Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Project Management Books.
The Successful Healthcheck for IT Projects: An Insider’s Guide to Managing IT Investment and Business Change
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
ecommerce optimization
http://www.ecommerceoptimization.com/articles/ecommerce-shopping-cart-usability-21-best-practices/
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
How to raise a grateful child
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/22/living/raise-a-grateful-child/index.html?hpt=hp_bn8
How to raise a grateful child
Parenting.com
By Patty Onderko, Parenting.com
updated 7:46 AM EST, Tue November 22, 2011
You can raise your children to be grateful for what they have.
You can raise your children to be grateful for what they have.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Life won't always gift your child with exactly his heart's desire
Teach your child that showing appreciation for gifts is important
Create excitement surrounding gift purchases for other family members
(Parenting.com) -- I was 7 years old when I received a tiny Christmas present -- about the size of an eraser -- awkwardly wrapped and covered in tape. My sister's boyfriend, Jeff, was visiting and had considerately brought gifts for his girlfriend's three younger siblings. Mine, though, was by far the smallest. I remember opening it up to reveal a miniature ceramic dog -- a cold, hard nothing that fit in the palm of my hand -- and thinking how unlucky I was. I gave Jeff my best cold shoulder the rest of the day.
And I've felt guilty about it ever since. Partly because, in hindsight, Jeff's gift was very thoughtful: I'd been obsessed with my dollhouse, and he had managed to find one accessory my dream home did not yet have -- a pet. Still, I couldn't look past the size of the gift to be grateful for the amount of care that had gone into choosing it.
In this, experts say, I wasn't an unusual kid: For distractible, still-developing children (and that's pretty much all of them), gratitude can be hard-won. While many can be trained to say "please" and "thank you" beginning at about 18 months, true appreciativeness and generosity take time to seed and blossom.
Parenting.com: Why toddlers throw tantrums
"There's a difference between encouraging thankfulness in your kids and actually expecting it," says Claire Lerner, a child-development specialist at Zero to Three, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the healthy development of kids and families. "Raising a grateful child is an ongoing process."
Vicki Hoefle, director of Parenting on Track, a parent-education program based in East Middlebury, Vermont (and the mother of five teenagers), concurs: "As nice as it is to think about having a five-year-old who appreciates and shows gratitude for everything, the truth is, parents can feel successful if they raise a thirty-five-year-old who embodies that grateful spirit."
So, to Jeff Galvin I offer a long-overdue "Thank you." To everyone else, here's how to avoid getting derailed by five not-so-thankful-kid moments, both this holiday season and all year long:
Your 9-year-old keeps a running -- and growing -- list of toys he has to have. He's up to number 23 this season.
Parenting.com: Boys vs. girls: Who's harder to raise
In-The-Moment Fix
"Emphasize that you appreciate there are many things he wants, but let him know it will only be possible to get a few of them," says Robert Brooks, Ph.D., a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and coauthor of Raising a Self-Disciplined Child. That way, you won't make him feel greedy or foolish for compiling a lengthy list, but you will set his expectations.
Another idea: Ask him to make a second list, equal in number to the things he wants to get, of things or actions he is willing to give, suggests Maureen Healy, author of 365 Perfect Things to Say to Your Kids. For example: 1) Clean his room, 2) Help you find a charity that the family can donate to, 3) Pitch in when Dad starts wrapping presents, 4) Make a holiday card. Last, if you're in for belt-tightening this year, let him know.
Be honest, but keep it simple and undramatic so you don't scare him. Instead of saying "Dad might lose his job, so we have to cut back" -- which might make him sure you'll be losing the house next -- say something like "Nothing major is going to change, but we'll have to wait until next year to go on vacation and we have to hold off on getting the new bike you wanted." It's likely your kid will think "Okay, I can live with that," says Lerner.
Long-Term Strategy
Help him understand that gifts are thoughtful gestures, not just a way for him to score materialistic gain, says Lerner. Anytime he receives a present, point out everything the giver put into it. If a classmate makes him a friendship bracelet, for example, say "Oh, wow -- Lucy remembered that you thought these were cool. She picked out colors she knows you like, and it probably took her a whole hour to make. That is so nice." Do this enough times and he'll get the "quality, not quantity" idea before you know it.
Parenting.com: 13 fool-proof discipline tricks from teachers
Your 5-year-old grimaces at the stuffed Elmo her aunt gives her and says, "But I wanted a Barbie!"
In-The-Moment Fix
"The concept of hiding your own negative feelings to protect someone else's is way too complex for kids five and under," says Lerner. (Older kids get better and better but will still have frequent slipups.) So validate your daughter's feelings without responding critically, says Brooks.
Say "I know you wanted a Barbie, but let's think about all the different ways we can play with Elmo." You can also step in and model the appropriate response -- and defuse the uncomfortable situation -- by exclaiming something like "Wow, that was so thoughtful, wasn't it, Alli? Aunt Karen remembered you needed mittens!" This trick works for all ages: If your older son receives a gift he already owns, for example, say "Oh, cool! That's your favorite game!"
Write a little script for your child to follow when he gets a present, recommends Bette Freedson of the National Association of Social Workers. Come up with a stock line or two together, like "Thank you! I like it a lot!" He can also pick out one thing to specifically compliment ("This blanket feels really soft").
Long-Term Strategy
Before any gift-getting occasion, prepare your child for the possibility that she may not like all her presents, but at the same time, let her know that it's still important to show her appreciation. Remind her that people put effort into trying to find her the best thing. Then devise a special cue between the two of you, suggests Lerner, that reminds her to say thank you. When you see her mouth turning down, you can clap your hands and say "Great present!" to snap her back into good-manners mode.
You can't even take your kid to get socks or lightbulbs without him whining for you to buy him something -- seemingly anything.
In-The-Moment Fix
Before you go on any shopping trip, inform your child that you'll be hitting the mall to, say, buy gifts for his cousins. "Engage him in the process," says Lerner. "Ask him what his cousin Jane likes and which toy you should get her. Get him excited about buying for someone else." At the same time, make it clear that you won't be able to buy anything for him. Then, if your son throws a fit at the store, you can refer back to that conversation, and say something like "I know it's hard to be here when you're not getting anything, but that's the rule. Now, I really need your help finding something for Jane." Let's be honest: That might not be enough to stop his whining. But steel yourself and stay strong. Caving in will only teach him that he will eventually get his way if he complains loud or long enough.
Long-Term Strategy
Your weekends may be errand time, but try to avoid spending all your family moments pushing a shopping cart. That way, your kids won't think acquiring stuff is the leisure-time norm. (Don't get us wrong, though: We know those flattering jeans are sometimes an absolute necessity!) Denver mom Beth Korin says she and her two boys, ages 7 and 9, frequently head to the library, an indoor pool, or a rock-climbing gym instead. "We try to think of things we can do that don't involve hanging out in stores," she says. Prepare kids for these events the same way you would for gifts ("We're going to have a big, delicious meal with all of your favorite foods, and then we're going to play games!"). The idea you want to get across is that having experiences can be just as exciting as accumulating things (if not more).
Parenting.com: The battles it's okay to lose with your kids
Your 6-year-old gobbles down the Teddy Grahams that another parent at the playground gives him. But when you prod him to say "Thank you," he won't.
In-The-Moment Fix
It's easy to turn this "teachable moment" into a battle of wills -- one where you're repeating "I didn't hear you say thank you!" to your tantrum-ing child while the person he's supposed to thank is backing away in discomfort. But, explains Lerner, the fact that your son doesn't always say the words likely just means they haven't become a habit for him yet. "And getting into power struggles actually impedes the process," she says. So while you should definitely remind your kids to give thanks, it's best not to make a big deal about it if it doesn't happen.
Long-Term Strategy
Remind yourself to model grateful behavior. When your cookie-muncher goes silent, go ahead and say the necessary "Thank you so much!" for him. (At least until he gets older and can be counted on to follow your cues.) In your own everyday interactions, always offer warm thank-yous and praise to grocery store clerks, gas-station attendants, waiters, teachers -- anyone who's helpful to you or him. You may think your child isn't paying attention to those small moments, but he actually is.
When you say no to a toy that, according to your daughter, "everyone at school" has, she complains that all her BFFs get cooler stuff than she does.
Parenting.com: How to deal with your drama tween
In-The-Moment Fix
Sympathize with her frustration, but remind your daughter that, actually, many people don't have as much as she does. How? Begin a tradition of charity work and donating. Start simple: As young as age 3, children can be encouraged to go through their belongings and pick out items to donate, says Lerner. Every year after that, they can get more involved. Last year, Gabrielle Melchionda of Yarmouth, ME, and her two sons, ages 5 and 9, volunteered to decorate low-income homes for Christmas. "It was so nice to see all of the kids, mine and those who lived there, on their bellies coloring together," she says. "Later, my kids asked things like 'Was that the whole house?' It sparked conversation for months. It was an experience none of us will forget."
Long-Term Strategy
Expose your daughter to people from all walks of life. "We often try to shield our children from those who are less fortunate, but it's important that kids know how lucky they are," says Dale McGowan, a father of three in Atlanta and coauthor of Parenting Beyond Belief. So the next time you see a homeless person, pass a shelter, or read a story in the news about a needy family, he suggests, ask questions -- "Where do you think that man sleeps?" or "Can you imagine what it would be like not to have a home?" -- that get your kids to put themselves in someone else's shoes. (At the same time, assure them that your family will always have a place to call home.) You'll be surprised -- and pleased -- at how often kids are moved to want to help.
Bonus mom advice: Don't diss gifts yourself as long as your little one is around. In fact, make a point of talking about the redeeming qualities of even that hideous necklace from your mother-in-law--how shiny! "You have to model gratitude if you want your child to practice it, too," points out Janette B. Benson, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at the University of Denver.
Get 2 FREE YEARS of Parenting magazine - Subscribe Now!!
Copyright 2011 The Parenting Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
We recommend
My sister, the best person I know
Calling in sick: 15 weird excuses
Mother of missing Arizona 5-year-old arrested
Padma Lakshmi's beau Theodore Frostmann has died
California teen admits killing gay student, to serve 25 years
5@5 - You really should be drinking more sherry
From around the web
Baby's First Year: What to Expect Each Month EverydayHealth.com
Hoarding Buried Alive: Doll Collection Obsession TLC Videos
10 Signs You May Be in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship HeathCentral.com
7 Foods That Can Survive Outside the Fridge Mainstreet
Top 6 Botched Celebrity Surgeries Mevio
The 5 Tastiest Fruits You Haven't Tried Dinner Tool
[what's this]
Log in or sign up to comment
soundoff (23 Comments)
Show: Newest | Oldest | Most liked
Post a comment
Log in or sign up to comment
MikeyZ3
My favorite anecdote on this topic was when Damon Wayans was on Arsenio talking about how his kids had whined and moaned about having to go to school, and an expensive private one at that. Wayans solved the problem by putting his kids in the worst inner-city school he could find. Left them behind ... more
1 hour ago | Like (1) | Report abuse
Sybaris
My wife is having trouble figuring out what to get our grandson this christmas.
Why?
At only 5 years old he already has most of Toys-R-Us all over his house!!
Just say, No!
1 hour ago | Like (2) | Report abuse
AerinGael
I read this title and it reminded me of "How to Train up a Child" which bordered on a how-to manual for child abuse.
1 hour ago | Like | Report abuse
Cat73
My all time favorite comment, "You're so lucky you have such polite/good kids!" Luck doesn't have a darn thing to do with it. Hard work and meaning what I say is how that happened. I didn't get my kids from the "luck" fairy (but he was a pretty cute guy if I do say so myself!).
3 hours ago | Like (20) | Report abuse
racegal77
It's all bout the parents and how they raise their kids.. I'm very happy to have what I gotten in my life.. A FAMILY that's loves me for me.
4 hours ago | Like (5) | Report abuse
Mexicmerican
Great article! I will surely try to remember these tips.
4 hours ago | Like (1) | Report abuse
LindseyLoo
When my daughter and I go grocery shopping, she knows that she can pick ONE thing that she wants. Could be a box of sugary ceral, shoes, a specific juice, etc. I still get what we need, but it helps her shop and know that she has a limit. Now that she is 5, she policies herself. I have caught her ho... more
4 hours ago | Like (5) | Report abuse
Binky42
You want kids to feel more appreciative about what they got? Don't let them watch TV commercials!! TV commercials are the bane of my existence. Thank god for technology that lets us skip through them.
5 hours ago | Like (8) | Report abuse
gwt
I'm not so sure. My kids and I watch kid's tv together quite a bit, just because we all (including me) find a lot of it actually funny. And, we're constantly barraged by commercials for this, that and the other "cool thing". But, my kids, I believe, are special in the respect that they will look at ... more
1 hour ago | Like | Report abuse
Techsupp0rt
I think we need to introduce the Krampus to America.
5 hours ago | Like (1) | Report abuse
ValenzMom
When my children were young, every Thanksgiving weekend was "clean out the closet" weekend. We would go through the toy box and their clothes together, deciding what needed to be donated. I would always remind them that they had toys and clothes that they no longer played with or that no longer fi... more
5 hours ago | Like (4) | Report abuse
Tiffer72
"You can't even take your kid to get socks or lightbulbs without him whining for you to buy him something -- seemingly anything." There is some good advice in this section, but I've found that keeping it simple is better. When we're at the store and my son says "I want that!" I just say "I'm sure yo... more
6 hours ago | Like (10) | Report abuse
Techsupp0rt
I use that one, too. Or something random, like "I want a race car", then just keep walkin...
5 hours ago | Like (5) | Report abuse
CG77
This all sounds like garbage a suburban mother would say to a child who ends up abusing small animals. "Ok Billy, I know I ignored your request but let's think of all the fun ways to play with what you got. Mmmkay? Go play while mommy get drunk now."
6 hours ago | Like (6) | Report abuse
ibrad
crap in a box and give them that. Any present they get after that I promise they will be thankful for !
"Remember kids,it could be worse. Remember that Xmas....."
6 hours ago | Like (5) | Report abuse
AerinGael
what?
1 hour ago | Like | Report abuse
jdr24
Spank the living crap out of them! Oh wait, CNN had an agenda against that last week.
6 hours ago | Like (10) | Report abuse
jdr24
What's wrong with you? o.O
0 minutes ago | Like | Report abuse
gitana1
Wow. What is wrong with you?
23 minutes ago | Like (1) | Report abuse
lurgy
Keep your threats and your promises.
buying your kids nice stuff does not make them ungrateful, if they are rounded and happy people.
Growing up poor is not character building, it's bloody miserable.
6 hours ago | Like (8) | Report abuse
Tiffer72
Amen!
6 hours ago | Like | Report abuse
WWWYKI
Learn how to say NO.
92% of all problems with bratty kids are now solved.
8 hours ago | Like (30) | Report abuse
Insiteful
"Life won't always gift your child ..."
Wow, I guess I could also re-gift my child if he isn't grateful to me. :D
8 hours ago | Like (4) | Report abuse
ADVERTISEMENT
NewsPulse
Most popular stories right now
Steve Jobs fielded customer service requests
Afghan rape victim: Why I might marry attacker
On Facebook, it's 4.74 degrees of separation
IMF broadens lending power
Huntsman: Bring military in line with reality
Explore the news with NewsPulse »
ADVERTISEMENT
careerbuilder.com
Healthcare Jobs
Sales and Marketing Jobs
Finance Jobs
Quick Job Search
more options »
64°
HI 62°LO 51°
Odd, WVWeather forecast
Powered by Google
Home | Video | NewsPulse | U.S. | World | Politics | Justice | Entertainment | Tech | Health | Living | Travel | Opinion | iReport | Money | Sports
Tools & widgets | RSS | Podcasts | Blogs | CNN mobile | My profile | E-mail alerts | CNN shop | Site map
CNN en ESPAÑOL | CNN Chile | CNN Expansion | العربية | 한국어 | 日本語 | Türkçe
CNN TV | HLN | Transcripts |
CNN© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of service | Privacy guidelines | Ad choices | Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Work for us | Help
How to raise a grateful child
Parenting.com
By Patty Onderko, Parenting.com
updated 7:46 AM EST, Tue November 22, 2011
You can raise your children to be grateful for what they have.
You can raise your children to be grateful for what they have.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Life won't always gift your child with exactly his heart's desire
Teach your child that showing appreciation for gifts is important
Create excitement surrounding gift purchases for other family members
(Parenting.com) -- I was 7 years old when I received a tiny Christmas present -- about the size of an eraser -- awkwardly wrapped and covered in tape. My sister's boyfriend, Jeff, was visiting and had considerately brought gifts for his girlfriend's three younger siblings. Mine, though, was by far the smallest. I remember opening it up to reveal a miniature ceramic dog -- a cold, hard nothing that fit in the palm of my hand -- and thinking how unlucky I was. I gave Jeff my best cold shoulder the rest of the day.
And I've felt guilty about it ever since. Partly because, in hindsight, Jeff's gift was very thoughtful: I'd been obsessed with my dollhouse, and he had managed to find one accessory my dream home did not yet have -- a pet. Still, I couldn't look past the size of the gift to be grateful for the amount of care that had gone into choosing it.
In this, experts say, I wasn't an unusual kid: For distractible, still-developing children (and that's pretty much all of them), gratitude can be hard-won. While many can be trained to say "please" and "thank you" beginning at about 18 months, true appreciativeness and generosity take time to seed and blossom.
Parenting.com: Why toddlers throw tantrums
"There's a difference between encouraging thankfulness in your kids and actually expecting it," says Claire Lerner, a child-development specialist at Zero to Three, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the healthy development of kids and families. "Raising a grateful child is an ongoing process."
Vicki Hoefle, director of Parenting on Track, a parent-education program based in East Middlebury, Vermont (and the mother of five teenagers), concurs: "As nice as it is to think about having a five-year-old who appreciates and shows gratitude for everything, the truth is, parents can feel successful if they raise a thirty-five-year-old who embodies that grateful spirit."
So, to Jeff Galvin I offer a long-overdue "Thank you." To everyone else, here's how to avoid getting derailed by five not-so-thankful-kid moments, both this holiday season and all year long:
Your 9-year-old keeps a running -- and growing -- list of toys he has to have. He's up to number 23 this season.
Parenting.com: Boys vs. girls: Who's harder to raise
In-The-Moment Fix
"Emphasize that you appreciate there are many things he wants, but let him know it will only be possible to get a few of them," says Robert Brooks, Ph.D., a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and coauthor of Raising a Self-Disciplined Child. That way, you won't make him feel greedy or foolish for compiling a lengthy list, but you will set his expectations.
Another idea: Ask him to make a second list, equal in number to the things he wants to get, of things or actions he is willing to give, suggests Maureen Healy, author of 365 Perfect Things to Say to Your Kids. For example: 1) Clean his room, 2) Help you find a charity that the family can donate to, 3) Pitch in when Dad starts wrapping presents, 4) Make a holiday card. Last, if you're in for belt-tightening this year, let him know.
Be honest, but keep it simple and undramatic so you don't scare him. Instead of saying "Dad might lose his job, so we have to cut back" -- which might make him sure you'll be losing the house next -- say something like "Nothing major is going to change, but we'll have to wait until next year to go on vacation and we have to hold off on getting the new bike you wanted." It's likely your kid will think "Okay, I can live with that," says Lerner.
Long-Term Strategy
Help him understand that gifts are thoughtful gestures, not just a way for him to score materialistic gain, says Lerner. Anytime he receives a present, point out everything the giver put into it. If a classmate makes him a friendship bracelet, for example, say "Oh, wow -- Lucy remembered that you thought these were cool. She picked out colors she knows you like, and it probably took her a whole hour to make. That is so nice." Do this enough times and he'll get the "quality, not quantity" idea before you know it.
Parenting.com: 13 fool-proof discipline tricks from teachers
Your 5-year-old grimaces at the stuffed Elmo her aunt gives her and says, "But I wanted a Barbie!"
In-The-Moment Fix
"The concept of hiding your own negative feelings to protect someone else's is way too complex for kids five and under," says Lerner. (Older kids get better and better but will still have frequent slipups.) So validate your daughter's feelings without responding critically, says Brooks.
Say "I know you wanted a Barbie, but let's think about all the different ways we can play with Elmo." You can also step in and model the appropriate response -- and defuse the uncomfortable situation -- by exclaiming something like "Wow, that was so thoughtful, wasn't it, Alli? Aunt Karen remembered you needed mittens!" This trick works for all ages: If your older son receives a gift he already owns, for example, say "Oh, cool! That's your favorite game!"
Write a little script for your child to follow when he gets a present, recommends Bette Freedson of the National Association of Social Workers. Come up with a stock line or two together, like "Thank you! I like it a lot!" He can also pick out one thing to specifically compliment ("This blanket feels really soft").
Long-Term Strategy
Before any gift-getting occasion, prepare your child for the possibility that she may not like all her presents, but at the same time, let her know that it's still important to show her appreciation. Remind her that people put effort into trying to find her the best thing. Then devise a special cue between the two of you, suggests Lerner, that reminds her to say thank you. When you see her mouth turning down, you can clap your hands and say "Great present!" to snap her back into good-manners mode.
You can't even take your kid to get socks or lightbulbs without him whining for you to buy him something -- seemingly anything.
In-The-Moment Fix
Before you go on any shopping trip, inform your child that you'll be hitting the mall to, say, buy gifts for his cousins. "Engage him in the process," says Lerner. "Ask him what his cousin Jane likes and which toy you should get her. Get him excited about buying for someone else." At the same time, make it clear that you won't be able to buy anything for him. Then, if your son throws a fit at the store, you can refer back to that conversation, and say something like "I know it's hard to be here when you're not getting anything, but that's the rule. Now, I really need your help finding something for Jane." Let's be honest: That might not be enough to stop his whining. But steel yourself and stay strong. Caving in will only teach him that he will eventually get his way if he complains loud or long enough.
Long-Term Strategy
Your weekends may be errand time, but try to avoid spending all your family moments pushing a shopping cart. That way, your kids won't think acquiring stuff is the leisure-time norm. (Don't get us wrong, though: We know those flattering jeans are sometimes an absolute necessity!) Denver mom Beth Korin says she and her two boys, ages 7 and 9, frequently head to the library, an indoor pool, or a rock-climbing gym instead. "We try to think of things we can do that don't involve hanging out in stores," she says. Prepare kids for these events the same way you would for gifts ("We're going to have a big, delicious meal with all of your favorite foods, and then we're going to play games!"). The idea you want to get across is that having experiences can be just as exciting as accumulating things (if not more).
Parenting.com: The battles it's okay to lose with your kids
Your 6-year-old gobbles down the Teddy Grahams that another parent at the playground gives him. But when you prod him to say "Thank you," he won't.
In-The-Moment Fix
It's easy to turn this "teachable moment" into a battle of wills -- one where you're repeating "I didn't hear you say thank you!" to your tantrum-ing child while the person he's supposed to thank is backing away in discomfort. But, explains Lerner, the fact that your son doesn't always say the words likely just means they haven't become a habit for him yet. "And getting into power struggles actually impedes the process," she says. So while you should definitely remind your kids to give thanks, it's best not to make a big deal about it if it doesn't happen.
Long-Term Strategy
Remind yourself to model grateful behavior. When your cookie-muncher goes silent, go ahead and say the necessary "Thank you so much!" for him. (At least until he gets older and can be counted on to follow your cues.) In your own everyday interactions, always offer warm thank-yous and praise to grocery store clerks, gas-station attendants, waiters, teachers -- anyone who's helpful to you or him. You may think your child isn't paying attention to those small moments, but he actually is.
When you say no to a toy that, according to your daughter, "everyone at school" has, she complains that all her BFFs get cooler stuff than she does.
Parenting.com: How to deal with your drama tween
In-The-Moment Fix
Sympathize with her frustration, but remind your daughter that, actually, many people don't have as much as she does. How? Begin a tradition of charity work and donating. Start simple: As young as age 3, children can be encouraged to go through their belongings and pick out items to donate, says Lerner. Every year after that, they can get more involved. Last year, Gabrielle Melchionda of Yarmouth, ME, and her two sons, ages 5 and 9, volunteered to decorate low-income homes for Christmas. "It was so nice to see all of the kids, mine and those who lived there, on their bellies coloring together," she says. "Later, my kids asked things like 'Was that the whole house?' It sparked conversation for months. It was an experience none of us will forget."
Long-Term Strategy
Expose your daughter to people from all walks of life. "We often try to shield our children from those who are less fortunate, but it's important that kids know how lucky they are," says Dale McGowan, a father of three in Atlanta and coauthor of Parenting Beyond Belief. So the next time you see a homeless person, pass a shelter, or read a story in the news about a needy family, he suggests, ask questions -- "Where do you think that man sleeps?" or "Can you imagine what it would be like not to have a home?" -- that get your kids to put themselves in someone else's shoes. (At the same time, assure them that your family will always have a place to call home.) You'll be surprised -- and pleased -- at how often kids are moved to want to help.
Bonus mom advice: Don't diss gifts yourself as long as your little one is around. In fact, make a point of talking about the redeeming qualities of even that hideous necklace from your mother-in-law--how shiny! "You have to model gratitude if you want your child to practice it, too," points out Janette B. Benson, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at the University of Denver.
Get 2 FREE YEARS of Parenting magazine - Subscribe Now!!
Copyright 2011 The Parenting Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
We recommend
My sister, the best person I know
Calling in sick: 15 weird excuses
Mother of missing Arizona 5-year-old arrested
Padma Lakshmi's beau Theodore Frostmann has died
California teen admits killing gay student, to serve 25 years
5@5 - You really should be drinking more sherry
From around the web
Baby's First Year: What to Expect Each Month EverydayHealth.com
Hoarding Buried Alive: Doll Collection Obsession TLC Videos
10 Signs You May Be in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship HeathCentral.com
7 Foods That Can Survive Outside the Fridge Mainstreet
Top 6 Botched Celebrity Surgeries Mevio
The 5 Tastiest Fruits You Haven't Tried Dinner Tool
[what's this]
Log in or sign up to comment
soundoff (23 Comments)
Show: Newest | Oldest | Most liked
Post a comment
Log in or sign up to comment
MikeyZ3
My favorite anecdote on this topic was when Damon Wayans was on Arsenio talking about how his kids had whined and moaned about having to go to school, and an expensive private one at that. Wayans solved the problem by putting his kids in the worst inner-city school he could find. Left them behind ... more
1 hour ago | Like (1) | Report abuse
Sybaris
My wife is having trouble figuring out what to get our grandson this christmas.
Why?
At only 5 years old he already has most of Toys-R-Us all over his house!!
Just say, No!
1 hour ago | Like (2) | Report abuse
AerinGael
I read this title and it reminded me of "How to Train up a Child" which bordered on a how-to manual for child abuse.
1 hour ago | Like | Report abuse
Cat73
My all time favorite comment, "You're so lucky you have such polite/good kids!" Luck doesn't have a darn thing to do with it. Hard work and meaning what I say is how that happened. I didn't get my kids from the "luck" fairy (but he was a pretty cute guy if I do say so myself!).
3 hours ago | Like (20) | Report abuse
racegal77
It's all bout the parents and how they raise their kids.. I'm very happy to have what I gotten in my life.. A FAMILY that's loves me for me.
4 hours ago | Like (5) | Report abuse
Mexicmerican
Great article! I will surely try to remember these tips.
4 hours ago | Like (1) | Report abuse
LindseyLoo
When my daughter and I go grocery shopping, she knows that she can pick ONE thing that she wants. Could be a box of sugary ceral, shoes, a specific juice, etc. I still get what we need, but it helps her shop and know that she has a limit. Now that she is 5, she policies herself. I have caught her ho... more
4 hours ago | Like (5) | Report abuse
Binky42
You want kids to feel more appreciative about what they got? Don't let them watch TV commercials!! TV commercials are the bane of my existence. Thank god for technology that lets us skip through them.
5 hours ago | Like (8) | Report abuse
gwt
I'm not so sure. My kids and I watch kid's tv together quite a bit, just because we all (including me) find a lot of it actually funny. And, we're constantly barraged by commercials for this, that and the other "cool thing". But, my kids, I believe, are special in the respect that they will look at ... more
1 hour ago | Like | Report abuse
Techsupp0rt
I think we need to introduce the Krampus to America.
5 hours ago | Like (1) | Report abuse
ValenzMom
When my children were young, every Thanksgiving weekend was "clean out the closet" weekend. We would go through the toy box and their clothes together, deciding what needed to be donated. I would always remind them that they had toys and clothes that they no longer played with or that no longer fi... more
5 hours ago | Like (4) | Report abuse
Tiffer72
"You can't even take your kid to get socks or lightbulbs without him whining for you to buy him something -- seemingly anything." There is some good advice in this section, but I've found that keeping it simple is better. When we're at the store and my son says "I want that!" I just say "I'm sure yo... more
6 hours ago | Like (10) | Report abuse
Techsupp0rt
I use that one, too. Or something random, like "I want a race car", then just keep walkin...
5 hours ago | Like (5) | Report abuse
CG77
This all sounds like garbage a suburban mother would say to a child who ends up abusing small animals. "Ok Billy, I know I ignored your request but let's think of all the fun ways to play with what you got. Mmmkay? Go play while mommy get drunk now."
6 hours ago | Like (6) | Report abuse
ibrad
crap in a box and give them that. Any present they get after that I promise they will be thankful for !
"Remember kids,it could be worse. Remember that Xmas....."
6 hours ago | Like (5) | Report abuse
AerinGael
what?
1 hour ago | Like | Report abuse
jdr24
Spank the living crap out of them! Oh wait, CNN had an agenda against that last week.
6 hours ago | Like (10) | Report abuse
jdr24
What's wrong with you? o.O
0 minutes ago | Like | Report abuse
gitana1
Wow. What is wrong with you?
23 minutes ago | Like (1) | Report abuse
lurgy
Keep your threats and your promises.
buying your kids nice stuff does not make them ungrateful, if they are rounded and happy people.
Growing up poor is not character building, it's bloody miserable.
6 hours ago | Like (8) | Report abuse
Tiffer72
Amen!
6 hours ago | Like | Report abuse
WWWYKI
Learn how to say NO.
92% of all problems with bratty kids are now solved.
8 hours ago | Like (30) | Report abuse
Insiteful
"Life won't always gift your child ..."
Wow, I guess I could also re-gift my child if he isn't grateful to me. :D
8 hours ago | Like (4) | Report abuse
ADVERTISEMENT
NewsPulse
Most popular stories right now
Steve Jobs fielded customer service requests
Afghan rape victim: Why I might marry attacker
On Facebook, it's 4.74 degrees of separation
IMF broadens lending power
Huntsman: Bring military in line with reality
Explore the news with NewsPulse »
ADVERTISEMENT
careerbuilder.com
Healthcare Jobs
Sales and Marketing Jobs
Finance Jobs
Quick Job Search
more options »
64°
HI 62°LO 51°
Odd, WVWeather forecast
Powered by Google
Home | Video | NewsPulse | U.S. | World | Politics | Justice | Entertainment | Tech | Health | Living | Travel | Opinion | iReport | Money | Sports
Tools & widgets | RSS | Podcasts | Blogs | CNN mobile | My profile | E-mail alerts | CNN shop | Site map
CNN en ESPAÑOL | CNN Chile | CNN Expansion | العربية | 한국어 | 日本語 | Türkçe
CNN TV | HLN | Transcripts |
CNN© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of service | Privacy guidelines | Ad choices | Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Work for us | Help
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Steve Jobs
Stay hungry = always keep wanting something more, something new.
Stay foolish = always keep an open mind, never think that you know everything.
Stay foolish = always keep an open mind, never think that you know everything.
Monday, October 24, 2011
IT Organization
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Log-Mar/Management-Information-Systems.html
http://lewiskinard.blogspot.com/2009/03/hidden-costs-of-using-outdated.html
http://www.cioupdate.com/insights/article.php/3446591/The-Four-Phases-of-ITBusiness-Alignment.htm
http://celestinechua.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-rude-people/
http://atkearney.com/index.php/Publications/why-todayss-it-organization-wont-work-tomorrow.html
http://www.infoed.com/Open/PAPERS/informat.htm
http://www.cio.com/article/134201/The_Secrets_of_IT_Innovation
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526647.aspx
http://lewiskinard.blogspot.com/2009/03/hidden-costs-of-using-outdated.html
http://www.cioupdate.com/insights/article.php/3446591/The-Four-Phases-of-ITBusiness-Alignment.htm
http://celestinechua.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-rude-people/
http://atkearney.com/index.php/Publications/why-todayss-it-organization-wont-work-tomorrow.html
http://www.infoed.com/Open/PAPERS/informat.htm
http://www.cio.com/article/134201/The_Secrets_of_IT_Innovation
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526647.aspx
IT Organization
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Log-Mar/Management-Information-Systems.html
http://lewiskinard.blogspot.com/2009/03/hidden-costs-of-using-outdated.html
http://www.cioupdate.com/insights/article.php/3446591/The-Four-Phases-of-ITBusiness-Alignment.htm
http://celestinechua.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-rude-people/
http://atkearney.com/index.php/Publications/why-todayss-it-organization-wont-work-tomorrow.html
http://www.infoed.com/Open/PAPERS/informat.htm
http://www.cio.com/article/134201/The_Secrets_of_IT_Innovation
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526647.aspx
http://lewiskinard.blogspot.com/2009/03/hidden-costs-of-using-outdated.html
http://www.cioupdate.com/insights/article.php/3446591/The-Four-Phases-of-ITBusiness-Alignment.htm
http://celestinechua.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-rude-people/
http://atkearney.com/index.php/Publications/why-todayss-it-organization-wont-work-tomorrow.html
http://www.infoed.com/Open/PAPERS/informat.htm
http://www.cio.com/article/134201/The_Secrets_of_IT_Innovation
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526647.aspx
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Performance Tuning
http://loadstorm.com/2009/web-performance-tuning
"Our technical team conducted a thorough investigation of performance testing tools. We analyzed open source, Gomez, Soasta, and several other solutions. LoadStorm was a clear winner. Not only is it priced aggressively, our engineers love the ease of use." - Sidd
“LoadStorm provided us with a rapid solution to perform load testing for a client. At Channel Dynamix, we have worked with many load testing solutions and LoadStorm proved to be the quickest and easiest to implement. With LoadStorm simulating hundreds of end-users, we were able to pinpoint bottlenecks easily before our client brought their mission-critical web application online.” – Joe Alapat, COO, Channel Dynamix
Web Performance Tuning = 10% Profit Increase
Posted Thu, 12/31/2009 - 5:22am by Scott Price
* Tags:
o performance
Your website is a little slow - so what? Well, it is probably costing you money. I have been researching published facts about web performance because we are always trying to understand our industry better. This post should help you realize that improving your web application performance can directly impact your bottom line by 10% or more. Don't believe me? Read on...
Aberdeen's June 2008 report, Application Performance Management: The Lifecycle Approach Brings IT and Business Together showed that issues with application performance could impact corporjavascript:void(0)ate revenues by up to 9%. The research also showed that only 42% of organizations were satisfied with the performance of business-critical applications.
Shopzilla is one of the largest and most comprehensive online shopping networks on the web. They have much to teach us about performance engineering's relationship to profitability. Their tagline "discovery made simple" emphasizes speed to find something. Easy, quick, low friction, and get what I want with no hassle. By focusing on the performance of their site and applications, they found the holy grail of performance improvements: higher profitability through increasing revenue while driving down operating costs.
Phil Dixon has shared real data that Shopzilla gathered from a year-long performance redesign and how the metrics affected the bottom line. Some of the most interesting findings:
* The redesign resulted in a 5 second speed up (from ~7 seconds to ~2 seconds)
* The speed improvement resulted in a 25% increase in page views
* Better performance increased revenue by 7-12%
* A 50% reduction in hardware was possible because of the performance engineering
Here are some of my favorite statistics that are quoted from an Aberdeen Group study called The Performance of Web Applications: Customers are Won or Lost in One Second:
* 45% are concerned about a lack of visibility into application performance
* 31% found that their IT staff also lost effectiveness due to subpar application performance
* 58% of respondents said they experience lower employee satisfaction due to poor application performance
* Business performance starts to decline when mission-critical applications reach the baseline of 5.1 seconds of response time delay
* 50% said they lost revenue opportunities because of poorly performing applications
* 32% said they experienced damage to their brand reputation
* Some 47% indicated that they had decreased responsiveness to the needs of external customers
* 60% of survey respondents reported the inability to identify issues before end users are impacted as a top challenge when dealing with applications
* Organizations are planning to increase the number of business critical applications by 67% over the next 12 months (from six on average to 10 applications)
* 60% of organizations were not satisfied with the performance of business critical applications
* 41% have issues with rolling out new applications without them being tested
* 31% believe virtualization of applications and data storage would further challenge application performance management
Performance Testing Affects Significant Dollars
Think about your company's revenue. Let's say we work for a hypothetical small web development shop with 10 technical consultants that generate about $2 million annually. What would you do with an extra $200,000?
Or suppose you work for a manufacturing company that sells its widgets online. If annual revenue is medium for a US organization, then you could see approximately $50 million LOST because your web e-commerce application is slow in responding during the shopping cart process.
If you work for a large, global corporation that fits in the Fortune 1000, then having web applications with poor performance could cost your company BILLIONS!
Think that is happening? My guess is yes. The reason we won't read about it on TechCrunch, Yahoo, Mashable, MSN, or Google News is because nobody is tracking it. Not your company's CEO, not Aberdeen, not the United Nations, and not even your best performance engineer.
How many companies conduct performance testing with the goal of increasing revenue? Some, but probably not many. Why? Because of the huge disconnect between the IT staff responsible for web applications and the marketing executives responsible for revenue. It is two different worlds. Rarely do they collide...until the site crashes for hours because of heavy volume attributable to a successful marketing campaign.
Load Testing Saves and Makes Money
Just as importantly, there are other ways load testing saves money. Performance testing early and often improves the development cycle. Shorter time to market gives your company a competitive advantage, which results in more product/service sold. And for us geeks, performance testing reduces the cost of defects because they are found earlier in the product life cycle where they are cheaper to fix. Read this if you don't believe me.
I came across a tweet in #performance that pointed me to a good article on proof that speeding up websites improves online business. There is empirical evidence that better web performance can produce a 16% higher conversion rate and a 5% higher order value.
Speed and Simplicity Can Make You a Millionaire
You know how Google's home page is so minimal? That was not by design - that was from a lack of designers! But the simplicity created speed, and the performance carried over to everything Google does. Speed is good business. Speed and simplicity has made Google a pile of money.
Microsoft and Google Collaborating on Performance Engineering?
Yeah, right. Well, it seems that they let two of their performance guys play nice at the Velocity conference this year for a joint presentation.
Key findings:
* Bing found that a 2-second slowdown lowered revenue per user by 4.3%.
* Google Search shows very small delays (400 ms) has long term impact on user interaction - even after performance was improved.
Dave Artz from AOL presented statistics that show page views drop off as page load times increase. Fastest pages get 33% more pages per visit per user than the slower pages. Get a copy of his slides
Performance Engineering and Flow
Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor and former chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago, pioneered the study of flow. He wrote that flow is the “holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement.” His approach was scientific, but not specific to performance metrics produced from load testing. Being a psychologist, he was obviously studying how the mind works and its impact on productivity and success in life. That said, it does shed considerable light on how performance measurements such as response times or errors can affect the buying behavior of a visitor to your website.
In the classic web geek book "Website Optimization", the second chapter includes an interview with Dr. to put his research into proper perspective for us performance engineers. There is a PDF file containing that 2nd chapter for free download. From the chapter:
"The bottom line is that people in flow are having fun, and truly enjoying themselves. Interactive speed is a significant factor in all models of user satisfaction. Make your pages load quickly and minimize the variability of delay. Be especially careful to avoid sluggish response after your pages have loaded."
Performance testing is much more important than almost anyone dares to consider.
The facts are clear - poor performance of a website is a quantifiable worst practice for any business. If a site responds slowly or fails under load, then money is going to be lost. Bad performance leads to other bad things happening.
Some of the studies says 7%, some 9%, some up to 12%. Do you know anyone that would turn down a way to improve their profitability by 10%?
Where do you place website performance on your priority list? Perhaps you should take some of these statistics to your next meeting with the C-level executives. I dare you. Maybe it will get you a promotion because C-levels understand money!
Performance testing rocks.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
* Delicious
* Digg
* StumbleUpon
* Propeller
* Reddit
* Facebook
* Google
* Yahoo
* Add new comment
* Delicious
* Digg
* StumbleUpon
* Propeller
* Reddit
* Facebook
* Google
* Yahoo
Storm on Demand - Pay Per Test
Storm on Demand Users Cost
250 $9.97
500 $19.95
1,000 $39.90
5,000 $199.50
10,000 $399.00
25,000 $997.50
50,000 $1,995.00
performance testing sign upIt's easy. You can be load testing in 15 minutes.
1. Click the "Free Account" button.
2. Enter your name & email address.
3. Click the confirmation link in an email.
4. Create a test scenario for your site.
5. Run a load test.
6. Analyze the test results.
7. Send us a testimonial because you are amazed!
Best Load Testing Tool - Happy Customers Prove It
"Great load testing tool! It's exactly what we need. I think the world of the service!" - Rafael Santander, Performance Engineer, OffandAway.com
"We can only wish that more of our vendors would be so responsive and accommodating as LoadStorm." - Miguel Picornell, VP Operations, Optaros, Inc.
"LoadStorm's service is awesome!" - Saggi Malachi, Lead Developer, AnybodyOutThere.com
“Thanks for a great tool! - Soeren Sprogoe, B2C e-Commerce Consultant, Afdeling18.dk
"I only complement when well deserved and this is the case here. This is perfect! Thank you very much." - Virgil Olteanu, Web Architect, Studiocom
"Thanks very much for the great load testing tool!" - Craig Leinoff, Director of Digital Operations, Ferrazzi Greenlight
"We use your service on daily basis to ensure the best performance and scalability on our high traffic directory, your tool let us predict future scenarios and be ahead with no worries about our online business. From my point of view is an essential service thank you a lot." Claudio Bianchi CEO and founder, FreeSharewareDepot
Want a Live Demo? Have Questions?
Please feel free to contact:
Scott Price
Vice President
(970) 389-1899 mobile
support@loadstorm.com
Click here to take a tour & watch tutorial videos
Click here to submit a testimonial
© 2008-2011 CustomerCentrix, LLC.
RSS blog feed
Syndicate content
"Our technical team conducted a thorough investigation of performance testing tools. We analyzed open source, Gomez, Soasta, and several other solutions. LoadStorm was a clear winner. Not only is it priced aggressively, our engineers love the ease of use." - Sidd
“LoadStorm provided us with a rapid solution to perform load testing for a client. At Channel Dynamix, we have worked with many load testing solutions and LoadStorm proved to be the quickest and easiest to implement. With LoadStorm simulating hundreds of end-users, we were able to pinpoint bottlenecks easily before our client brought their mission-critical web application online.” – Joe Alapat, COO, Channel Dynamix
Web Performance Tuning = 10% Profit Increase
Posted Thu, 12/31/2009 - 5:22am by Scott Price
* Tags:
o performance
Your website is a little slow - so what? Well, it is probably costing you money. I have been researching published facts about web performance because we are always trying to understand our industry better. This post should help you realize that improving your web application performance can directly impact your bottom line by 10% or more. Don't believe me? Read on...
Aberdeen's June 2008 report, Application Performance Management: The Lifecycle Approach Brings IT and Business Together showed that issues with application performance could impact corporjavascript:void(0)ate revenues by up to 9%. The research also showed that only 42% of organizations were satisfied with the performance of business-critical applications.
Shopzilla is one of the largest and most comprehensive online shopping networks on the web. They have much to teach us about performance engineering's relationship to profitability. Their tagline "discovery made simple" emphasizes speed to find something. Easy, quick, low friction, and get what I want with no hassle. By focusing on the performance of their site and applications, they found the holy grail of performance improvements: higher profitability through increasing revenue while driving down operating costs.
Phil Dixon has shared real data that Shopzilla gathered from a year-long performance redesign and how the metrics affected the bottom line. Some of the most interesting findings:
* The redesign resulted in a 5 second speed up (from ~7 seconds to ~2 seconds)
* The speed improvement resulted in a 25% increase in page views
* Better performance increased revenue by 7-12%
* A 50% reduction in hardware was possible because of the performance engineering
Here are some of my favorite statistics that are quoted from an Aberdeen Group study called The Performance of Web Applications: Customers are Won or Lost in One Second:
* 45% are concerned about a lack of visibility into application performance
* 31% found that their IT staff also lost effectiveness due to subpar application performance
* 58% of respondents said they experience lower employee satisfaction due to poor application performance
* Business performance starts to decline when mission-critical applications reach the baseline of 5.1 seconds of response time delay
* 50% said they lost revenue opportunities because of poorly performing applications
* 32% said they experienced damage to their brand reputation
* Some 47% indicated that they had decreased responsiveness to the needs of external customers
* 60% of survey respondents reported the inability to identify issues before end users are impacted as a top challenge when dealing with applications
* Organizations are planning to increase the number of business critical applications by 67% over the next 12 months (from six on average to 10 applications)
* 60% of organizations were not satisfied with the performance of business critical applications
* 41% have issues with rolling out new applications without them being tested
* 31% believe virtualization of applications and data storage would further challenge application performance management
Performance Testing Affects Significant Dollars
Think about your company's revenue. Let's say we work for a hypothetical small web development shop with 10 technical consultants that generate about $2 million annually. What would you do with an extra $200,000?
Or suppose you work for a manufacturing company that sells its widgets online. If annual revenue is medium for a US organization, then you could see approximately $50 million LOST because your web e-commerce application is slow in responding during the shopping cart process.
If you work for a large, global corporation that fits in the Fortune 1000, then having web applications with poor performance could cost your company BILLIONS!
Think that is happening? My guess is yes. The reason we won't read about it on TechCrunch, Yahoo, Mashable, MSN, or Google News is because nobody is tracking it. Not your company's CEO, not Aberdeen, not the United Nations, and not even your best performance engineer.
How many companies conduct performance testing with the goal of increasing revenue? Some, but probably not many. Why? Because of the huge disconnect between the IT staff responsible for web applications and the marketing executives responsible for revenue. It is two different worlds. Rarely do they collide...until the site crashes for hours because of heavy volume attributable to a successful marketing campaign.
Load Testing Saves and Makes Money
Just as importantly, there are other ways load testing saves money. Performance testing early and often improves the development cycle. Shorter time to market gives your company a competitive advantage, which results in more product/service sold. And for us geeks, performance testing reduces the cost of defects because they are found earlier in the product life cycle where they are cheaper to fix. Read this if you don't believe me.
I came across a tweet in #performance that pointed me to a good article on proof that speeding up websites improves online business. There is empirical evidence that better web performance can produce a 16% higher conversion rate and a 5% higher order value.
Speed and Simplicity Can Make You a Millionaire
You know how Google's home page is so minimal? That was not by design - that was from a lack of designers! But the simplicity created speed, and the performance carried over to everything Google does. Speed is good business. Speed and simplicity has made Google a pile of money.
Microsoft and Google Collaborating on Performance Engineering?
Yeah, right. Well, it seems that they let two of their performance guys play nice at the Velocity conference this year for a joint presentation.
Key findings:
* Bing found that a 2-second slowdown lowered revenue per user by 4.3%.
* Google Search shows very small delays (400 ms) has long term impact on user interaction - even after performance was improved.
Dave Artz from AOL presented statistics that show page views drop off as page load times increase. Fastest pages get 33% more pages per visit per user than the slower pages. Get a copy of his slides
Performance Engineering and Flow
Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor and former chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago, pioneered the study of flow. He wrote that flow is the “holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement.” His approach was scientific, but not specific to performance metrics produced from load testing. Being a psychologist, he was obviously studying how the mind works and its impact on productivity and success in life. That said, it does shed considerable light on how performance measurements such as response times or errors can affect the buying behavior of a visitor to your website.
In the classic web geek book "Website Optimization", the second chapter includes an interview with Dr. to put his research into proper perspective for us performance engineers. There is a PDF file containing that 2nd chapter for free download. From the chapter:
"The bottom line is that people in flow are having fun, and truly enjoying themselves. Interactive speed is a significant factor in all models of user satisfaction. Make your pages load quickly and minimize the variability of delay. Be especially careful to avoid sluggish response after your pages have loaded."
Performance testing is much more important than almost anyone dares to consider.
The facts are clear - poor performance of a website is a quantifiable worst practice for any business. If a site responds slowly or fails under load, then money is going to be lost. Bad performance leads to other bad things happening.
Some of the studies says 7%, some 9%, some up to 12%. Do you know anyone that would turn down a way to improve their profitability by 10%?
Where do you place website performance on your priority list? Perhaps you should take some of these statistics to your next meeting with the C-level executives. I dare you. Maybe it will get you a promotion because C-levels understand money!
Performance testing rocks.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
* Delicious
* Digg
* StumbleUpon
* Propeller
* Yahoo
* Add new comment
* Delicious
* Digg
* StumbleUpon
* Propeller
* Yahoo
Storm on Demand - Pay Per Test
Storm on Demand Users Cost
250 $9.97
500 $19.95
1,000 $39.90
5,000 $199.50
10,000 $399.00
25,000 $997.50
50,000 $1,995.00
performance testing sign upIt's easy. You can be load testing in 15 minutes.
1. Click the "Free Account" button.
2. Enter your name & email address.
3. Click the confirmation link in an email.
4. Create a test scenario for your site.
5. Run a load test.
6. Analyze the test results.
7. Send us a testimonial because you are amazed!
Best Load Testing Tool - Happy Customers Prove It
"Great load testing tool! It's exactly what we need. I think the world of the service!" - Rafael Santander, Performance Engineer, OffandAway.com
"We can only wish that more of our vendors would be so responsive and accommodating as LoadStorm." - Miguel Picornell, VP Operations, Optaros, Inc.
"LoadStorm's service is awesome!" - Saggi Malachi, Lead Developer, AnybodyOutThere.com
“Thanks for a great tool! - Soeren Sprogoe, B2C e-Commerce Consultant, Afdeling18.dk
"I only complement when well deserved and this is the case here. This is perfect! Thank you very much." - Virgil Olteanu, Web Architect, Studiocom
"Thanks very much for the great load testing tool!" - Craig Leinoff, Director of Digital Operations, Ferrazzi Greenlight
"We use your service on daily basis to ensure the best performance and scalability on our high traffic directory, your tool let us predict future scenarios and be ahead with no worries about our online business. From my point of view is an essential service thank you a lot." Claudio Bianchi CEO and founder, FreeSharewareDepot
Want a Live Demo? Have Questions?
Please feel free to contact:
Scott Price
Vice President
(970) 389-1899 mobile
support@loadstorm.com
Click here to take a tour & watch tutorial videos
Click here to submit a testimonial
© 2008-2011 CustomerCentrix, LLC.
RSS blog feed
Syndicate content
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
How to find and keep a good job
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-08-2011/110810-find-and-keep-an-it-job.html?source=nww_rss
Sunday, August 14, 2011
IT Management Career Pros and Cons.
http://khmerbird.com/technology/my-presentation-of-i-t-manager-career-path.html
google search key word : it management career path
google search key word : it management career path
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Borders' Demise
http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/220042/
Franchises for Sale| SecondAct.com| Mobile| Subscribe| Newsletters| Follow:
HomeAsk EntrepreneurGrow Your BizBusiness IdeasFranchises & Opportunities
Buy a Franchise Guide 2011 Franchise 500 Home Based 101 Low-Cost 100 Top New Franchises Franchises for Sale VideoTools & Services
Find Vendors Business, Legal Forms Incorporate/LLC Colleges & Business Schools Franchise Your Business Business Plan Pro CommunityBlog
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Borders' Demise
inShare.755 hours ago by Carol Tice | 0
If you're like me, you can remember when the first Borders bookstore opened in your town.
I thought: what a big, luxurious-feeling bookstore…with a coffeehouse inside, too. By 2010, the company had more than 250 stores in the U.S., about 10,000 employees worldwide and sales had mushroomed to $2.3 billion.
Independent bookstores feared the mega-bookstore chain. Wags said it was the beginning of the end of the independent bookstore. And Hollywood even made a movie out of it: Remember Meg Ryan's Shop Around the Corner in the 1998 film You've Got Mail?
My how the mighty have fallen.
Now, Borders is history -- its nearly 400 remaining stores are being liquidated. But the American Booksellers Association reports more than 1,200 independent bookstores are still open.
How did it all go wrong for Borders? Here are four reasons why the once-colossal chain went bust:
1.Big stores = big rents = high risk. Megastores can only survive on huge traffic volumes. So when customers took to the Web with greater frequency, the giant bookstore business model began to erode. Independent bookstores mostly have much smaller rents to pay, so they can better withstand this migration. Even Best Buy is now renting out store space to small businesses to pay its rent.
2.Underutilization of assets. So they had these vast bookstores -- but what happened in them? Borders could have made them a livelier place with book-group discussions, maybe issue-focused debates, or late-night bands playing in those coffee bars. Perhaps cooking demonstrations surrounding cookbook releases? They had all that room. But not enough was done to make Borders a must-visit destination that was entertaining rather than just a big cavern full of books.
3.Out of touch with trends. The world of books has changed radically in recent years. Shoppers aren't just buying more online; they're buying e-books, too. Yet Borders never developed a strong online presence. Like struggling Blockbuster, their industry shifted, but Borders didn't.
4.Lagging on technology. As books became digitized and were increasingly loaded onto e-readers, Borders did nothing. All the while, archrival Barnes & Noble was also struggling, but it at least attracted a buyout offer in large part by developing the Nook.
Why do you think Borders went under? Leave a comment and let us know.
Did you find this story helpful? Yes No
Thanks for making Entrepreneur better for everyone.
Please tell us why? Too general
Not interesting
I didn't learn anything new
Information is out of date
Not well presented
Not what I was looking for
0 | Posted under: Retail rents, Retailing, Borders bookstores, Independent booksellers
Previous Posts
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Borders' Demise
A Franchise Thanksgiving
Should You Let Your Workers Sleep on the Job?
A Competition Roundup for Entrepreneurs
The Startup Act: A Nonstarter?
Small Business Lessons from Netflix's Pricing Debacle
Five to Follow on Twitter for Mobile 'Treps
The Power of Harry Potter's Marketing Potion
Taking the Pain Out of Search Engine Marketing
For Entrepreneurs, This Summer's No Day at the Beach
content continues below
Disqus
Login About Disqus Like Dislike
Glad you liked it. Would you like to share?Facebook
Twitter
ShareNo thanksSharing this page …
Thanks! Close
Add New Comment
Post as …
Showing 0 comments
Sort by Popular now Best rating Newest first Oldest first Subscribe by email Subscribe by RSS
Real-time updating is enabled. (Pause)
0 new comment was just posted. Show
blog comments powered by Disqus
Resources, tips and insights for identifying sales prospects
Latest Post
Why Experimental Marketing May Be For You
The most innovative and influential entrepreneurs and businesses to follow on Twitter.
Latest Post
Five to Follow on Twitter for Mobile 'Treps
Can a social-media makeover boost revenues for a Denver-area barbecue restaurant group?
Read the results of this challenge
Daily Dose E-mail Subscribe
Mikal Belicove
Contributing Writer
Carol Tice
Contributing Writer
Laura Lorber
Executive Online Editor
Teri Evans
Deputy Editor
Jason Fell
Senior Online Editor
Diana Ransom
Contributing Editor
Select a month to view archived posts
Pick Month... July-2011 June-2011 May-2011 April-2011 March-2011 February-2011 January-2011 December-2010 November-2010 October-2010 September-2010 August-2010 July-2010 June-2010 May-2010 April-2010 March-2010 February-2010 January-2010 December-2009 November-2009 October-2009 September-2009 August-2009 July-2009 June-2009 May-2009 April-2009 March-2009 February-2009 January-2009 December-2008 November-2008 October-2008 September-2008
Home | Community | SecondAct.com | YoungEntrepreneur.com | Startup Guides | Business Books | Events | Mobile
Subscriptions | Contact Us | Newsletters | Advertise with Us | RSS Feeds | Reprints & Permissions | En Español | Site Map
Copyright © 2011 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy PolicyMore information & opt-out options »What is interest-based advertising? »Adobe Privacy Policy »Powered by Evidon™CloseThis ad has been matched to your interests. It was selected for you based on your browsing activity. Adobe's partners helped Adobe determine that you might be interested in an ad like this.
CloseThis ad has been matched to your interests. It was selected for you based on your browsing activity. Adobe's partners helped Adobe determine that you might be interested in an ad like this.
More information & opt-out options »What is interest-based advertising? »Adobe Privacy Policy »Powered by Evidon™
Franchises for Sale| SecondAct.com| Mobile| Subscribe| Newsletters| Follow:
HomeAsk EntrepreneurGrow Your BizBusiness IdeasFranchises & Opportunities
Buy a Franchise Guide 2011 Franchise 500 Home Based 101 Low-Cost 100 Top New Franchises Franchises for Sale VideoTools & Services
Find Vendors Business, Legal Forms Incorporate/LLC Colleges & Business Schools Franchise Your Business Business Plan Pro CommunityBlog
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Borders' Demise
inShare.755 hours ago by Carol Tice | 0
If you're like me, you can remember when the first Borders bookstore opened in your town.
I thought: what a big, luxurious-feeling bookstore…with a coffeehouse inside, too. By 2010, the company had more than 250 stores in the U.S., about 10,000 employees worldwide and sales had mushroomed to $2.3 billion.
Independent bookstores feared the mega-bookstore chain. Wags said it was the beginning of the end of the independent bookstore. And Hollywood even made a movie out of it: Remember Meg Ryan's Shop Around the Corner in the 1998 film You've Got Mail?
My how the mighty have fallen.
Now, Borders is history -- its nearly 400 remaining stores are being liquidated. But the American Booksellers Association reports more than 1,200 independent bookstores are still open.
How did it all go wrong for Borders? Here are four reasons why the once-colossal chain went bust:
1.Big stores = big rents = high risk. Megastores can only survive on huge traffic volumes. So when customers took to the Web with greater frequency, the giant bookstore business model began to erode. Independent bookstores mostly have much smaller rents to pay, so they can better withstand this migration. Even Best Buy is now renting out store space to small businesses to pay its rent.
2.Underutilization of assets. So they had these vast bookstores -- but what happened in them? Borders could have made them a livelier place with book-group discussions, maybe issue-focused debates, or late-night bands playing in those coffee bars. Perhaps cooking demonstrations surrounding cookbook releases? They had all that room. But not enough was done to make Borders a must-visit destination that was entertaining rather than just a big cavern full of books.
3.Out of touch with trends. The world of books has changed radically in recent years. Shoppers aren't just buying more online; they're buying e-books, too. Yet Borders never developed a strong online presence. Like struggling Blockbuster, their industry shifted, but Borders didn't.
4.Lagging on technology. As books became digitized and were increasingly loaded onto e-readers, Borders did nothing. All the while, archrival Barnes & Noble was also struggling, but it at least attracted a buyout offer in large part by developing the Nook.
Why do you think Borders went under? Leave a comment and let us know.
Did you find this story helpful? Yes No
Thanks for making Entrepreneur better for everyone.
Please tell us why? Too general
Not interesting
I didn't learn anything new
Information is out of date
Not well presented
Not what I was looking for
0 | Posted under: Retail rents, Retailing, Borders bookstores, Independent booksellers
Previous Posts
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Borders' Demise
A Franchise Thanksgiving
Should You Let Your Workers Sleep on the Job?
A Competition Roundup for Entrepreneurs
The Startup Act: A Nonstarter?
Small Business Lessons from Netflix's Pricing Debacle
Five to Follow on Twitter for Mobile 'Treps
The Power of Harry Potter's Marketing Potion
Taking the Pain Out of Search Engine Marketing
For Entrepreneurs, This Summer's No Day at the Beach
content continues below
Disqus
Login About Disqus Like Dislike
Glad you liked it. Would you like to share?Facebook
ShareNo thanksSharing this page …
Thanks! Close
Add New Comment
Post as …
Showing 0 comments
Sort by Popular now Best rating Newest first Oldest first Subscribe by email Subscribe by RSS
Real-time updating is enabled. (Pause)
0 new comment was just posted. Show
blog comments powered by Disqus
Resources, tips and insights for identifying sales prospects
Latest Post
Why Experimental Marketing May Be For You
The most innovative and influential entrepreneurs and businesses to follow on Twitter.
Latest Post
Five to Follow on Twitter for Mobile 'Treps
Can a social-media makeover boost revenues for a Denver-area barbecue restaurant group?
Read the results of this challenge
Daily Dose E-mail Subscribe
Mikal Belicove
Contributing Writer
Carol Tice
Contributing Writer
Laura Lorber
Executive Online Editor
Teri Evans
Deputy Editor
Jason Fell
Senior Online Editor
Diana Ransom
Contributing Editor
Select a month to view archived posts
Pick Month... July-2011 June-2011 May-2011 April-2011 March-2011 February-2011 January-2011 December-2010 November-2010 October-2010 September-2010 August-2010 July-2010 June-2010 May-2010 April-2010 March-2010 February-2010 January-2010 December-2009 November-2009 October-2009 September-2009 August-2009 July-2009 June-2009 May-2009 April-2009 March-2009 February-2009 January-2009 December-2008 November-2008 October-2008 September-2008
Home | Community | SecondAct.com | YoungEntrepreneur.com | Startup Guides | Business Books | Events | Mobile
Subscriptions | Contact Us | Newsletters | Advertise with Us | RSS Feeds | Reprints & Permissions | En Español | Site Map
Copyright © 2011 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy PolicyMore information & opt-out options »What is interest-based advertising? »Adobe Privacy Policy »Powered by Evidon™CloseThis ad has been matched to your interests. It was selected for you based on your browsing activity. Adobe's partners helped Adobe determine that you might be interested in an ad like this.
CloseThis ad has been matched to your interests. It was selected for you based on your browsing activity. Adobe's partners helped Adobe determine that you might be interested in an ad like this.
More information & opt-out options »What is interest-based advertising? »Adobe Privacy Policy »Powered by Evidon™
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
50 new tech tools you may have missed.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/07/20/useful.apps.sites.tools/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Why some people are always successful
http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2007/03/21/why-some-people-almost-always-are-successful/
http://success-secrets-tips.blogspot.com/2008/11/what-makes-people-successful.html
http://success-secrets-tips.blogspot.com/2008/11/what-makes-people-successful.html
Solar Panels
Trinity Solar in Freehold, N.J., went from a small HVAC operation in 1994 to the nation's second largest solar panel provider in 2011.
Monday, July 18, 2011
How to be more productive?
1. Make sure to revisit priorities with yourself and also with your bosses so that you are aligned with what the company wants and to make sure that you are not spending on efforts that are not significant to the company.
2. Before you begin the day, start with a plan and try to plan for minimal distractions.
3. Avoid un-necessary or no value add meetings politely. Turn down requests to talk which are not value add to the work you are doing politely.
2. Before you begin the day, start with a plan and try to plan for minimal distractions.
3. Avoid un-necessary or no value add meetings politely. Turn down requests to talk which are not value add to the work you are doing politely.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
24 Important things for happy and healthy life
Healthy food
Exercise
Vitamins and other supplements
Meditation
Exercise
Vitamins and other supplements
Meditation
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Applying project cost management to software maintenance projects
Rsc 03 - Document Transcript
1.Aum gam ganapataye namya. Applying Project Cost Management to Software Maintenance ProjectsLakshminarayanan Ramanujam, PMPComputer Sciences Corporation India Pvt Ltd
2.Contents 1.1 Abstract 3 1.2 Keywords 3 1.3 Introduction 3 1.4 Main body of the paper 4 1.4.1 Maintenance task types 4 1.4.2 Legacy code amount 4 1.5 Key challenges 5 1.6 Methodology/process followed 5 1.6.1 Activities 7 1.7 Critical success factor 8 1.8 Quantified benefits to business 8 1.9 Lessons learnt 8 1.10 Conclusion 8 1.11 References 9 1.12 Author(s) Profile 112|Page
3.1.1 Abstract Software maintenance is the modification of a software product after delivery to correct faults (fix bugs), to improve performance or other attributes, or to adapt the product to a modified environment. In other words “the process of modifying existing operational software while leaving its primary functions intact”. It is different from hardware maintenance due to the fact that software does not experience any physical wear and tear Annual software maintenance cost in USA has been estimated to be more than $70 billion (1995) Enormous amount of time and effort being spent on maintenance of software, In 1990 there were an estimated 120 billion lines of source code being maintained. There are at least 200 billion lines of COBOL-code still existing in mainframe computers alone (Gartner Group). Maintenance of software is highly expensive and complex. [Jones02] states that, “In 2001 more than 50% of the global software population was engaged in modifying existing applications rather than writing new applications” Cost of software maintenance is estimated at 50% of the total life cycle cost; (Van Vliet [2000]) savings in this area is bound to have a huge impact. This paper is an attempt to apply the project management principles, particularly, the project cost management methods/tools to software maintenance projects, and further suggest exploring the models to accurately estimate software maintenance cost. The main aim is to insist the project cost management tools/methods (in particular EVM) to software maintenance projects using various maintenance process/models, in order to manage/control the same. 1.2 Keywords EVM, software characteristics, Quality attributes of software, Software Maintainability Index, Cyclomatic complexity 1.3 Introduction Martin and McClure [MM83] define software maintenance as, “Changes that have to be made to computer programs after they have been delivered to the customer or user.” It is necessary to estimate maintenance effort and costs as part of the planning process. Maintenance costs amount for a significant portion of the overall project life- cycle cost). Moreover estimate of maintenance effort helps to plan adequate maintenance staff. Maintenance plays an important role in the life cycle of a software product. It is estimated that there are more than 100 billion lines of code in production in the world. A majority of it is unstructured, patched and not well documented. Maintenance can alleviate these problems. However, estimating the costs for the Software maintenance projects are complex, time consuming, lacks accuracy, though there are different models available to3|Page
4.estimate the effort required to maintain software, depending on the technical characteristic of the software like syntactic, semantics, architecture, languages used etc the appropriate model to be applied, also different methodologies, like water fall, spiral, agile, scrum, etc. Each aspect plays important role in estimating the effort required to maintain. Another aspect that needs to be studied is the process of maintaining the software, Also, software maintenance depends on various quality attributes of software like maintainability, analyzability, changeability, reliability, efficiency, etc. we will focus on maintainability to make certain decisions on software maintenance. In general there are 4 types of maintenance to be performed on software, corrective, adaptive, perfective & preventive, Depending on the characteristic of software, the type of maintenance performed will vary, we will focus on corrective maintenance. We will be using the IEEE 1219 software maintenance standard for identifying the tasks involved in corrective maintenance, apply EVM (earned value method) for the identified tasks. 1.4 Main body of the paper Few interesting facts on software maintenance cost Annual software maintenance cost in USA has been estimated to be more than $70 billion (Sutherland, 1995; Edelstein, 1993). E.g. in USA, the federal government alone spent about $8.38 billion during a 5- year period to the Y2K-bug corrections. At company-level, e.g. Nokia Inc. used about $90 million for preventive Y2K-bug corrections. 1.4.1 Maintenance task types About 65% of maintenance was found to be perfective by Lientz & Swanson (1981). About 75% of maintenance costs are spent for providing enhancements (in the form of adaptive and perfective maintenance) (Martin, 1983; Nosek & Palvia, 1990; van Vliet, 2000). Studies of software maintainers have shown that approximately 50% of their time is spent in the process of understanding the code that they are to maintain (Fjeldstad & Hamlen, 1983; Standish, 1984). 1.4.2 Legacy code amount In 1990 there were an estimated 120 billion lines of source code being maintained (Ulrich, 1990). In 2000 there are already about 250 billion lines of source code being maintained, and that number is increasing (Sommerville, 2000). An average Fortune 100 company maintains 35 million lines of code (Müller et al., 1994).4|Page
5.These companies add in average 10% each year only in enhancements (Müller et al., 1994). As a result, the amount of code maintained doubles in size every 7 years (Müller et al., 1994). Older languages are not dead. E.g. 70% or more of the still active business applications are written in COBOL (Giga Information Group). There are at least 200 billion lines of COBOL-code still existing in mainframe computers alone (Gartner Group). 1.5 Key challenges Several technical and managerial problems contribute to the costs of software maintenance. Few of the management challenges are justifying the ROI, staffing, standardizing the process across the organization etc. The other technical challenges are effort estimation, limited understanding, non availability of documentation, performing impact analysis and testing. For example, whenever a change is to be made to a piece of software, it is important that the maintainer gains a complete understanding of the structure, behavior and functionality of the system being modified. It is on the basis of this understanding that modification proposals can be made. As a consequence, maintainers spend a large amount of their time reading the code and the accompanying documentation to understand its logic, purpose, and structure. Available estimates indicate that the percentage of maintenance time consumed on program comprehension ranges from 50% up to 90%. When there is such a huge variance, the estimations may not be accurate. Code comprehension is frequently compounded because the maintainer is rarely the author of the code. Software designed with maintainability in mind greatly facilitates impact analysis. 1.6 Methodology/process followed The approach is a combination of software engineering tool (SMI – Software Maturity Index) and project cost management tool (EVM) Maintenance effort estimation techniques range from the simplistic level of effort method, through more thoughtful analysis and development practice modifications, to the use of parametric models in order to use historical data to project future needs We have chosen specifically software maintenance project as complexity is high when compared with new software development projects, moreover, models/methods are available to make relatively good estimate of the effort of a new development project like FPA (Function Point Analysis) , COSMIC functional size, use case points, etc which cannot be directly applied to software maintenance projects. Maintenance is important especially in case of software which has long life, large, complex and critical to customer. Software maintenance is often quite demanding (despite a common view of it being routine work) especially in case of maintaining large legacy system, these software systems are typically hard to maintain, but cannot be replaced because of their great business value and application domain knowledge that they contain, thus they tend to have long life. Software maintenance is further complicated in case of large tasks of adaptive maintenance, that is modifications made due to changing technical and functional environments.5|Page
6.In our approach, we firstly review using software engineering methods/tools to decide whether it is economically viable to maintain a given software or not, and then to measure the size., later use project cost management toll EVM (Earned Value Method) to estimate the cost. A good example of importance of maintenance is Y2K bug, which is said to be the single most expensive maintenance done in the history. Software life time & rewrite strategies - One of the central questions is in making a well informed and correct decision regarding whether to undertake software maintenance. Any software development organization has vital interest in reducing the spending on software maintenance and this is not a surprise as bulk of the life cycle cost is not consumed by new software development but spent on software maintenance that is in continuous up keeping, adaption and bug fixing of existing software. Many software systems that are deployed in large companies today are 20 years or older. In general there are 4 types of maintenance to be performed on software, corrective, adaptive, perfective & preventive, Depending on the characteristic of software and the requirements the type of maintenance performed will vary. There are various types of processes or models (more and more studies are being conducted on this as the process is difficult & complex) to address maintenance of software. Quick fix model or ad-hoc approach, Boehm’s model (based economic models), Osborne’s model (based on metrics), iterative enhancement model (based on iterations) and reuse oriented model (based on reuse of software) All the four types of maintenance are applicable to software maintenance, however depending on the characteristic of the software, maintenance process used may differ. Metrics based approach to measure maintainability: In software engineering, the ease with which a software product can be modified in order to: * correct defects * meet new requirements * make future maintenance easier, or * cope with a changed environment; these activities are known as software maintenance (cf. ISO 9126). The software maturity index (SMI) provides an indication of the stability of a software product (based on the changes that occur for each release of the product). The following information is determined: MT = the number of modules in the current release Fc = the number of modules in the current release that have been changed Fa = the number of modules in the current release that have been added Fd = the number of modules from the preceding release that were deleted in the current release The software maturity index is calculated in the following manner: SMI = [MT - (Fa + Fc + Fd)]/ MT As SMI approaches 1.0, the product begins to stabilize. SMI may also be used as metric for planning software maintenance activities. The mean time to produce a release of a software product can be corrected with SMI and empirical models for maintenance effort can be developed.6|Page
7.In traditional software cost models, costs are derived simply based on required effort. Empirical estimation models provide formula for determining the effort based on statistical data of similar projects. One of the quality attributes of software system is maintainability, A metrics based approach helps to arrive at project effort and cost estimates, Especially in software maintenance projects, the arriving at the effort is a very complex task, There are several variable that contribute to the effort estimation, more over several attempts have been made to estimate the project effort/cost estimates. If maintainability is low than the cost of maintaining is high and similarly the cost will be less (when compared with maintainable software) for software for which the maintainability is low. Decisions on whether to go for maintenance or for new development, similarly decisions on whether to release a soft product/application can be made based on maintainability. LOC (Lines of Code), McCabe’s Cyclomatic complexity, software maintenance Index, decomposition or Factor-Criteria-Metric (FCM) approach are few metrics that pertains to maintainability. These metrics help in making a decision whether to maintain software or go for new development, based on the cost of ownership. Also software releases can be decided based on software maintainability Index. Earned Value Management (EVM) helps project managers to measure project performance. It is a systematic project management process used to find variances in projects based on the comparison of worked performed and work planned. EVM is used on the cost and schedule control and can be very useful in project forecasting. Application of project cost management tool (EVM) “Includes the processes required to ensure that the project is completed with the approved budget” - PMBOK Guide . EVM when used in projects have several benefits like Preventing scope creep, Improving communication and visibility with stakeholders, Reducing risk, Profitability analysis, Project forecasting, Better accountability, Performance tracking . [Walter H. Lipke] The progress reporting, using the EVM indicators, is an excellent method of providing project status. It portrays to the customers measures of cost, schedule, and technical performance in a very concise, understandable, and meaningful way. The indicators from EVM, cost performance index (CPI) and schedule performance index (SPI), provide a means for statistically managing the software engineering process., The use of CPI and SPI was evolved into statistical applications. The applications are useful in predicting project outcomes and have been shown beneficial in project planning. In order to apply EVM, the project activities are to broken down as tasks, the activities/process are based on the IEEE STD 1219 & ISO/IEC 14764 - for software maintenance projects. 1.6.1 Activities Modification request Classification & Identification Analysis Design7|Page
8.Implementation System testing Acceptance testing Delivery The efforts for the above activities are to be assigned based on empirical data or based on the application characteristic 1.7 Critical success factor Identifying the correct WBS and accurate effort estimation are the key success factor for software maintenance project, Also, understanding process variations and improving overall process capability. The next level of quantitative management where empirical methods are used to establish process predictability, thus enabling better project planning and management. 1.8 Quantified benefits to business The integration of work, schedule, and cost using a Work Breakdown Structure, The cumulative Cost Performance Index as an early warning signal. The Schedule Performance Index as an early warning signal. The Cost Performance Index as a predictor for the final cost of the project. Thus better project measurement & control. 1.9 Lessons learnt The process and the tasks vary for different types of software maintenance - corrective, adaptive, perfective & preventive, Choosing a model or approach that works for one type may not work with other, for example, the tasks relating to the corrective maintenance is different than the perfective maintenance, the process for perfective is more like development. Similarly the tool also varies depending on the type of maintenance, Projects should carefully evaluate and use the right approach for the type of maintenance. 1.10 Conclusion One of the most critical problems that project managers encounter is the management of the performance on their project; this problem is multifold with respect to software maintenance projects, due to the characteristics of the software. EVM is a process that has been used for years by organizations to measure performance and health of the project. It has been embraced by project managers around the globe with good success. To apply EVM successfully, the effort estimates needs to be accurate. Due to complex characteristics of software, the effort estimations with respect software maintenance projects may not be accurate and the variance is high. Though there are several estimation models available, the models, tools need to be carefully evaluated depending on technical characteristics of the software. While software maintenance index can be used to make a release decisions, it can also be used as an indication to decide on financial viability of maintenance of the software maintenance projects, depending on the availability of the data. The earned value method can be applied to software maintenance projects, using the activities/tasks based on the IEEE 12198|Page
9.standard for corrective maintenance.. However the effort estimation of the maintenance activity depends on the quality attributes of the software like maintainability, analyzability, changeability, reliability, efficiency, etc and also the technical attributes like architecture, tools/methodology etc. 1.11 References 1. Gerardo Canfora and Aniello Cimitile (2000) Software Maintenance 2. Eastwood, A. (1993). “Firm fires shots at legacy systems”. Computing Canada 19 (2), p. 17. 3. Edelstein, D. (1993). “Report on the IEEE STD 1219 – 1993 – Standard for Software Maintenance”. ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes 18 (4), p. 94. 4. Erlikh, L. (2000). “Leveraging legacy system dollars for E-business”. (IEEE) IT Pro, May/June 2000, 17-23. 5. Fjeldstad, R. & Hamlen, W. (1983). “Application program maintenance-report to to our respondents”. Tutorial on Software Maintenance, 13-27. Parikh, G. & Zvegintzov, N. (Eds.). IEEE Computer Soc. Press. 6. Jussi Koskinen, Henna Lahtonen, Tero Tilus (2003) SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE COST ESTIMATION AND MODERNIZATION SUPPORT ELTIS-project 7. Lientz, B.P. & Swanson, E. (1980). “Software Maintenance Management: A Study of the Maintenance of Computer Application Software in 487 Data Processing Organizations”. Addison-Wesley: Reading, MA, 214 p. 8. Lientz, B.P. & Swanson, E. (1981). “Problems in application software maintenance”. Communications of the ACM 24 (11), 763-769. 9. Lipke, Walter H. and Mike Jennings,(2000) "Software Project Planning, Statistics, and Earned Value," CrossTalk, December 2000: 10-14. 10. Lipke, Walter H., (2002) "Statistical Process Control of Project Performance, " CrossTalk, March 2002: 15-18. 11. Martin, J. (1983). “Software Maintenance: The Problem and Its Solution”. Prentice Hall, 472 p. 12. McKee, J. (1984). “Maintenance as a function of design”. Proceedings of the AFIPS National Computer Conference, 187-193. 13. Moad, J. (1990). “Maintaining the competitive edge”. Datamation 61-62, 64, 66. 14. Müller, H., Wong, K. & Tilley, S. (1994). “Understanding software systems using reverse engineering technology”. The 62nd Congress of L’Association Canadienne Francaise pour l’Avancement des Sciences Proceedings (ACFAS), 26 (4), 41-48. 15. Nosek, J. & Palvia, P. (1990). “Software maintenance management: changes in the last decade”. Journal of Software Maintenance: Research and Practice 2 (3), 157-174. 16. Port, O. (1988). “The software trap – automate or else”. Business Week 3051 (9), 142-154.9|Page
10.17. Robert A. Hanna, (2009) "Earned Value Management Software Projects," smc-it, pp.297-304, Third IEEE International Conference on Space Mission Challenges for Information Technology 18. Seacord, R., Plakosh, D. & Lewis, G. (2003). “Modernizing Legacy Systems: Software Technologies, Engineering Processes, and Business Practices” (SEI Series in Software Engineering). Addison-Wesley.. 19. Standish, T. (1984). “An essay on software reuse”. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering SE-10 (5), 494-497. 20. Sutherland, J. (1995). “Business objects in corporate information systems”. ACM Computing Surveys 27 (2), 274-276. 21. ISO/IEC 14764:2006 Software Engineering — Software Life Cycle Processes — Maintenance 22. IEEE Computer Society – SWEBOK – software engineering body of knowledge (www.swebok.org) 23. Burt Swanson, The dimensions of maintenance. Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Software engineering, San Francisco, 1976, pp 492 — 497 24. Abran, Alain (2008). Software Maintenance Management. New York: Wiley- IEEE. ISBN 978-0470-14707-8 25. Gopalaswamy Ramesh; Ramesh Bhattiprolu (2006). Software maintenance : effective practices for geographically distributed environments. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780070483453. 26. Grubb, Penny; Takang, Armstrong (2003). Software Maintenance. New Jersey: World Scientific Publishing. ISBN 9789812384256. 27. Lehman, M.M.; Belady, L.A. (1985). Program evolution : processes of software change. London: Academic Press Inc. ISBN 0-12-442441-4. 28. Page-Jones, Meilir (1980). The Practical Guide to Structured Systems Design. New York: Yourdon Press. ISBN 0-917072-17-0. 29. PMBOK_Guide_Fourth_Edition, Project Management Institute10 | P a g e
11.1.12 Author(s) Profile Lakshminarayanan Ramanujam PMP, CISA, CISSP is currently working as senior project manager with Computer Sciences Corporation India Ltd, have over 12 years of project management experience in IT application & Infrastructure projects. He is active member of PMI, ACM, IEEE computer Society, ISACA, ISC2, DSCI. He has earlier worked with IISc, HAL, Digital Equipement Corporation, Silverline Technologies. He specialises in application maintenance, Infrastructure and information security projects. E-mail: lramanujam@csc.com11 | P a g e
1.Aum gam ganapataye namya. Applying Project Cost Management to Software Maintenance ProjectsLakshminarayanan Ramanujam, PMPComputer Sciences Corporation India Pvt Ltd
2.Contents 1.1 Abstract 3 1.2 Keywords 3 1.3 Introduction 3 1.4 Main body of the paper 4 1.4.1 Maintenance task types 4 1.4.2 Legacy code amount 4 1.5 Key challenges 5 1.6 Methodology/process followed 5 1.6.1 Activities 7 1.7 Critical success factor 8 1.8 Quantified benefits to business 8 1.9 Lessons learnt 8 1.10 Conclusion 8 1.11 References 9 1.12 Author(s) Profile 112|Page
3.1.1 Abstract Software maintenance is the modification of a software product after delivery to correct faults (fix bugs), to improve performance or other attributes, or to adapt the product to a modified environment. In other words “the process of modifying existing operational software while leaving its primary functions intact”. It is different from hardware maintenance due to the fact that software does not experience any physical wear and tear Annual software maintenance cost in USA has been estimated to be more than $70 billion (1995) Enormous amount of time and effort being spent on maintenance of software, In 1990 there were an estimated 120 billion lines of source code being maintained. There are at least 200 billion lines of COBOL-code still existing in mainframe computers alone (Gartner Group). Maintenance of software is highly expensive and complex. [Jones02] states that, “In 2001 more than 50% of the global software population was engaged in modifying existing applications rather than writing new applications” Cost of software maintenance is estimated at 50% of the total life cycle cost; (Van Vliet [2000]) savings in this area is bound to have a huge impact. This paper is an attempt to apply the project management principles, particularly, the project cost management methods/tools to software maintenance projects, and further suggest exploring the models to accurately estimate software maintenance cost. The main aim is to insist the project cost management tools/methods (in particular EVM) to software maintenance projects using various maintenance process/models, in order to manage/control the same. 1.2 Keywords EVM, software characteristics, Quality attributes of software, Software Maintainability Index, Cyclomatic complexity 1.3 Introduction Martin and McClure [MM83] define software maintenance as, “Changes that have to be made to computer programs after they have been delivered to the customer or user.” It is necessary to estimate maintenance effort and costs as part of the planning process. Maintenance costs amount for a significant portion of the overall project life- cycle cost). Moreover estimate of maintenance effort helps to plan adequate maintenance staff. Maintenance plays an important role in the life cycle of a software product. It is estimated that there are more than 100 billion lines of code in production in the world. A majority of it is unstructured, patched and not well documented. Maintenance can alleviate these problems. However, estimating the costs for the Software maintenance projects are complex, time consuming, lacks accuracy, though there are different models available to3|Page
4.estimate the effort required to maintain software, depending on the technical characteristic of the software like syntactic, semantics, architecture, languages used etc the appropriate model to be applied, also different methodologies, like water fall, spiral, agile, scrum, etc. Each aspect plays important role in estimating the effort required to maintain. Another aspect that needs to be studied is the process of maintaining the software, Also, software maintenance depends on various quality attributes of software like maintainability, analyzability, changeability, reliability, efficiency, etc. we will focus on maintainability to make certain decisions on software maintenance. In general there are 4 types of maintenance to be performed on software, corrective, adaptive, perfective & preventive, Depending on the characteristic of software, the type of maintenance performed will vary, we will focus on corrective maintenance. We will be using the IEEE 1219 software maintenance standard for identifying the tasks involved in corrective maintenance, apply EVM (earned value method) for the identified tasks. 1.4 Main body of the paper Few interesting facts on software maintenance cost Annual software maintenance cost in USA has been estimated to be more than $70 billion (Sutherland, 1995; Edelstein, 1993). E.g. in USA, the federal government alone spent about $8.38 billion during a 5- year period to the Y2K-bug corrections. At company-level, e.g. Nokia Inc. used about $90 million for preventive Y2K-bug corrections. 1.4.1 Maintenance task types About 65% of maintenance was found to be perfective by Lientz & Swanson (1981). About 75% of maintenance costs are spent for providing enhancements (in the form of adaptive and perfective maintenance) (Martin, 1983; Nosek & Palvia, 1990; van Vliet, 2000). Studies of software maintainers have shown that approximately 50% of their time is spent in the process of understanding the code that they are to maintain (Fjeldstad & Hamlen, 1983; Standish, 1984). 1.4.2 Legacy code amount In 1990 there were an estimated 120 billion lines of source code being maintained (Ulrich, 1990). In 2000 there are already about 250 billion lines of source code being maintained, and that number is increasing (Sommerville, 2000). An average Fortune 100 company maintains 35 million lines of code (Müller et al., 1994).4|Page
5.These companies add in average 10% each year only in enhancements (Müller et al., 1994). As a result, the amount of code maintained doubles in size every 7 years (Müller et al., 1994). Older languages are not dead. E.g. 70% or more of the still active business applications are written in COBOL (Giga Information Group). There are at least 200 billion lines of COBOL-code still existing in mainframe computers alone (Gartner Group). 1.5 Key challenges Several technical and managerial problems contribute to the costs of software maintenance. Few of the management challenges are justifying the ROI, staffing, standardizing the process across the organization etc. The other technical challenges are effort estimation, limited understanding, non availability of documentation, performing impact analysis and testing. For example, whenever a change is to be made to a piece of software, it is important that the maintainer gains a complete understanding of the structure, behavior and functionality of the system being modified. It is on the basis of this understanding that modification proposals can be made. As a consequence, maintainers spend a large amount of their time reading the code and the accompanying documentation to understand its logic, purpose, and structure. Available estimates indicate that the percentage of maintenance time consumed on program comprehension ranges from 50% up to 90%. When there is such a huge variance, the estimations may not be accurate. Code comprehension is frequently compounded because the maintainer is rarely the author of the code. Software designed with maintainability in mind greatly facilitates impact analysis. 1.6 Methodology/process followed The approach is a combination of software engineering tool (SMI – Software Maturity Index) and project cost management tool (EVM) Maintenance effort estimation techniques range from the simplistic level of effort method, through more thoughtful analysis and development practice modifications, to the use of parametric models in order to use historical data to project future needs We have chosen specifically software maintenance project as complexity is high when compared with new software development projects, moreover, models/methods are available to make relatively good estimate of the effort of a new development project like FPA (Function Point Analysis) , COSMIC functional size, use case points, etc which cannot be directly applied to software maintenance projects. Maintenance is important especially in case of software which has long life, large, complex and critical to customer. Software maintenance is often quite demanding (despite a common view of it being routine work) especially in case of maintaining large legacy system, these software systems are typically hard to maintain, but cannot be replaced because of their great business value and application domain knowledge that they contain, thus they tend to have long life. Software maintenance is further complicated in case of large tasks of adaptive maintenance, that is modifications made due to changing technical and functional environments.5|Page
6.In our approach, we firstly review using software engineering methods/tools to decide whether it is economically viable to maintain a given software or not, and then to measure the size., later use project cost management toll EVM (Earned Value Method) to estimate the cost. A good example of importance of maintenance is Y2K bug, which is said to be the single most expensive maintenance done in the history. Software life time & rewrite strategies - One of the central questions is in making a well informed and correct decision regarding whether to undertake software maintenance. Any software development organization has vital interest in reducing the spending on software maintenance and this is not a surprise as bulk of the life cycle cost is not consumed by new software development but spent on software maintenance that is in continuous up keeping, adaption and bug fixing of existing software. Many software systems that are deployed in large companies today are 20 years or older. In general there are 4 types of maintenance to be performed on software, corrective, adaptive, perfective & preventive, Depending on the characteristic of software and the requirements the type of maintenance performed will vary. There are various types of processes or models (more and more studies are being conducted on this as the process is difficult & complex) to address maintenance of software. Quick fix model or ad-hoc approach, Boehm’s model (based economic models), Osborne’s model (based on metrics), iterative enhancement model (based on iterations) and reuse oriented model (based on reuse of software) All the four types of maintenance are applicable to software maintenance, however depending on the characteristic of the software, maintenance process used may differ. Metrics based approach to measure maintainability: In software engineering, the ease with which a software product can be modified in order to: * correct defects * meet new requirements * make future maintenance easier, or * cope with a changed environment; these activities are known as software maintenance (cf. ISO 9126). The software maturity index (SMI) provides an indication of the stability of a software product (based on the changes that occur for each release of the product). The following information is determined: MT = the number of modules in the current release Fc = the number of modules in the current release that have been changed Fa = the number of modules in the current release that have been added Fd = the number of modules from the preceding release that were deleted in the current release The software maturity index is calculated in the following manner: SMI = [MT - (Fa + Fc + Fd)]/ MT As SMI approaches 1.0, the product begins to stabilize. SMI may also be used as metric for planning software maintenance activities. The mean time to produce a release of a software product can be corrected with SMI and empirical models for maintenance effort can be developed.6|Page
7.In traditional software cost models, costs are derived simply based on required effort. Empirical estimation models provide formula for determining the effort based on statistical data of similar projects. One of the quality attributes of software system is maintainability, A metrics based approach helps to arrive at project effort and cost estimates, Especially in software maintenance projects, the arriving at the effort is a very complex task, There are several variable that contribute to the effort estimation, more over several attempts have been made to estimate the project effort/cost estimates. If maintainability is low than the cost of maintaining is high and similarly the cost will be less (when compared with maintainable software) for software for which the maintainability is low. Decisions on whether to go for maintenance or for new development, similarly decisions on whether to release a soft product/application can be made based on maintainability. LOC (Lines of Code), McCabe’s Cyclomatic complexity, software maintenance Index, decomposition or Factor-Criteria-Metric (FCM) approach are few metrics that pertains to maintainability. These metrics help in making a decision whether to maintain software or go for new development, based on the cost of ownership. Also software releases can be decided based on software maintainability Index. Earned Value Management (EVM) helps project managers to measure project performance. It is a systematic project management process used to find variances in projects based on the comparison of worked performed and work planned. EVM is used on the cost and schedule control and can be very useful in project forecasting. Application of project cost management tool (EVM) “Includes the processes required to ensure that the project is completed with the approved budget” - PMBOK Guide . EVM when used in projects have several benefits like Preventing scope creep, Improving communication and visibility with stakeholders, Reducing risk, Profitability analysis, Project forecasting, Better accountability, Performance tracking . [Walter H. Lipke] The progress reporting, using the EVM indicators, is an excellent method of providing project status. It portrays to the customers measures of cost, schedule, and technical performance in a very concise, understandable, and meaningful way. The indicators from EVM, cost performance index (CPI) and schedule performance index (SPI), provide a means for statistically managing the software engineering process., The use of CPI and SPI was evolved into statistical applications. The applications are useful in predicting project outcomes and have been shown beneficial in project planning. In order to apply EVM, the project activities are to broken down as tasks, the activities/process are based on the IEEE STD 1219 & ISO/IEC 14764 - for software maintenance projects. 1.6.1 Activities Modification request Classification & Identification Analysis Design7|Page
8.Implementation System testing Acceptance testing Delivery The efforts for the above activities are to be assigned based on empirical data or based on the application characteristic 1.7 Critical success factor Identifying the correct WBS and accurate effort estimation are the key success factor for software maintenance project, Also, understanding process variations and improving overall process capability. The next level of quantitative management where empirical methods are used to establish process predictability, thus enabling better project planning and management. 1.8 Quantified benefits to business The integration of work, schedule, and cost using a Work Breakdown Structure, The cumulative Cost Performance Index as an early warning signal. The Schedule Performance Index as an early warning signal. The Cost Performance Index as a predictor for the final cost of the project. Thus better project measurement & control. 1.9 Lessons learnt The process and the tasks vary for different types of software maintenance - corrective, adaptive, perfective & preventive, Choosing a model or approach that works for one type may not work with other, for example, the tasks relating to the corrective maintenance is different than the perfective maintenance, the process for perfective is more like development. Similarly the tool also varies depending on the type of maintenance, Projects should carefully evaluate and use the right approach for the type of maintenance. 1.10 Conclusion One of the most critical problems that project managers encounter is the management of the performance on their project; this problem is multifold with respect to software maintenance projects, due to the characteristics of the software. EVM is a process that has been used for years by organizations to measure performance and health of the project. It has been embraced by project managers around the globe with good success. To apply EVM successfully, the effort estimates needs to be accurate. Due to complex characteristics of software, the effort estimations with respect software maintenance projects may not be accurate and the variance is high. Though there are several estimation models available, the models, tools need to be carefully evaluated depending on technical characteristics of the software. While software maintenance index can be used to make a release decisions, it can also be used as an indication to decide on financial viability of maintenance of the software maintenance projects, depending on the availability of the data. The earned value method can be applied to software maintenance projects, using the activities/tasks based on the IEEE 12198|Page
9.standard for corrective maintenance.. However the effort estimation of the maintenance activity depends on the quality attributes of the software like maintainability, analyzability, changeability, reliability, efficiency, etc and also the technical attributes like architecture, tools/methodology etc. 1.11 References 1. Gerardo Canfora and Aniello Cimitile (2000) Software Maintenance 2. Eastwood, A. (1993). “Firm fires shots at legacy systems”. Computing Canada 19 (2), p. 17. 3. Edelstein, D. (1993). “Report on the IEEE STD 1219 – 1993 – Standard for Software Maintenance”. ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes 18 (4), p. 94. 4. Erlikh, L. (2000). “Leveraging legacy system dollars for E-business”. (IEEE) IT Pro, May/June 2000, 17-23. 5. Fjeldstad, R. & Hamlen, W. (1983). “Application program maintenance-report to to our respondents”. Tutorial on Software Maintenance, 13-27. Parikh, G. & Zvegintzov, N. (Eds.). IEEE Computer Soc. Press. 6. Jussi Koskinen, Henna Lahtonen, Tero Tilus (2003) SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE COST ESTIMATION AND MODERNIZATION SUPPORT ELTIS-project 7. Lientz, B.P. & Swanson, E. (1980). “Software Maintenance Management: A Study of the Maintenance of Computer Application Software in 487 Data Processing Organizations”. Addison-Wesley: Reading, MA, 214 p. 8. Lientz, B.P. & Swanson, E. (1981). “Problems in application software maintenance”. Communications of the ACM 24 (11), 763-769. 9. Lipke, Walter H. and Mike Jennings,(2000) "Software Project Planning, Statistics, and Earned Value," CrossTalk, December 2000: 10-14. 10. Lipke, Walter H., (2002) "Statistical Process Control of Project Performance, " CrossTalk, March 2002: 15-18. 11. Martin, J. (1983). “Software Maintenance: The Problem and Its Solution”. Prentice Hall, 472 p. 12. McKee, J. (1984). “Maintenance as a function of design”. Proceedings of the AFIPS National Computer Conference, 187-193. 13. Moad, J. (1990). “Maintaining the competitive edge”. Datamation 61-62, 64, 66. 14. Müller, H., Wong, K. & Tilley, S. (1994). “Understanding software systems using reverse engineering technology”. The 62nd Congress of L’Association Canadienne Francaise pour l’Avancement des Sciences Proceedings (ACFAS), 26 (4), 41-48. 15. Nosek, J. & Palvia, P. (1990). “Software maintenance management: changes in the last decade”. Journal of Software Maintenance: Research and Practice 2 (3), 157-174. 16. Port, O. (1988). “The software trap – automate or else”. Business Week 3051 (9), 142-154.9|Page
10.17. Robert A. Hanna, (2009) "Earned Value Management Software Projects," smc-it, pp.297-304, Third IEEE International Conference on Space Mission Challenges for Information Technology 18. Seacord, R., Plakosh, D. & Lewis, G. (2003). “Modernizing Legacy Systems: Software Technologies, Engineering Processes, and Business Practices” (SEI Series in Software Engineering). Addison-Wesley.. 19. Standish, T. (1984). “An essay on software reuse”. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering SE-10 (5), 494-497. 20. Sutherland, J. (1995). “Business objects in corporate information systems”. ACM Computing Surveys 27 (2), 274-276. 21. ISO/IEC 14764:2006 Software Engineering — Software Life Cycle Processes — Maintenance 22. IEEE Computer Society – SWEBOK – software engineering body of knowledge (www.swebok.org) 23. Burt Swanson, The dimensions of maintenance. Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Software engineering, San Francisco, 1976, pp 492 — 497 24. Abran, Alain (2008). Software Maintenance Management. New York: Wiley- IEEE. ISBN 978-0470-14707-8 25. Gopalaswamy Ramesh; Ramesh Bhattiprolu (2006). Software maintenance : effective practices for geographically distributed environments. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780070483453. 26. Grubb, Penny; Takang, Armstrong (2003). Software Maintenance. New Jersey: World Scientific Publishing. ISBN 9789812384256. 27. Lehman, M.M.; Belady, L.A. (1985). Program evolution : processes of software change. London: Academic Press Inc. ISBN 0-12-442441-4. 28. Page-Jones, Meilir (1980). The Practical Guide to Structured Systems Design. New York: Yourdon Press. ISBN 0-917072-17-0. 29. PMBOK_Guide_Fourth_Edition, Project Management Institute10 | P a g e
11.1.12 Author(s) Profile Lakshminarayanan Ramanujam PMP, CISA, CISSP is currently working as senior project manager with Computer Sciences Corporation India Ltd, have over 12 years of project management experience in IT application & Infrastructure projects. He is active member of PMI, ACM, IEEE computer Society, ISACA, ISC2, DSCI. He has earlier worked with IISc, HAL, Digital Equipement Corporation, Silverline Technologies. He specialises in application maintenance, Infrastructure and information security projects. E-mail: lramanujam@csc.com11 | P a g e
How to motivate people on sofware maintenance project
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/technology/software-development/TCH_SFT/102889-1017299
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Famous quotes
http://des.emory.edu/mfp/efficacynotgiveup.html
But They Did Not Give Up
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better."
~ Samuel Beckett
As a young man, Abraham Lincoln went to war a captain and returned a private. Afterwards, he was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. At about that time, he wrote in a letter to a friend, "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth."
Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. He was subsequently defeated in every election for public office until he became Prime Minister at the age of 62. He later wrote, "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never, Never give up." (his capitals, mind you)
Socrates was called "an immoral corrupter of youth" and continued to corrupt even after a sentence of death was imposed on him. He drank the hemlock and died corrupting.
Sigmund Freud was booed from the podium when he first presented his ideas to the scientific community of Europe. He returned to his office and kept on writing.
Robert Sternberg received a C in his first college introductory-psychology class. His teacher commented that "there was a famous Sternberg in psychology and it was obvious there would not be another." Three years later Sternberg graduated with honors from Stanford University with exceptional distinction in psychology, summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. In 2002, he became President of the American Psychological Association.
Charles Darwin gave up a medical career and was told by his father, "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat catching." In his autobiography, Darwin wrote, "I was considered by all my masters and my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard of intellect." Clearly, he evolved.
Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive." As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."
~ Confucius
Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4-years-old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was "sub-normal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math.
Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry.
Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded.
R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York City caught on.
F. W. Woolworth was not allowed to wait on customers when he worked in a dry goods store because, his boss said, "he didn't have enough sense."
When Bell telephone was struggling to get started, its owners offered all their rights to Western Union for $100,000. The offer was disdainfully rejected with the pronouncement, "What use could this company make of an electrical toy."
John Garcia, who eventually was honored for his fundamental psychological discoveries, was once told by a reviewer of his often-rejected manuscripts that one is no more likely to find the phenomenon he discovered than to find bird droppings in a cuckoo clock. (sort of a cute critique actually)
Rocket scientist Robert Goddard found his ideas bitterly rejected by his scientific peers on the grounds that rocket propulsion would not work in the rarefied atmosphere of outer space.
Daniel Boone was once asked by a reporter if he had ever been lost in the wilderness. Boone thought for a moment and replied, "No, but I was once bewildered for about three days."
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly."
~ Robert F. Kennedy
An expert said of Vince Lombardi: "He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation." Lombardi would later write, "It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up."
Michael Jordan and Bob Cousy were each cut from their high school basketball teams. Jordan once observed, "I've failed over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed."
Babe Ruth is famous for his past home run record, but for decades he also held the record for strikeouts. He hit 714 home runs and struck out 1,330 times in his career (about which he said, "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."). And didn't Mark McGwire break that strikeout record? (John Wooden once explained that winners make the most errors.)
Hank Aaron went 0 for 5 his first time at bat with the Milwakee Braves.
Stan Smith was rejected as a ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because he was "too awkward and clumsy." He went on to clumsily win Wimbledon and the U. S. Open. And eight Davis Cups.
Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, and Jimmy Johnson accounted for 11 of the 19 Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1993. They also share the distinction of having the worst records of first-season head coaches in NFL history - they didn't win a single game.
Johnny Unitas's first pass in the NFL was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Joe Montana's first pass was also intercepted. And while we're on quarterbacks, during his first season Troy Aikman threw twice as many interceptions (18) as touchdowns (9) . . . oh, and he didn't win a single game. You think there's a lesson here?
After Carl Lewis won the gold medal for the long jump in the 1996 Olympic games, he was asked to what he attributed his longevity, having competed for almost 20 years. He said, "Remembering that you have both wins and losses along the way. I don't take either one too seriously."
"Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay."
~ Eric Hoffer
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.
Charles Schultz had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Oh, and Walt Disney wouldn't hire him.
After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, read, "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." He kept that memo over the fire place in his Beverly Hills home. Astaire once observed that "when you're experimenting, you have to try so many things before you choose what you want, that you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion." And here is the reward for perseverance: "The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it's considered to be your style."
After his first audition, Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director, "Why don't you stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?" It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.
When Lucille Ball began studying to be actress in 1927, she was told by the head instructor of the John Murray Anderson Drama School, "Try any other profession."
The first time Jerry Seinfeld walked on-stage at a comedy club as a professional comic, he looked out at the audience, froze, and forgot the English language. He stumbled through "a minute-and a half" of material and was jeered offstage. He returned the following night and closed his set to wild applause.
In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency, told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, "You'd better learn secretarial work or else get married." I'm sure you know that Norma Jean was Marilyn Monroe. Now . . . who was Emmeline Snively?
At the age of 21, French acting legend Jeanne Moreau was told by a casting director that her head was too crooked, she wasn't beautiful enough, and she wasn't photogenic enough to make it in films. She took a deep breath and said to herself, "Alright, then, I guess I will have to make it my own way." After making nearly 100 films her own way, in 1997 she received the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.
"Flops are a part of life's menu
and I've never been a girl to miss out on any of the courses."
~ Rosalind Russell
After Harrison Ford's first performance as a hotel bellhop in the film Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, the studio vice-president called him in to his office. "Sit down kid," the studio head said, "I want to tell you a story. The first time Tony Curtis was ever in a movie he delivered a bag of groceries. We took one look at him and knew he was a movie star." Ford replied, "I thought you were spossed to think that he was a grocery delivery boy." The vice president dismissed Ford with "You ain't got it kid , you ain't got it ... now get out of here."
Michael Caine's headmaster told him, "You will be a laborer all your life."
Charlie Chaplin was initially rejected by Hollywood studio chiefs because his pantomime was considered "nonsense."
Enrico Caruso's music teacher said he had no voice at all and could not sing. His parents wanted him to become an engineer.
Decca Records turned down a recording contract with the Beatles with the unprophetic evaluation, "We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on their way out." After Decca rejected the Beatles, Columbia records followed suit.
In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after one performance. He told Presley, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck."
Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him "hopeless as a composer." And, of course, you know that he wrote five of his greatest symphonies while completely deaf.
"No matter how hard you work for success, if your thought is saturated with the fear of failure, it will kill your efforts, neutralize your endeavors and make success impossible."
~ Baudjuin
The Impressionists had to arrange their own art exhibitions because their works were routinely rejected by the Paris Salon. How many of you have heard of the Paris Salon?
A Paris art dealer refused Picasso shelter when he asked if he could bring in his paintings from out of the rain. One hopes that there is justice in this world and that the art dealer eventually went broke.
Van Gogh sold only one painting during his life. And this to the sister of one of his friends for 400 francs (approximately $50). This didn't stop him from completing over 800 paintings.
John Constable's luminous painting Watermeadows at Salisbury was dismissed in 1830 by a judge at the Royal Academy as "a nasty green thing." Name of the judge, anyone? Anyone?
Rodin's father once said, "I have an idiot for a son." Described as the worst pupil in the school, he was rejected three times admittance to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His uncle called him uneducable. Perhaps this gave him food for thought.
Stravinsky was run out of town by an enraged audience and critics after the first performance of the Rite of Spring.
When Pablo Casals reached 95, a young reporter asked him "Mr. Casals, you are 95 and the greatest cellist that ever lived. Why do you still practice six hours a day?" Mr. Casals answered, "Because I think I'm making progress."
"Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune;
but great minds rise above them."
~ Washington Irving
Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college. He was described as both "unable and unwilling to learn." No doubt a slow developer.
Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, was encouraged to find work as a servant by her family.
Emily Dickinson had only seven poems published in her lifetime.
15 publishers rejected a manuscript by e. e. cummings. When he finally got it published by his mother, the dedication, printed in uppercase letters, read WITH NO THANKS TO . . . followed by the list of publishers who had rejected his prized offering. Nice going Eddie. Thanks for illustrating that nobody loses all the time.
18 publishers turned down Richard Bach's story about a "soaring eagle." Macmillan finally published Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1970. By 1975 it had sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone.
21 publishers rejected Richard Hooker's humorous war novel, M*A*S*H. He had worked on it for seven years.
22 publishers rejected James Joyce's The Dubliners.
27 publishers rejected Dr. Seuss's first book, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
Jack London received six hundred rejection slips before he sold his first story.
English crime novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books.
William Saroyan accumulated more than a thousand rejections before he had his first literary piece published. Way to not take a hint, Bill!
Gertrude Stein submitted poems to editors for nearly 20 years before one was finally accepted. See . . . a rose is a rose.
I bet you didn't know that John Milton wrote Paradise Lost 16 years after losing his eyesight
One of Professor Pajares's first research efforts came back with a review that began, "There are so many things I don't like about this article I just don't know where to begin."
There is a professor at MIT who offers a course on failure. He does that, he says, because failure is a far more common experience than success. An interviewer once asked him if anybody ever failed the course on failure. He thought a moment and replied, "No, but there were two Incompletes."
Let's end with Woody Allen: "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying. Eighty percent of success is showing up."
"There is something to be said for keeping at a thing, isn't there?"
~ Frank Sinatra
Self-Efficacy Site
"On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The goal isn't more money. The goal is living life in your terms"
"Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution"
"Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud"
"Always remember.. Money is not everything in life.. but.. make sure you earn sufficient before thinking such nonsense"
These are the few quotes shared by Puri Jagan through his micro-blogging site in the recent past. Suddenly our talented director who's busy making "Loafer" with Varun Tej, talks about positivity, money, confidence, insecurity and negative people... All just out of the blue!! We wonder what's wrong with him talking all those stuff. - See more at: http://www.gulte.com/movienews/42098/Talk-Is-Puri-Hit-With-Second-Stroke#sthash.UhYApBaG.dpuf
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But They Did Not Give Up
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better."
~ Samuel Beckett
As a young man, Abraham Lincoln went to war a captain and returned a private. Afterwards, he was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. At about that time, he wrote in a letter to a friend, "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth."
Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. He was subsequently defeated in every election for public office until he became Prime Minister at the age of 62. He later wrote, "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never, Never give up." (his capitals, mind you)
Socrates was called "an immoral corrupter of youth" and continued to corrupt even after a sentence of death was imposed on him. He drank the hemlock and died corrupting.
Sigmund Freud was booed from the podium when he first presented his ideas to the scientific community of Europe. He returned to his office and kept on writing.
Robert Sternberg received a C in his first college introductory-psychology class. His teacher commented that "there was a famous Sternberg in psychology and it was obvious there would not be another." Three years later Sternberg graduated with honors from Stanford University with exceptional distinction in psychology, summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. In 2002, he became President of the American Psychological Association.
Charles Darwin gave up a medical career and was told by his father, "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat catching." In his autobiography, Darwin wrote, "I was considered by all my masters and my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard of intellect." Clearly, he evolved.
Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive." As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."
~ Confucius
Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4-years-old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was "sub-normal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math.
Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry.
Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded.
R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York City caught on.
F. W. Woolworth was not allowed to wait on customers when he worked in a dry goods store because, his boss said, "he didn't have enough sense."
When Bell telephone was struggling to get started, its owners offered all their rights to Western Union for $100,000. The offer was disdainfully rejected with the pronouncement, "What use could this company make of an electrical toy."
John Garcia, who eventually was honored for his fundamental psychological discoveries, was once told by a reviewer of his often-rejected manuscripts that one is no more likely to find the phenomenon he discovered than to find bird droppings in a cuckoo clock. (sort of a cute critique actually)
Rocket scientist Robert Goddard found his ideas bitterly rejected by his scientific peers on the grounds that rocket propulsion would not work in the rarefied atmosphere of outer space.
Daniel Boone was once asked by a reporter if he had ever been lost in the wilderness. Boone thought for a moment and replied, "No, but I was once bewildered for about three days."
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly."
~ Robert F. Kennedy
An expert said of Vince Lombardi: "He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation." Lombardi would later write, "It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up."
Michael Jordan and Bob Cousy were each cut from their high school basketball teams. Jordan once observed, "I've failed over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed."
Babe Ruth is famous for his past home run record, but for decades he also held the record for strikeouts. He hit 714 home runs and struck out 1,330 times in his career (about which he said, "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."). And didn't Mark McGwire break that strikeout record? (John Wooden once explained that winners make the most errors.)
Hank Aaron went 0 for 5 his first time at bat with the Milwakee Braves.
Stan Smith was rejected as a ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because he was "too awkward and clumsy." He went on to clumsily win Wimbledon and the U. S. Open. And eight Davis Cups.
Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, and Jimmy Johnson accounted for 11 of the 19 Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1993. They also share the distinction of having the worst records of first-season head coaches in NFL history - they didn't win a single game.
Johnny Unitas's first pass in the NFL was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Joe Montana's first pass was also intercepted. And while we're on quarterbacks, during his first season Troy Aikman threw twice as many interceptions (18) as touchdowns (9) . . . oh, and he didn't win a single game. You think there's a lesson here?
After Carl Lewis won the gold medal for the long jump in the 1996 Olympic games, he was asked to what he attributed his longevity, having competed for almost 20 years. He said, "Remembering that you have both wins and losses along the way. I don't take either one too seriously."
"Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay."
~ Eric Hoffer
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.
Charles Schultz had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Oh, and Walt Disney wouldn't hire him.
After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, read, "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." He kept that memo over the fire place in his Beverly Hills home. Astaire once observed that "when you're experimenting, you have to try so many things before you choose what you want, that you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion." And here is the reward for perseverance: "The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it's considered to be your style."
After his first audition, Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director, "Why don't you stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?" It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.
When Lucille Ball began studying to be actress in 1927, she was told by the head instructor of the John Murray Anderson Drama School, "Try any other profession."
The first time Jerry Seinfeld walked on-stage at a comedy club as a professional comic, he looked out at the audience, froze, and forgot the English language. He stumbled through "a minute-and a half" of material and was jeered offstage. He returned the following night and closed his set to wild applause.
In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency, told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, "You'd better learn secretarial work or else get married." I'm sure you know that Norma Jean was Marilyn Monroe. Now . . . who was Emmeline Snively?
At the age of 21, French acting legend Jeanne Moreau was told by a casting director that her head was too crooked, she wasn't beautiful enough, and she wasn't photogenic enough to make it in films. She took a deep breath and said to herself, "Alright, then, I guess I will have to make it my own way." After making nearly 100 films her own way, in 1997 she received the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.
"Flops are a part of life's menu
and I've never been a girl to miss out on any of the courses."
~ Rosalind Russell
After Harrison Ford's first performance as a hotel bellhop in the film Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, the studio vice-president called him in to his office. "Sit down kid," the studio head said, "I want to tell you a story. The first time Tony Curtis was ever in a movie he delivered a bag of groceries. We took one look at him and knew he was a movie star." Ford replied, "I thought you were spossed to think that he was a grocery delivery boy." The vice president dismissed Ford with "You ain't got it kid , you ain't got it ... now get out of here."
Michael Caine's headmaster told him, "You will be a laborer all your life."
Charlie Chaplin was initially rejected by Hollywood studio chiefs because his pantomime was considered "nonsense."
Enrico Caruso's music teacher said he had no voice at all and could not sing. His parents wanted him to become an engineer.
Decca Records turned down a recording contract with the Beatles with the unprophetic evaluation, "We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on their way out." After Decca rejected the Beatles, Columbia records followed suit.
In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after one performance. He told Presley, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck."
Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him "hopeless as a composer." And, of course, you know that he wrote five of his greatest symphonies while completely deaf.
"No matter how hard you work for success, if your thought is saturated with the fear of failure, it will kill your efforts, neutralize your endeavors and make success impossible."
~ Baudjuin
The Impressionists had to arrange their own art exhibitions because their works were routinely rejected by the Paris Salon. How many of you have heard of the Paris Salon?
A Paris art dealer refused Picasso shelter when he asked if he could bring in his paintings from out of the rain. One hopes that there is justice in this world and that the art dealer eventually went broke.
Van Gogh sold only one painting during his life. And this to the sister of one of his friends for 400 francs (approximately $50). This didn't stop him from completing over 800 paintings.
John Constable's luminous painting Watermeadows at Salisbury was dismissed in 1830 by a judge at the Royal Academy as "a nasty green thing." Name of the judge, anyone? Anyone?
Rodin's father once said, "I have an idiot for a son." Described as the worst pupil in the school, he was rejected three times admittance to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His uncle called him uneducable. Perhaps this gave him food for thought.
Stravinsky was run out of town by an enraged audience and critics after the first performance of the Rite of Spring.
When Pablo Casals reached 95, a young reporter asked him "Mr. Casals, you are 95 and the greatest cellist that ever lived. Why do you still practice six hours a day?" Mr. Casals answered, "Because I think I'm making progress."
"Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune;
but great minds rise above them."
~ Washington Irving
Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college. He was described as both "unable and unwilling to learn." No doubt a slow developer.
Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, was encouraged to find work as a servant by her family.
Emily Dickinson had only seven poems published in her lifetime.
15 publishers rejected a manuscript by e. e. cummings. When he finally got it published by his mother, the dedication, printed in uppercase letters, read WITH NO THANKS TO . . . followed by the list of publishers who had rejected his prized offering. Nice going Eddie. Thanks for illustrating that nobody loses all the time.
18 publishers turned down Richard Bach's story about a "soaring eagle." Macmillan finally published Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1970. By 1975 it had sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone.
21 publishers rejected Richard Hooker's humorous war novel, M*A*S*H. He had worked on it for seven years.
22 publishers rejected James Joyce's The Dubliners.
27 publishers rejected Dr. Seuss's first book, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
Jack London received six hundred rejection slips before he sold his first story.
English crime novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books.
William Saroyan accumulated more than a thousand rejections before he had his first literary piece published. Way to not take a hint, Bill!
Gertrude Stein submitted poems to editors for nearly 20 years before one was finally accepted. See . . . a rose is a rose.
I bet you didn't know that John Milton wrote Paradise Lost 16 years after losing his eyesight
One of Professor Pajares's first research efforts came back with a review that began, "There are so many things I don't like about this article I just don't know where to begin."
There is a professor at MIT who offers a course on failure. He does that, he says, because failure is a far more common experience than success. An interviewer once asked him if anybody ever failed the course on failure. He thought a moment and replied, "No, but there were two Incompletes."
Let's end with Woody Allen: "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying. Eighty percent of success is showing up."
"There is something to be said for keeping at a thing, isn't there?"
~ Frank Sinatra
Self-Efficacy Site
"On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The goal isn't more money. The goal is living life in your terms"
"Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution"
"Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud"
"Always remember.. Money is not everything in life.. but.. make sure you earn sufficient before thinking such nonsense"
These are the few quotes shared by Puri Jagan through his micro-blogging site in the recent past. Suddenly our talented director who's busy making "Loafer" with Varun Tej, talks about positivity, money, confidence, insecurity and negative people... All just out of the blue!! We wonder what's wrong with him talking all those stuff. - See more at: http://www.gulte.com/movienews/42098/Talk-Is-Puri-Hit-With-Second-Stroke#sthash.UhYApBaG.dpuf
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, April 1, 2011
What HR People Won’t Tell You About the Job Interview
http://www.rd.com/money/what-hr-people-wont-tell-you-about-the-job-interview/?trkid=13things_NL_040111
What HR People Won’t Tell You About the Job Interview
Condensed from Reader's Digest Magazine, April 2011
Human resource pros tell you what to do—and what not to do—when meeting to discuss an employment opportunity.
Plus: What Does Your Office Say About Your Work Style?
1. “It’s amazing when people come in for an interview and say, ‘Can you tell me about your business?’ Seriously, people. There’s an Internet. Look it up.” –HR professional in New York City
2. “A lot of managers don’t want to hire people with young kids, and they use all sorts of tricks to find that out, illegally. One woman kept a picture of two really cute children on her desk even though she didn’t have children [hoping job candidates would ask about them]. Another guy used to walk people out to their car to see whether they had car seats.” –Cynthia Shapiro, former human resources executive and author of Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn’t Want You to Know
3. “Is it harder to get the job if you’re fat? Absolutely. Hiring managers make quick judgments based on stereotypes. They’re just following George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air, who said ‘I stereotype. It’s faster.’” –Suzanne Lucas, a former HR executive and the Evil HR Lady on bnet.com
4. “I once had a hiring manager who refused to hire someone because the job required her to be on call one weekend a month and she had talked in the interview about how much she goes to church. Another candidate didn’t get hired because the manager was worried that the car he drove wasn’t nice enough.” –HR professional at a midsize firm in North Carolina
5. “Don’t just silence your phone for the interview. Turn it all the way off.” –Sharlyn Lauby, HR consultant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
6. “If you’ve got a weak handshake, I make a note of it.” –HR manager at a medical-equipment sales firm
7. “If you’re a candidate and the hiring manager spends 45 minutes talking about himself, the company or his Harley, let him. He’s going to come out of the interview saying you’re a great candidate.” –Kris Dunn, chief human resources officer at Atlanta-based Kinetix, who blogs at hrcapitalist.com
Plus:
Surprising Field Where Job Opportunities Abound
What Job Will You Be Most Successful At? Your Contribution Style Will Tell
6 Deals at the Dollar Store
Dos and Dont’s of Traveling with Your Boss
1 |2
We recommend
You might like:
* Amusing April Fools’ Humor Reader's Digest
* What HR People Won’t Tell You About Salaries and Raises Reader's Digest
* What Your HR Person Won’t Tell You About Being Fired Reader's Digest
* What HR Won’t Tell You About Your Résumé Reader's Digest
From around the web
Selected for you by our sponsor:
* 7 Things Not to Say During a Job Interview Fox Business
* 3 Things You Can Do From Home for Additional Income Coupon Shoe Box
* 15 Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Home Care Worker Caring.com
* Jobs That Pay $100 (Or More) Per Hour CNBC
What HR People Won’t Tell You About the Job Interview
Condensed from Reader's Digest Magazine, April 2011
Human resource pros tell you what to do—and what not to do—when meeting to discuss an employment opportunity.
Plus: What Does Your Office Say About Your Work Style?
1. “It’s amazing when people come in for an interview and say, ‘Can you tell me about your business?’ Seriously, people. There’s an Internet. Look it up.” –HR professional in New York City
2. “A lot of managers don’t want to hire people with young kids, and they use all sorts of tricks to find that out, illegally. One woman kept a picture of two really cute children on her desk even though she didn’t have children [hoping job candidates would ask about them]. Another guy used to walk people out to their car to see whether they had car seats.” –Cynthia Shapiro, former human resources executive and author of Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn’t Want You to Know
3. “Is it harder to get the job if you’re fat? Absolutely. Hiring managers make quick judgments based on stereotypes. They’re just following George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air, who said ‘I stereotype. It’s faster.’” –Suzanne Lucas, a former HR executive and the Evil HR Lady on bnet.com
4. “I once had a hiring manager who refused to hire someone because the job required her to be on call one weekend a month and she had talked in the interview about how much she goes to church. Another candidate didn’t get hired because the manager was worried that the car he drove wasn’t nice enough.” –HR professional at a midsize firm in North Carolina
5. “Don’t just silence your phone for the interview. Turn it all the way off.” –Sharlyn Lauby, HR consultant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
6. “If you’ve got a weak handshake, I make a note of it.” –HR manager at a medical-equipment sales firm
7. “If you’re a candidate and the hiring manager spends 45 minutes talking about himself, the company or his Harley, let him. He’s going to come out of the interview saying you’re a great candidate.” –Kris Dunn, chief human resources officer at Atlanta-based Kinetix, who blogs at hrcapitalist.com
Plus:
Surprising Field Where Job Opportunities Abound
What Job Will You Be Most Successful At? Your Contribution Style Will Tell
6 Deals at the Dollar Store
Dos and Dont’s of Traveling with Your Boss
1 |2
We recommend
You might like:
* Amusing April Fools’ Humor Reader's Digest
* What HR People Won’t Tell You About Salaries and Raises Reader's Digest
* What Your HR Person Won’t Tell You About Being Fired Reader's Digest
* What HR Won’t Tell You About Your Résumé Reader's Digest
From around the web
Selected for you by our sponsor:
* 7 Things Not to Say During a Job Interview Fox Business
* 3 Things You Can Do From Home for Additional Income Coupon Shoe Box
* 15 Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Home Care Worker Caring.com
* Jobs That Pay $100 (Or More) Per Hour CNBC
Sunday, January 30, 2011
insert a " at the end of every line in a file
sed 's/$/\"/' unsub.dat > out.txt
sed 's/$/\,/' unsub.dat > out.txt
To insert a char at the beginning of a line
sed 's/^/"/' out.txt unsub.dat
sed 's/$/\,/' unsub.dat > out.txt
To insert a char at the beginning of a line
sed 's/^/"/' out.txt unsub.dat
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)