Management

Sometimes it seems that jokes about management implementing Agile to do more with less aren't far from the truth. I've rarely seen development teams understand Agile as anything more than a set of ceremonies, most often associated with Scrum.

In my experience, attempts to optimize team performance often boil down to changing the internal processes within the team itself. Meanwhile, critical decisions are made outside the team, remaining in a waterfall model. This creates a disconnect: on one hand, company management strives for the flexibility of Agile, while on the other, they continue to follow rigid patterns, limiting the team and preventing it from fully realizing its potential.

Hi! My name is Slava. I am currently working as a leading Product and Senior Project Manager at Uzum Bank. One of the leading digital banks in Uzbekistan.

We are growing fast. Really fast. Speaking in numbers, our interest income has increased x10 over the past year (!).

And, as in any similar projects with rapid growth, we constantly lack qualified personnel. So I and my colleagues always have a lot of work to do.

I have two teams with completely different products, and I also manage some projects as a project manager. And I have my own small business – an online tea and coffee shop. And in conclusion, I am the father of two small children)

So, I hope this makes it clear to you that I have faced all the problems, such as working at night, lack of sleep, working in a noisy environment, calls with crying children in the background, calls during breakfast on the wheels, when I take a child to kindergarten (never do that!) etc. and so on and so forth XD

You can ask me: how do you manage to do everything?
The answer is simple: I don't XD

But. This forces me to build a system that helps me quickly switch between different types of tasks, focus quickly and complete them over and over again.

So, today I want to tell you about one of the things, that can completely ruin your day. And sometimes – whole week. It's called "context switching".

Today, I would like to share my personal story. I hope it helps you get to know me better and maybe benefits your own journey.

一组印度科学家发表了以其本国为例政府机构采用的现代互联网屏蔽方法概述。他们研究了互联网服务提供商限制访问被禁信息的机制，评估了这些机制的准确性以及绕过这些屏蔽的能力。2captcha常驻代理团队整理了这项研究，并提请大家关注这项工作成果的主要论点。

A group of Indian scientists has published an overview of modern methods of Internet blocking introduced by government agencies, using the example of their own country. They studied the mechanisms used by Internet service providers restricting access to prohibited information, assessed their accuracy, and the ability to bypass such blocks. We would like to bring to your attention the main theses of this work.

While video-based learning continues to rank high in the latest trends, there are a few points that are regularly overlooked in the production of learning videos, with a focus on user experience (UX) and user interaction 

People really enjoy watching videos. According to a survey conducted among consumers worldwide, respondents watched an average of 19 hours of online video content per week in 2022. And nearly half of all internet users watch online videos at least once a week.

The Challenge of Mandatory Learning
Once we had several mandatory learning courses designed to be passed successfully by all employees. Still, many of them struggled to do so. Reminder emails to all participants could not solve the issue. And that is when my team was summoned to develop a thorough plan to reduce the number of overdue courses to a minimum. Of course, we were asked to develop something fun and engaging.

Uncovering the Root Problems
While working on the project, we managed to uncover several problems with course assignments, including the fact that they were not offered just in time, there were too many of them, and all of them had different due dates, which made it impossible to remember when to complete them. Additionally, we found that the content itself was often dry and unengaging, further contributing to the lack of motivation among employees. Finally, we came up with a system of notifications that included clear explanatory reminder emails, an escalation system, and a redesign of the course content to make it more interactive and relevant to employees' daily work. The result was almost no overdue courses after system integration.

The Myth of Mandatory Fun
So the case first seemed to be about motivation and engagement, but it is actually about smart course design that allows people to worry about work tasks instead of worrying about course assignments. It's also about creating content that resonates with the learners and helps them see the value in the training.

Problem

Trendwatching is a powerful tool for driving strategic innovations. It helps to discover new teсhnologies, business models and products, that may be used for idea generation and technology transfer. It is a powerful tool for product managers, business stream managers, top managers and "strategists" and is mostly used on a regular basis.

If you are at the beginning of your educational path in IT, or contemplating about making changes in your career and starting learning UX design, you might have some doubts and uncertainties on whether UX design is something worth studying and working in right now. We can dispel your doubts: UX designers are very required in the majority of companies, since they help to make products appealing to users, thus raising the companies income and enhancing their reputation. Professionals in this sphere are in high demand right now, and

Nestled amongst the serene fjords and picturesque landscapes of Norway, Oslo stands as a testament to the harmonious blend of modernity and tradition. This vibrant capital city, with its rich history dating back over a thousand years, offers visitors an unparalleled experience that seamlessly integrates culture, innovation, and the breathtaking beauty of nature, all under the ever-changing skies of its varied weather.

Modern product development demands more and more sophisticated designs. This in turn leads to the increased complexity of both demand and implementation. Business is flooding the architecture and development teams with the new and changed requirements. Development teams are struggling to understand what the business demand is and find the best product increment strategy. One of the widely adopted conversational methods is the Use-Cases. This guide is intended to shed light on the process of the requirements development and maturing.

Switzerland: the very name conjures up images of pristine alpine landscapes, picturesque villages, and a sense of tranquility that seems to permeate the very air you breathe. It's a country that's often synonymous with beauty, precision, and adventure. Whether you're a nature enthusiast, a history buff, or simply seeking to indulge in some of the finest chocolates and cheeses the world has to offer, Switzerland has something for everyone. So, if you're planning a trip to this enchanting land, here's a curated list of must-visit destinations and experiences that will make your journey truly unforgettable. 

RSS 2.0 specification was published in 2009 and hasn't moved from that point. The popularity and website adoption of this standard are dropping. People stop using it as it can't compete with social networks owned by big companies, and publishers stop using it is not rewarding. Let's review, analyze, and suggest a possible alternative to RSS. We will go from a concept to a working prototype.

In the software development industry, a lot of time and resources are spent on meetings. Many managers have calendars filled with meetings most of the time.

According to a study by Atlassian, the average worker spends up to 31 hours a month on unproductive meetings. That's about 8 hours a week, which is equivalent to a full work week for one employee out of a team of five people every month. If we convert this into working days, it means that on average four people are working, and one is constantly in meetings. This does not take into account additional time spent on informal discussions and ad-hoc meetings, which further reduce the time available for direct work on product creation. Thus, developers actually spend less than half of their working day on direct development, which is a worrying sign for any organization striving for innovation and efficiency.

Personally, I don't like meetings. I always try to minimize communication if an issue can be resolved without a face-to-face meeting. I apply this rule both at work and in life. For example, I prefer to refuel my car using an app, and I try to order food and other services without needing confirmation from an operator, and I did this even when such an approach was not so common. If I need to find a place, I will open a map in the app, instead of asking passers-by for directions.

My reluctance to waste time or be inefficient has resulted in our software development department carefully monitoring the time our developers spend on meetings. On average, a developer has only 2 hours and 15 minutes of mandatory meetings per week, including four 15-minute stand-ups, a 30-minute one-on-one meeting with a manager every two weeks, and 60 minutes for various meetings such as planning and demonstrations. The rest of the time, about 5 hours and 45 minutes, is spent on other activities in MS Teams, including chats and individual calls. Although we believe that this time should also be optimized, we focus mainly on key meetings to ensure that every minute spent is valuable.

In this article, I will consider the approaches I use and the ideas that motivate me to minimize the costs associated with meetings.

This text is a compilation of author’s experience, written to provide new juniour/middle teammates the basis to start developing computational intensive or/and ML based systems. It will take you about 5-10 minutes for reading.

Опросы – это не просто инструмент сбора мнений; они являются мостом между компаниями и их аудиторией, позволяя не только узнать мнение клиентов, но и вовлечь их в процесс создания и улучшения продуктов и услуг.

Сервис опросов Тестограф предоставляет широкие возможности для создания опросов, тестов и голосований, обладая функционалом, который позволяет не только собирать данные, но и анализировать их, делая выводы и принимая обоснованные решения на их основе.

Эта статья будет интересна широкому кругу читателей: от HR-менеджеров, стремящихся оптимизировать процесс подбора и оценки персонала, до маркетологов, ищущих пути повышения эффективности своих кампаний через глубокое понимание целевой аудитории. Она также окажется полезной для специалистов по UX/UI, стремящихся улучшить пользовательский опыт на основе реальных отзывов, и для организаторов голосований, желающих обеспечить прозрачность и достоверность результатов.

Getting feedback on the design of a digital product from the other members of the development team, stakeholders and clients is an essential part of a UX designer’s job. Ideally, it provides constructive criticism of the design, helps improve the product and perfect it as much as possible to present the best result of work to the users. But getting feedback doesn’t always happen smoothly – when communication is not established properly or the goals of the process are defined incorrectly, things can go the wrong way. In fact, both asking for feedback and giving it requires following some unwritten rules in order to make this experience useful and comfortable for all parties. In this article we’d like to discuss two things: how to ask for feedback correctly and what to consider if you’re the one who’s giving it.

Last week I was doing a seminar on SystemVerilog, ASIC and FPGA at ADA University in Baku, Azerbaijan. I will replicate the last two sessions of this seminar, on RISC-V CPU simulation and synthesis, at the Verilog Meetups on March 3 and March 10 at Hacker Dojo, Mountain View, California. For this reason I am combining the information about Azerbaijan and California seminars in a single post.

First, let's talk about ADA University.

This week, I was reflecting on a recent one-on-one chat with a manager in my division about keeping our backlogs clean and dealing with those tasks that just keep getting pushed back.

I jot down my thoughts and decided to share them with you. It's a common issue, right? Tasks hanging around, always getting postponed. Let's talk about the mess this creates in our backlogs and how to handle it the right way.

Check out my latest article where I dive into the art of backlog hygiene. Trust me, your team will thank you for it!

The meetup on January 14 at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, California, went well, although not as planned - we spent almost all the time talking instead of doing hands-on exercises. The room we booked can fit 30 people and approximately 30 people did show up. The quality of participants was high: approximately half were familiar with hardware description languages and another half came from various software topics. 12 people filled out the questionnaire despite the fact that I forgot to bring 30 pens.

The discussion during and after the presentation was focused and very meaningful: microarchitecture and education, EDA infrastructure / build scripts, open-source ASIC design tools, the economics of ASIC design and manufacturing, high-level synthesis, transaction-level modeling, ASIC prototyping using FPGA boards, FPGA embedded in ASIC (Menta), new FPGA manufacturers (Gowin) and new design languages - Chisel and SpinalHDL.

Four persons came to me after the meeting to discuss their participation in working on open-source portable SystemVerilog examples, and another seven expressed this intention in the questionnaire. So we are meeting again in Hacker Dojo on Sunday, January 21, at 2 PM, this time not in the classroom area, but in the common shared area.

Generally, I am thinking of having regular meetings, probably on a weekly basis for a small team of developers of the educational materials and on a monthly basis for a wider audience, discussing various design and verification topics.

There were two correspondents of Slavic Sacramento who recorded the video of the presentation. They are going to make it available soon.