PoddarCo

New York – Project Manager, SDLC

Description:
A major New York City Publishing company is looking for a SDLC Project Manager.

The ideal candidate will have the following experience:

• At least 3 years of experience as SDLC Project Manager
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Interest in Math & Science

Great team environment, Great company, Great Benefits!

Notes (+ next steps):
- Send an email with your resume to varunpoddar@poddarco.com
- This is not a job posting to work with PoddarCo; it has been posted on behalf of a recruiting company.  So please save job-related questions for the recruiter. A member of our team will forward your email to the recruiting company that owns the job posting. You will be copied on the email forwarded to the recruiter.
- To ensure the most recent and perhaps active job postings get prompt attention, only responses within 30 days of the posting date will be forwarded.
- This process may change at any time; any changes to the process will be posted on the blog.

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New York – Lead JAVA / J2EE Engineer with Web Experience

Description:
Our client provides high availability web content solutions for Fortune 500 media companies. Currently they are seeking a highly skilled JAVA / J2EE Technical lead to join the company. This job requires a candidate to have 6-8 years professional experience developing highly scalable and high availability websites and web applications. The core technologies required include; JAVA / J2EE, Spring, Hibernate, JavaScript and JQuery. Experience with various CMS systems is a must. This company will work with various CMS packages to include open source and proprietary systems. In addition to your technical experience this candidate will be focused on all layers of the web applications development and all aspects of the development life cycle.

The person should be comfortable with the following skills; requirements gathering, architecture, design, coding, testing, business analysis and reporting. Because our client is a solutions provider the job has a heavy client facing aspect so people should be comfortable working directly with external business units. You will also be leading smaller teams from a technology aspect and will have the responsibility to mentor more junior programmers and application developers.

This company will offer and excellent career path to lead projects independently and have staff reporting to them. The career path for this company does not stray away from core technology aspect. As you grow in the company you will always be “hands-on” with the development life-cycle even at a management level. The company offers an excellent salary and compensation package that is based on experience. This is a fulltime job in the New York City office of this company. All clients are based in Manhattan and the job will require very little travel. Projects are long term with continued communication and client engagement.

Notes (+ next steps):
- Send an email with your resume to varunpoddar@poddarco.com
- This is not a job posting to work with PoddarCo; it has been posted on behalf of a recruiting company.  So please save job-related questions for the recruiter. A member of our team will forward your email to the recruiting company that owns the job posting. You will be copied on the email forwarded to the recruiter.
- To ensure the most recent and perhaps active job postings get prompt attention, only responses within 30 days of the posting date will be forwarded.
- This process may change at any time; any changes to the process will be posted on the blog.

(On the homepage, click speech bubble next to the title to leave comments. On the post page, scroll down.)

Had updated some previous thoughts on the topic – so reposting this.

Processes should exist as a catalyst for getting work done, not to slow it down. Checks and balances are needed to ensure nothing slips through the cracks, not to cover one team’s tracks so the next in line can be blamed. Documentation is prepared to pave the way for others who follow, not to constrain projects till every excruciating detail is noted.  Dates are necessary for planning, scheduling resources and aligning other work, but need to be kept real.

Some PMs get caught up in demanding these elements from their teams. Releases don’t get scheduled till project codes, install instructions, help guides, dev complete dates, QA completion notices, team-to-team hand off meetings, multi-layered sign-offs and varied support procedures among other things are in place. By then the business (client) needs move on, project demands change, resources shift.

It’s here that a customer focus plays a crucial role.  It doesn’t matter if the clients are internal stakeholders, end-users or external organizations and businesses. A client focus can shed new light on questions like – how can the process minimize redundancy and overhead while maximizing productivity and utilization? Does the process have to be so standardized? One size does not fit all; where can you make the process flexible so work gets done more efficiently, productively and quickly?

My two cents in conclusion: question the rigidity of processes and other must-haves; be alert to these things when they start becoming roadblocks. Also, take a page out of agile project management methodologies as they can really help address some of the concerns highlighted here (more on that in future posts).

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Project Manager, Software Integration Technology, Boston , USA

Role:
- Take a leadership role in the integration of the client’s sophisticated point solutions with their customers’ enterprise applications
-Convert customer business problems and use cases into detailed product requirements in order for software development to build superior products and features.
- Create and deliver technical materials to ensure other company functions are ready for new product releases, including Professional Services, Customer Support Sales and Training.
-Provide secondary support to technical pre-sales consultants and professional services. Develop product demonstrations to be used by the field sales teams

Ideal Candidate Profile:
-5+ years experience implementing software integration projects for a software company or consulting firm
-Strong knowledge of common IT technologies including portals, business intelligence, web services, Enterprise Application Integration, databases and Windows operating systems
-Prefer experience in software and product design, user interface design, storyboarding, focus groups, product requirements documentation, product requirements gathering
-Experience in associated areas such as technical service delivery, technical sales, R&D a plus
-Based in Boston, MA or able to move there at own expense. US citizens or US Permanent Residents only please.

Notes (+ next steps):
- Send an email with your resume to varunpoddar@poddarco.com
- This is not a job posting to work with PoddarCo; it has been posted on behalf of a recruiting company.  So please save job-related questions for the recruiter. A member of our team will forward your email to the recruiting company that owns the job posting. You will be copied on the email forwarded to the recruiter.
- To ensure the most recent and perhaps active job postings get prompt attention, only responses within 30 days of the posting date will be forwarded.
- This process may change at any time; any changes to the process will be posted on the blog.

(On the homepage, click speech bubble next to the title to leave comments. On the post page, scroll down.)

Hi everyone -

As I may have hinted on some posts, I enjoy photography.  So thought I’d post a link to some of my photographs.

http://photo.net/photos/poddarco

Feel free to share your thoughts – any feedback / critique is always welcome!  If you want to share some of your photographs, send me the link.  Would be nice to see you through a different “lens”…look forward to hearing from you!

Cheers!
-V

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So, as an update to my thoughts on scrum over the past couple weeks, I signed up for a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) course.  It is in the second week of February.  Will share my lessons learned and experiences in due time.  Looking forward to picking up some new tips and tools to use on my projects.

For those interested in reading more about Scrum, read this guide (it’s an excellent intro and overview): http://www.scrum.org/scrumguides/

Cheers!
-V

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Over the past three years, I have implemented Scrum at start-up companies as well as large corporations.  While most of this has been in the world of software development and some in operations, every experience has been unique, always presenting different challenges and teaching something new.

There is an increasing level of buzz regarding what Scrum can and cannot do, and how it is similar to or different from other project management methodologies.  I have to admit that enforcing Scrum’s guidelines or building processes around Agile concepts has been easier in small teams and start-up companies than in large corporations.

I’ll elaborate on the challenges, what worked and what did not work in future posts.  In brief some of the main challenges included (1) an inability to integrate post-development activities such as QA/testing and release management fully into the sprint cycle, (2) the product owner and scrum master roles spilling over one another (also the product owner getting over loaded) and (3) various aspects of the organizational culture and business realities becoming not necessarily blocks, but valid constraints.

Anyway, lately, I have been considering signing up for a CSM (Certified Scrum Master) course, in the hope of learning something new and exchanging experiences with others.  I wonder what challenges other people have had in implementing Scrum or other Agile methods, and what can I fit into my practice to help clients better incorporate these methods into their process.

If you’d like to share your experience using Scrum, feel free to comment or drop me an email at varunpoddar@poddarco.com

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Another brief thought for the month – was reading about E Sreedharan’s successful execution of certain phases of the Delhi Metro project.  This is what was said of him and his project management style…

Sreedharan’s very high integrity, single minded commitment to work, managerial acumen and punctuality set him apart.  He creates a conducive and professional work culture, picking up the right people, motivating and rewarding them.  This, along with the freedom to innovate and no punishment for unintentional mistakes, make the employees put up their best show even with governmental salaries.

Just thought I’d share with everyone…

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It’s December – end of year to-do’s, vacations, last minute shopping, scrambling with work requests, enjoying time with families, etc. So instead of a regular post, just a brief thought to share.

Scoping and budgeting are integral to any software release or project.  One month’s left in the calendar year, and 40% of the budget is still there to spend or lose. That doesn’t mean you rush order more hardware than you planned for.  Or you cram many extra features through development even if you don’t have the requirements flushed out or the developers / testers available.  Use left-over funds judiciously and plan project spend/cash-flow for the next year better.

(On the homepage, click speech bubble next to the title to leave comments. On the post page, scroll down.)

Processes should exist as a catalyst for getting work done, not to slow it down. Checks and balances are needed to ensure nothing slips through the cracks, not to cover one team’s tracks so the next in line can be blamed. Documentation is prepared to pave the way for others who follow, not to constrain projects till every excruciating detail is noted.  Dates are necessary for planning, scheduling resources and aligning other work, but need to be kept real.

Some PMs get caught up in demanding these elements from their teams and resources. Releases don’t get scheduled till project codes, install instructions, help guides, dev complete dates, QA completion notices, team-to-team hand off meetings, multi-layered sign-offs and varied support procedures among other things are in place. By then the business (client) needs move on, project demands change, resources shift.

It’s here that a customer focus plays a crucial role.  A customer focus can shed new light on questions like – how can the process minimize redundancy and overhead while maximizing productivity and utilization? Does the process have to be so standardized? Where can you make the process flexible?

My two cents in conclusion: question the rigidity of processes and other must-haves; be alert to these things when they start becoming roadblocks.

(On the homepage, click speech bubble next to the title to leave comments. On the post page, scroll down.)