Testing with different configurations is an integral part of the QA process, but time and energy is consumed configuring and managing these environments. Ben Waldron has written an article demonstrates how the Virtual Server COM API can be used to create an automated application testing environment using Virtual Server 2005. It improves developer productivity by simplifying the provisioning and management of testing environments.

If your application runs on Windows, you need to take a look at using Virtual PC and Virtual Server 2005 as integral part of your QA environments.

Testing with different configurations is an integral part of the QA process, but time and energy is consumed configuring and managing these environments. Ben Waldron has written an article demonstrates how the Virtual Server COM API can be used to create an automated application testing environment using Virtual Server 2005. It improves developer productivity by simplifying the provisioning and management of testing environments.

If your application runs on Windows, you need to take a look at using Virtual PC and Virtual Server 2005 as integral part of your QA environments.

One of the most important skills, a manager needs to have is to be able to mentor the team. Unfortunately, if you ask most software professionals if their manager is a mentor, you will get a laugh.

Good Mentors are natural leaders and mentoring is an art that they practice. They realize that in addition to getting the job done, they are also responsible to their team. They believe that they need to encourage their team members to grow and take steps to encourage that.

At i3Connect, I encouraged my team to write articles, post to public forums, give back to open source projects, give presentations (both internal and external), think on their career development paths, etc. Ameet, one of our team members with just one year of experience, was actually a project guide to final year CS students. Due to lack of resources, we could not send anyone to paid conferences but would encourage them to attend free conferences in Mumbai or on the web. Mentoring was one of the main reasons our attrition rate was so low, even with all our financial constraints.

A good mentor should create the right team culture by

• presenting a vision, describing the planning process and showing leadership.
• empowering the team to experiment
• being goal-oriented and focusing on team performance
• building a team of smart, dependable team-players.
• using the individual strengths and talents in a team activity
• being flexible and responsive
• being able breakdown communication barriers
• and being able to recognize and celebrate team and individual accomplishments

As a manager there will be always be another deadline and another crisis. But working with your team is more than that. Set aside time to look at the rainbows and to connect with each person on the team. Understanding them is the first step to being a great mentor.

One of the most important skills, a manager needs to have is to be able to mentor the team. Unfortunately, if you ask most software professionals if their manager is a mentor, you will get a laugh.

Good Mentors are natural leaders and mentoring is an art that they practice. They realize that in addition to getting the job done, they are also responsible to their team. They believe that they need to encourage their team members to grow and take steps to encourage that.

At i3Connect, I encouraged my team to write articles, post to public forums, give back to open source projects, give presentations (both internal and external), think on their career development paths, etc. Ameet, one of our team members with just one year of experience, was actually a project guide to final year CS students. Due to lack of resources, we could not send anyone to paid conferences but would encourage them to attend free conferences in Mumbai or on the web. Mentoring was one of the main reasons our attrition rate was so low, even with all our financial constraints.

A good mentor should create the right team culture by

• presenting a vision, describing the planning process and showing leadership.
• empowering the team to experiment
• being goal-oriented and focusing on team performance
• building a team of smart, dependable team-players.
• using the individual strengths and talents in a team activity
• being flexible and responsive
• being able breakdown communication barriers
• and being able to recognize and celebrate team and individual accomplishments

As a manager there will be always be another deadline and another crisis. But working with your team is more than that. Set aside time to look at the rainbows and to connect with each person on the team. Understanding them is the first step to being a great mentor.

One of the most important skills, a manager needs to have is to be able to mentor the team. Unfortunately, if you ask most software professionals if their manager is a mentor, you will get a laugh.

Good Mentors are natural leaders and mentoring is an art that they practice. They realize that in addition to getting the job done, they are also responsible to their team. They believe that they need to encourage their team members to grow and take steps to encourage that.

At i3Connect, I encouraged my team to write articles, post to public forums, give back to open source projects, give presentations (both internal and external), think on their career development paths, etc. Ameet, one of our team members with just one year of experience, was actually a project guide to final year CS students. Due to lack of resources, we could not send anyone to paid conferences but would encourage them to attend free conferences in Mumbai or on the web. Mentoring was one of the main reasons our attrition rate was so low, even with all our financial constraints.

A good mentor should create the right team culture by

• presenting a vision, describing the planning process and showing leadership.
• empowering the team to experiment
• being goal-oriented and focusing on team performance
• building a team of smart, dependable team-players.
• using the individual strengths and talents in a team activity
• being flexible and responsive
• being able breakdown communication barriers
• and being able to recognize and celebrate team and individual accomplishments

As a manager there will be always be another deadline and another crisis. But working with your team is more than that. Set aside time to look at the rainbows and to connect with each person on the team. Understanding them is the first step to being a great mentor.

I moved to a .Text backend for blogging from the PHP based WordPress.

The reason for this is that I am more in tune with C#/.NET now than with PHP. This should come in handy when making any modifications.

Migrating 4 years worth of postings is a pain and it took couple of hours. The final procedure was

1. Migrated data into SQL Server via DTS from MySQL using an ODBC driver.
2. Wrote a windows forms application that reads data from SQL Server DB, converts text content to html and posts via the .Text web service interface.

I will also migrate my old articles here in the next few days.

I moved to a .Text backend for blogging from the PHP based WordPress.

The reason for this is that I am more in tune with C#/.NET now than with PHP. This should come in handy when making any modifications.

Migrating 4 years worth of postings is a pain and it took couple of hours. The final procedure was

1. Migrated data into SQL Server via DTS from MySQL using an ODBC driver.
2. Wrote a windows forms application that reads data from SQL Server DB, converts text content to html and posts via the .Text web service interface.

I will also migrate my old articles here in the next few days.