kvrlogs

In summary - it is another brilliant book by Malcolm Gladwell. A little difficult to read - he uses so many names, numbers and you have to skip them while reading. Hi Malcolm here is a suggestion - use footnotes next time - your book will be half its size and will sell well. Here are some interesting snapshots from the book I still remember. Ketchup and Spaghetti sauce This chapter is a follow up to his TED talk where he explains how there is no one perfect "taste" but there are perfect "tastes". There are so many spaghetti sauce varieties in the market and here is an enterprising person who tries to apply the same model to Ketchup and tries to go against Heinz - the market leader. However he is not as successful. What I learnt from this chapter is that each product / market is different - what works in one will not work in another. When the inventor of "tastes" model was asked why it did not work for Ketchup he shrugged off saying "Ketchup is differe...

Here is a light hearted look at what a journey as an entrepreneur brings to you ! 1. Sleeplessness " Dreams are not what you have when you sleep, dreams are those that don't let you sleep. " - Dr. Abdul Kalam You would lay awake the night before meeting your first customer, day before product launch or because of one of the many excitements this journey brings. It is like when you are in love or you have spoken to your crush. And if you start getting a good nights sleep continuously - you should be worried - it is a lull before a storm! 2. Fatigue You work really hard day in and day out, days at a stretch. And you would hit the wall. You cannot browse, go out, read a book or listen to music. Your brain will just refuse to co-operate. Solution is to just veg out - switch on the idiot box, make yourself comfortable and watch something that will not tax your brain. It will last an evening or a day max - see it through and you will be energised for another long run. 3. Ideas ...

IntelliJ IDEA 9.0.1 has support for PHP. And the fine folks at JetBrains have given debug support which is awesome squared ! In just a few minutes you can get debug going on for your PHP applications. Note : These instructions are for the ultimate edition of IDEA ( not the community edition which does not have php support ), and Ubuntu 10.04. 1. Install xdebug : sudo apt-get install php5-xdebug 2. Add xdebug configuration at the end of php.ini sudo vi /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini Append these lines at the end xdebug.remote_enable=On xdebug.remote_host="localhost" xdebug.remote_port=9000 xdebug.remote_handler="dbgp" 3. Restart apache sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart 4. In IntelliJ here is how I have configured. It is quite simple actually. Here is the Run configuration Here is the PHP Setting. Point the server root to your folders. 5. Now put a break point in your code and click on the debug button. A new browser window will be launched, navigate to the page you are tes...

The world is currently full of 2009 lists..here is the list from my world ! If you are curious - here is the link to my top 10 things of 2008 - http://kvrlogs.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-top-10-things-of-2008.html 10. Running 10KM/hr for 8 minutes This might be easy for many - but this is a huge achievement for me. I could run for 2 minutes at the most at this pace before I had to slow down to 8KM/hr and then 6KM/hr. I have been trying to increase this duration slowly and nowadays I can run for a flat 8 minutes at this pace on the treadmill without my heart jumping out onto the floor. 9. Blogging Started writing regularly in all of my blogs : this one you are reading - kind of a satire nonsense blog - http://kvrlogs.blogspot.com my entrepreneurial journey - http://venkat2.blogspot.com , and a new one I started this year - on books for startups - http://artofstart.theindianstartup.com/ The last couple of months things have been crazy and my blogging has been sporadic or I might have got...

A couple of days back a friend of mine working in the ad industry called me. "Venkat, how do I block facebook chats, gmail chats? Should I block the domains?". Answer is No. If you block Facebook, Gtalk - your team will find workarounds. All it takes is a google search nowadays. It will annoy the team and you will get bracketed with the "manager" managers. So - here are some tips on how to engage your team effectively and reduce the hours spent on SN sites. 1. Daily Stand Ups This is the most simplest and effective tool. It is a core practice in agile projects - however it will work for any project / environment. There are tons of resources on effective standups. I will give a brief primer : Every one stands up - no slouching, no sitting. Keeps everyone alert and they talk less Stand in a circle like rugby teams. Give brief updates on what you did yesterday, what is your plan today, and any impediments in doing your work Any long discussions do it after the standup....

Here is my second edition of Conspiracy Theories. The 1st part is here - http://kvrlogs.blogspot.com/2009/09/conspiracy-theories-part-i.html 4. Cure for the common cold. It has been discovered and the pharmaceutical companies, the presidents and prime ministers around the world, the Shah Rukh Khans, the TV News Anchors - are all having access to it. But the common man like you and me do not have this cure for the common cold. So we will end up spending on chicken soup, vicks, steam inhalers, doctor visits, orange juice etc.. 5. Money does not buy happiness. Oh hell it does. You can buy an iPhone, an iPod nano that shoots video, a Nike shoe that plays well with that nano, an European vacation and lot more. If this is not happiness then what is? It is a conspiracy by the uber rich, so the unwashed masses will not work too hard - and the rich will not have much competition and can continue enjoying their European vacations and the cool cars. The rich authors write books and movie dire...

Who is lifting the world on their shoulders? Politicians? Philosophers? Writers? Philanthrophists? None of the above. The right answer is - entrepreneurs / business folks - they are the ones lifting the world. They create new markets, promote new ideas, blaze new paths by fighting the system, fighting stereotypes, taking risks against all odds. In this post I will introduce you to "Atlas Shrugged" - a magnum opus by Ayn Rand.  This book glorifies the entrepreneurial spirit. The key players : Looters These are the scum of the society - apparently holding top positions. The top brass in the Government, the industry lobbying heads - they do not produce anything but they loot - from the business and from the public. They know only to take and not give anything. They outnumber and control the producers. Producers The producers are the entrepreneurs, the inventors, the innovators. They are the ones fighting the system to introduce new ideas and keep the world ticking and moving for...

I had written about the Evolution of UI of ApartmentAdda in March 2009 how the design evolved over the last 2 years. We launched ApartmentAdda with the following UI designed by Cicada Media on Nov 12, 2008. It was a simple yet highly functional UI. Also it has got burnt into my retina - seeing it so many times a day :) Somewhere down the line we realised it was time to give the site an upgrade. We kicked off the site redesign process with Leafgrafica in August. After a lot of designs and meetings ( and corner house's death by chocolate which was close by) - the following design won our hearts and mind. I would like to thank both Cicada Media and Leafgrafica teams for having designed these beautiful sites ( and having put up with creativity stifling requirements from us :) )

I read an article on infoworld where Steve Balmer cited an article by Gartner research how Windows 7 will save money. Now as you all know Gartner is a very trusted and honest research firm. They have earlier published how Linux is actually a wolf in sheep's clothing - Linux claims it is open source and free and all that - but you need expensive system engineers, expensive training, expensive hardware etc. So many ignorant CTOs were saved from making a wrong decision and continued to recommend Windows - because of Gartner..may God be with them ( and Microsoft's funding ). Anyway, here is what Gartner missed in the report and I am filling in the gap to prove why Windows 7 will save lot of money for a company : 1. Save on Coffee, Milk, Sugar & Snacks The Vista folks when they come to work and start their day, they switch on their laptop like every one else. But as you all know that it takes some where between 20-30 minutes before the machine is actually responsive, these fol...

They say never judge a book by its cover but that is what I did when i picked this book from the library. I was in a rush to catch the afternoon train to Hyderabad from Yeshwantpur, and I still had to press my clothes, do some biscuit/bread shopping ( YSR had died the day before in the chopper crash and I was preparing for a bandh - thankfully things were peaceful there ). In the train someone sitting opposite me was reading a Sidney Sheldon - don't remember what book it was. He broke the ice by saying fat book and we chatted about other things. And the book was very interesting. In ancient times when Baghdad, Persia were thriving - there was a profession called "Hakawati" - the story teller. He used to entertain the Kings and nobility - since they did not have Tata Sky and 24 hour news channels. The book has 3 stories running in parallel. The one is about the author himself starting from how his Grandfather became a Hakawati, about the pigeon fights, the music instrument...

In the book Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell ( my review ) says "stickiness" of an idea is an important criteria for the idea to tip. "Made to stick" by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, is an offshoot of the stickiness chapter of Tipping Point where the authors  analyze how and why ideas stick. They have even formed a mnemonic for it - SUCCES. Each one by itself will not guarantee your idea to stick - but if rightly applied together, the probability of your idea sticking is higher. Simple : For an idea to stick, it has to be simple.For that you need to tear apart the unnecessary layers and go to the core of it. Nike - Just do it. FedEx - The World on Time Audi - Vorsprung durch Technik ( ok this is an exception, and being Audi they can make anything stick :) )   Jokes apart it explains very well what Audi does - when tranlated it means - Advancement through technology. Unexpected : The idea should rattle the listeners up. It should break pre conceived notions. Anything u...

I do not have the bandwidth to research - so listing out the news articles I keep coming across which are suspicious in nature...so a reporter can pick it up and run with it and hopefully win a Pulitzer or something ! 1. Force India finishing 2nd, 4th I love Formula 1, and I love India and I am quite pleasantly surprised seeing Force India finish in the podium. Well actually I did not "see" because I do not have sports channels at home - so read the news. But I am tempted to subscribe again and see the race and the Ads and be an "eye-ball" once again. The conspiracy here is - with Ferrari once again in the dumps ( how it was prior to Schumi days ), Indian fans have lost interest in F1 - majority being Ferrari fans. And with a 200 million tv viewing population - which is almost the size of European continent, F1 cannot afford to lose India. So suddenly Force India who never finished a race is on the podium..hmmm !! 2. Ms.Nigeria/Ms.Venezuala/Ms.Phillipines winning M...

Our poor netas, who have already sacrificed some good professions like farming, medicine, engineering, business, law, stock trading, IT etc - for the greater good of the country, and for serving the downtrodden of this nation - are being punished by forcing them to travel in economy class. What sacrilege. No one is there to speak in support of our netas - and they will not protest but will accept this quietly - because their humility does not allow them to protest. So I am taking up their cause in this post. No they did not pay me - our netas will never do such a thing. Why our netas deserve business class and private jets: 1. Stress They take so much stress. From the build up to getting a party ticket, fighting for votes, then the horse trading and finally they become ministers. And still it is not over, they have to ward off allegations of corruption, nosy reporters, RTIs, PILs - and somehow manage to find time to serve the masses. And you expect them to be herded like cattle in econ...

Have you ever experienced being in "the zone"? You might have experienced for sure - but never noticed it. Once you are able to notice how it is to be in the zone - you can plan to get into the zone more often - for better productivity and happiness. What is the zone? The zone is a state of mind when time stops, creativity flows, your breathing is relaxed and steady, new ideas spring up and it leaves you energized wanting for more. In spite of working for hours at a stretch, if you are in the zone - you never feel tired. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, Anna Karenina - are two books that I have read where they talk about this state of mind. Zen book says about getting into the zone on any activity that you do - could be washing dishes, could be fixing a motorcycle, could be writing a blog post. In Anna Karenina, one of the characters - Levin goes to cut corn along with his laborers - this chapter in the book is a masterpiece. Leo Tolstoy beautifully describes how i...

The media is doing what it does best - spreading fear and panic. So here is my little post which is an anti-dote in these scary times. Some tips for increasing your immunity - so when flu gives you a visit, it knows it is not welcome. 1. Orange Juice & Fruits. Fruits have become really expensive - nowadays Doctors are cheaper than Apple ( the fruit ;) ). However packaged juices are cheaper than fruits if you do the Cost benefit analysis. Try and get juices that claim they have no sugar and no preservatives. I do however remember reading that Vitamin C by itself does not help fight flu - but there are other good things - anti oxidants, Vitamin C, fiber - so over all it is good for a healthy you - and it is tasty too. 2. Japanese Shower Take a hot bath and once you are done - in the end - take shower in the cold water. While taking a hot bath the pores open up and blood flow circulation increases in the skin. When suddenly cold water hits your body, the pores start contracting, and ...

I know I should not be writing about this video - according to Wired's How to Behave : New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans. But I have to - this post is for my not-so-wired friends about a phenomenon that took the net world by storm. It is a video of a wedding party that makes its entrance dancing to a song ( thanks to this video the song- Forever by Chris Brown - went to the top in iTunes ). Here is the real video : And here is the spoof from college humour -Unexpected Divorce Intro - which takes things a little too far..:) Enjoy !

The last decade of my life has been very interesting - I had to take decisions at various points in my personal life as well as in my career - a few times the choice was very clear, at times both the choices looked equally attractive and at times both looked equally hard and difficult. So how do we decide which one to take? The thumbrule I have is - take the harder path. By harder I mean - I might have to work harder, educate myself on something new, might have to let go off my comfort zone, let go off things I love. But this might not be the case always - at times the easier option was also the best option. So how do we know if the choice we had made is the right one? The answer is - we will never know. If there was something called time travel then perhaps we will know. So I tell myself - the decision I took was the right one - always. I never regret on any decision I had taken because I know just around the corner I have one more decision to make which will be harder than the pre...

Can anyone spot what is wrong with this picture? Look closely - there are no fuse carriers and the lines have been shorted by a thick piece of wire. Wondering what it means? - When an electric surge happens - there is no fuse that will blow and break the circuit. The surge will go right into the homes and kill all the devices which are On at that time - TVs, bulbs, mobile chargers... I am not trying to educate BESCOM electricians - they are lazy & crazy and they don't read my blog - but this post is about unit tests. Last week I answered a questionnaire for a friend of mine who is doing a course work about Agile - one of the questions was - Is it not absurd to write unit tests? The above picture is the answer to the question. Unit tests are like fuses - they blow up in your build and prevent a blow up in production in future. Commenting out an unit test is like shorting the circuit with a thick piece of wire - like in the above picture. For eg., when a developer forgets to do a...

Microsoft is fighting lot of battles - that is one problem of being big. OS : Windows vs OS X, Linux, Solaris, and now Google Chrome OS Email : Hotmail/Live vs GMail, YMail Search : Bing vs Google,Yahoo.. Database : MS Sql Server vs Oracle,MySQL,PostgreSql.. IM : MSN Messenger vs GTalk, Yahoo Messenger,IRC,Pidgin Programming platform : .NET vs Java.. Languages : C#,VB.NET,ASP.NET vs Java, Ruby,Python,PHP,Perl.. Mobile OS : Windows Mobile vs Android, OS X, Symbian.. Media player : Zune vs iPod, Creative, Sony.. Office Suite : Microsoft Office vs OpenOffice, Google Apps Browser : Internet Explorer vs Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera Gaming Platform : XBox vs Nintendo, Sony and now iPhone Vector graphics for web : Silverlight vs Flash, Flex My head is spinning. If you notice the ones on the right of VS - for instance Opera - that is their entire life - the reason for their existence. They are focusing all their energies and souls into their products -yet Microsof...

Have you seen the movie - 300? It is the story of 300 Spartans who defy all logic and fight against wave after wave of attacks by a much bigger Persian army. Technically it is a well made movie and is a good entertainer - but as an entrepreneur you can draw lot of inspiration from this movie. The Spartans were severely outnumbered - but they believed in their abilities, their training, the trust they had with one another - sounds familiar? :) As an entreprenur you will have to fight lot of battles - thought not as gory as Spartans. Fight against a well established player : Like the Spartans, when Apple started they had to fight IBM. When Pepsi started it had to fight Coke. You can find so many stories where a small company challenged the giant in the industry. If you are one of those entrepreneurs fighting a bigger player - keep going. If you believe in your abilties, in your team - even if it is small - you can win the battle eventually. Fight against established norms : Spartans did ...