area around the Transbay Terminal as the heart of the new downtown. Consistent with the Transbay Redevelopment Plan, which focuses mostly on public properties south of the Transit Center along Folsom Street, this new effort will focus on both private properties and properties owned or to be owned by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority around the Transit Center itself.The Planning Department has received funding from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to draft a comprehensive plan for the area around the Transbay Terminal, including mechanisms to direct any increased development value to help fund the construction of the Transit Center Program in addition to other public improvements. This Plan will build on the City’s renowned 1985 Downtown Plan that envisioned the area around the Transbay Terminal as the heart of the new downtown. Consistent with the Transbay Redevelopment Plan, which focuses mostly on public properties south of the Transit Center along Folsom Street, this new effort will focus on both private properties and properties owned or to be owned by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority around the Transit Center itself.”

The full report is embedded below.

A month after Om trashed LinkedIn for failing to launch a promised application platform, and more than a year after the initiative was first announced, the professional network is finally giving out developer keys. Today LinkedIn launches a business-focused apps platform.

The full launch follows a string of LinkedIn deals to integrate with IBM (s IBM), Research In Motion (s RIMM), Microsoft Outlook (s MSFT) and Twitter. Promised early platform developers include TweetDeck, Posterous, Box.net and Ribbit. (More details on the company’s blog.)

With far too many platforms begging for developers’ services today, why should they head to LinkedIn? “Obviously LinkedIn is a pretty unique platform, but these are fundamentally standard REST APIs,” said Adam Nash, LinkedIn’s VP of search and platform products. “More than 50 million people have used LinkedIn to build their professional presence online, and they want to use it everywhere.” He promised that the LinkedIn platform would ensure the same privacy protections as the company’s site. 

As for the delay, Nash said, “We wanted to spend time to understand how people wanted to use the platform and use the technology to scale.” Translation: Better late than never!

IREO Uptown Gurgaon

IREO Developer has brings new project UPTOWN, in Gurgaon.  IREO UPTOWN offers 2, 3 and 4 bedroom apartments with excellent amenities such as a club house, swimming pool, gymnasium, kids play area and more.

IREO Uptown Location:

IREO Uptown is located in Sector 66, Gurgaon.

IREO Uptown Amenities:

Club House, Power backup, Double basement car parking, Kids play area, Tennis Court, Badminton Court, Swimming pool, Outdoor Jacuzzi, Yoga, Jogging Track, Multi purpose, Party Room, Gymnasium, Squash Court, Mini Theatre, Music room video games room.
IREO Uptown Option:

Type———Size ( Sq. ft.)——-Price

2BR-3T————1430———-54,34,000

3BR-4T————1815———-68,97,000

4BR-BT————2004———-76,15,200

About Developer:

Ireo, is the first and the largest Private Equity Fund dedicated to the Indian real estate sector. The company has a pan India footprint of projects in prime locations across NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra under various stages of development and implementation. Ireo has been present in India since 2004 and has evolved as a fully integrated real estate organization that is both the financer and developer of its projects. Ireos team consists of internationally experienced and accomplished Indian and expatriate professionals from diverse backgrounds to lead initiatives and to deliver best in class products and services to our customers. Ireo investor base consists of blue chips and globally renowned financial institutions.

Contact at: 9999998663

allcheckdeals.com (A naukri.com Venture)

E – 2, Sector 1, Noida – 201301

+91 – 9999998663, +1 646 367 2921(USA), +44 208 819 3959 (UK)

Today Homes Ridge Residency Noida

Today Homes proudly announces a new residential project RIDGE RESIDENCY in Noida. Today Homes RIDGE RESIDENCY is combination of high and luxurious structures providing 2 and 3, 4 bedroom apartments. This project is gated complex with round the clock security and offers excellent amenities club house, swimming pool, children play area.

Today Homes Ridge Residency Location:

Today Homes Ridge Residency is Located at Sector 135, abetting expressway in Noida.

Today Homes Ridge Residency Amenities:

Secured Gated Community, Multi tier 24X7 security, Power back up, Basement and open car parking, Club house, swimming pool, tennis court, badminton court, Amphitheater, Children play area, Party Lawn and gazebos, Jogging Track.

Today Homes Ridge Residency Option:

Type———————Size (Sq. ft.)——–Price (INR)

2BR-2T———————— 930—————-2534250

2BR-2T-1Study Room—– 1125—————–3065625

3BR-2T-1Store Room—– 1390—————–3787750

3BR-4T-1SR—————– 1665—————–4537125

4BR-5T-1SR—————– 2240—————–6104000

About Developer:

Today Homes and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. is one of North India leading real estate developer with proven expertise in the development of large scale residential and commercial properties. Today has long been developing homes, malls, multiplexes, integrated township and hotels, encompassing the entire gamut of not only real estate development but fine living. The group is committed to technical innovation, futuristic design and completion of projects before schedule, thus constantly raising the benchmark of real estate development.

Contact at: 9999998663

allcheckdeals.com (A naukri.com Venture)

E – 2, Sector 1, Noida – 201301

+91 – 9999998663, +1 646 367 2921(USA), +44 208 819 3959 (UK)

Orco’s third quarter results were at least as disappointing as those of the entire sector. Whereas the company reported a loss of just €29.8m over the first nine months of 2008, this figure ballooned to €202m in 2009. The company, which is currently in creditor protection through French courts, said it had cut expenses by 24% compared to last year, and that its revenues had risen 24%. But revenues fell from €225.6m to €186.8m as its residential sales fell to €66.2m (from €111.8m), with the company ceasing its resi development activities in Hungary.

Orco said it was seeking the sale of various assets, including the Stein project in Bratislava and Cumberland Haus in Berlin. It claims that work on the Vaci 1 department store in Budapest will resume and that it hoped to reinstate the building permit for Zlota 44 in Warsaw after a court revoked it over the summer.

Puranik City  - Phase II Mumbai

Welcome to Puranik Ctiy An extremely well planned and well thought out township emerging on the skyline of Thane. Puranik City offers 1 and 2 bedroom apartments On the rapidly developing Ghodbunder road. Spread across 30 acres of virgin land. Puranik City will be the address for over 50 residential towers with superior amenities. Puranik City will be set the lap of nature. More than fifty multi storeyed towers will be laid out among open spaces, green patches, and sandpit providing plenty of fresh air and soothing sights for sore eyes.

Puranik City – Phase II Location:

Puranik City Phase II is located at Near Waghela Tea House, Kasarvadavli Ghodbunder Road Thane West in Mumbai.

Puranik City – Phase II Optioin:

About Developer:

Puranik Builders are in the business of real estate development of residential and commercial spaces. Our aim is to ensure customer satisfaction by anticipating their aspirations and offering projects that are best value for money. We shall satisfy all the requirements, adopt innovative methods, instill quality consciousness in all our stakeholders and be committed to continual improvements in organizational performance.

Contact: 9999998663

allcheckdeals.com (A naukri.com Venture)

Maithali Signet ,1401 14th Floor, Opp Vashi Station Sector 30A,Vashi, Navi Mumbai-400 703, India

+1- 646- 367-2921(USA) +44-208-819-3959(UK) + 91 9999998663 (India)