Curses upon QA Analyst

What!! I told him thrice to get rid of this line... How on Earth can i make him understand??


My mind was racing at 120 mph...My temper reaching to a limit of 220 degree Fahrenheit (i was a volcano, about to erupt).
Sometimes, i think they do this on purpose...just to annoy me...make my life more miserable
& why
Because i find mistakes with their work.

Yes, i am a QA Analyst!!
I don't know why i ended up being one...well no, i think it was what i always wanted to be...but this was not how i imagined life (it was a fairytale).

Back when i was a student, i used to hear so much about QA vs. Developers & i used to think that i won't follow their footsteps...i'll be nice to everyone...& friendly...my development team won't hate me...they'd love the way i'll help them...i'll deal with the issues nicely......(blah!! blah!! big dreams)

But once i began my work, i found that when they say "Life is not a Bed of Roses" they really LITERALLY mean it. No doubt i enjoy my work, but it can get on your nerves when you have to check the same thing for over a thousand times (not really thousand, but you feel like it's that much).

Let's take my current situation for example, this developer...i don't know what language he understands....i asked him to remove a line, a single line from a page...once...twice...thrice...but he, somehow, keeps on forgetting. I've tried everything, reminders, messages, to-dos, alarms...nothing can make him remember (i even thought about tying a string to his finger..or maybe around his neck so he remembers it with every single breath he takes).

And this other project, is nothing but a nightmare (that i encounter during the day). I found a particular mistake, i highlighted it on one the pages and asked it to be modified, assuming that all the other pages will be corrected too...but the next time i re-checked it, i realized that maybe i was expecting the other person to be a bit too much intelligent to figure out my assumption on his own.

So, here i am checking & re-checking & re-checking again for the same things I've checked a million times before & I've pointed a billion times before..
But
All i get in return is not the corrections but curses from the developers for not appreciating their days of hard work and finding lists and lists of errors and bugs and mistakes and faults!!
They can never see the days of hard work I've spent to make their days of hard work look and function perfectly.....

PM - Behind the Scenes!!

Hi!!
I am a Project Manager...

When you normally tell someone that you are a project manager, they picture you as a person:

• Roaming aimlessly in the office (with a devilish smile)
• Giving commands (or lectures in case you've done something wrong)
• Sitting all day long in his cabin doing nothing (coming out only to check if everyone's at his workstation)
• Circling around you all day long if a deadline is nearby (shouting over your head that you should have hurried with the things)
• Finding faults with whatever work you have done (& you were thinking he'd be thanking you for your hardwork)

etc. etc.
In Short, if you have a forceful Boss, you are for sure to have a bossy Project Manager.

Now, this doesn't mean that i am a bossy one...nooo, my team is really fond of me =]
But we are talking about general perception here...right??

So, as i was telling that the overall image...general image...of a project manager is not very good. People think that it's an easy way of earning money, without doing anything.
Now that's wrong!!

You see, even when i am sitting idle, there are a whole lot of hurricanes twirling & swirling through my brain. I am constantly thinking about ways to meet deadlines, fully utilize the allocated resources, solve issues between teammates, brief the newly demanded feature from client side (in a manner that won't make my team's head go CUCKOO!! CUCKOO!!) & other issues that my team has not even the slightest idea of.

If you think developers & programmers spent sleepless nights meeting deadlines, we project managers spent sleepless weeks arranging & scheduling the time preceeding those deadlines...i can't recall when was the last time i slept peacefully...maybe a month back...oh no, that was when i had my vasovagal episode (fainting) (yeah, that can happen when you are in a condition as i was).

You people think that PM stands for Project Manager only...wrong again
The P is for:

• People you have to look after (clients, boss, team)
• Pressure you have to bear
• Problems you have to deal with
• Projects you have to manage

The M is for

• Money matters you have to handle (even if it means a simple lunch arrangement for the team)
• Machines you needs to look after
• Motivation you have to provide to your team
• Messages you have to convey from boss to team, clients to team, team to boss, team to client, boss to client, client to boss (woahhh!! i lost track of my words...)

So you see, this is not an easy task. Yet " I ", the project manager:

• Greet everyone with a fresh face
• Walk around the office with full energy
• Solve problems with an innovative mind
• Guide you with a smiling face

& still they say i have no work to do...*sigh*!!

Importance of Optical Mouse - A Love Story

When i got to my table early this morning, i noticed my litmus mouse (it gives out blue and red lights - just as a litmus paper changes color for acids and bases) missing from my blue mouse-pad.

OMG!! Where could it be??
Under the table? No!!
In the drawer? No!!
Beneath the file stack? No!!
In my laptop bag? No!!
In the dustbin? No!! (you'll know by the end why i checked there)
My precious little mouse was gone ='(

Sadly, i switched on my system. But today wasn't the same. It wasn't there blinking happily at me, eager for me to start my work. My mouse-pad was sadly staring up at me (remember it was blue & blue means sad...right??)
How am i ever going to work without it by my side?
BING!! i got a message from my colleague to send him a file i was supposed to. Ignoring my previous feelings, i used the touch-pad to open up the file & started working. I got engrossed into my work soon.

My flow was interrupted by an upgrade reminder of my anti-virus. Angry on the interruption, i moved my hand to the right to click "OK" on the pop-up & get rid of that annoying message. i curled my fingers over the usual place but all i caught was air. I looked towards my right annoyingly only to find the resting spot of my beloved litmus mouse empty...and the feeling returned!!

I closed my eyes & sank back into my chair. The memories of me & my dear mouse flashed before me like a film-reel:
When we 1st met: there i am holding it for the 1st time & look how brightly it's twinkling in my hand
How it encouraged me: there i am so tired with all the work load, dejectedly I've placed my head over the table & it shines up the glossy table surface with its light to catch my attention & tell me that it's there with me through all this
How it came in handy whenever i was angry: there i am angry about that software not working, enraged, I've banged it on the table (if I hit it hard enough, it can end up in the dustbin) & it's looking back at me sadly (blue light ON)
How it helped me think: there i am moving it around the screen aimlessly, thinking about my work
How it saved my time: i am trying to skim through that long document & it's there sliding the pages down with a little move of my finger
........
Oh all those cherished memories of my beloved mouse!!
KNOCK!! KNOCK!! on the door draws me back to reality.
It was one of my colleagues & he was holding my dear little litmus mouse in his hand.
"Sorry, i borrowed it last night...", he placed it on my table & left
With shaky hands, i lifted my mouse & plugged it in.
BLINK!! it came to life & my mouse-pad shimmered with red & blue lights. Oh, how happy i was to get it back.
Staring at it for a brief moment, i held it & went back to work!!

SWS - Yippee!! & Oh-Oh!! of Public Holidays

Public Holiday is a badly awaited thing by all living souls (if some one is not included in this list, he/she is "actually" not alive!!). People make big plans for their days off; family gatherings, picnics, late night movies and sometimes carrying out all chores around the house, like:

• raking leaves
• snow shoveling
• spring cleaning
• garage sales
• fixing the pipes :p

Here at SWS, we undergo the same kind of feelings when public holidays are around the corner. Some time away from the computer screens and softwares feel good...no??

Whenever we see a highlighted holiday in our calenders, BOOM!! goes happiness in our tiny brains.

Yippee!! no more getting up early (enjoy lazy breakfasts)

Yippee!! no more staring at computer screens (blank - sleepy to even think what goes into the header line)

Yippee!! no more waiting for coffee-breaks (have it whenever your heart says)

Yippee!! no more client updates (they are all away on vacations)

Yippee!! no more executive chairs to twist on (only executive beds to rest on)

Yippee!! no more dress code (only worn-out sleeping suits all day long)

Yippee!! Yippee!! Yippee!!

Every client is happy and wishing us a happy holiday break. So, we rock and roll away the time and be as lazy as we can possibly be through the break!!

Time flies when you are having a great time & therefore, we end up back in the same building, on the same chairs, with the same screens giving us their icy-stares.

But this is only the initial description of what dreadful end lies ahead of us...

Oh-Oh!! there's a due milestone in the next 24-hours

Oh-Oh!! i still need to make the corrections the client pointed

Oh-Oh!! the client is demanding updates over his project

Oh-Oh!! didn't i already debug this part before the holidays??

Oh-Oh!! Oh-Oh!! Oh-Oh!!

All good things come to an end, an end that is as dreadful as blissful the holidays were.

Praise the Lord Team SWS!!!

You are warriors, surviving war after war between the Yippee!! and Oh-Oh!!

Super Sunny Day at SWS

Woahhh!!
Today's an awesome day here at SWS...

We had a refreshing meeting early in the morning; got all our tasks lined up for the day.
Back at our workstations, we updated our To-Do lists and buckled up for the ride of the day. ;-)

At mid-break, we decided to celebrate our glorious day & had a mouthwatering feast with our whole team!! Our teammates put in their hearts & souls to get things done efficiently for our clients. So, it's good to have a little break after a long period of tedious work. We take great care of our team because we know, at the end, it's them who put in the efforts to make a day successful.

Half of the day has passed and we are through most of the things!!
Got loads of our tasks completed!!
Made many of our clients happy ^.^/
Go Team SWS!!