tackling an IT Bug

wonder whats Sev 1??? there are many definitions to it...most common ones could be ...a developers nightmare...a testers delight... and these are one of those "Tickets", which you get free of cost, is use less and can cause you lot of heartache...
yup..Sev 1 or Severity 1 is the crisis situation in IT, when the testers are not able to continue finding (the immobile) bugs in the code, due to the presence of a larger BUG..and they raise a Sev 1 ticket for that..(i am still clueless on why they call it a ticket and defect a BUG)..and once raised, the developer would be on his toes..trying to fix it up..and worst thing is..Sev1 means 24hrs you got to banish that BUG. ie in a day, you need to trace it, catch them red handed, put spray/fix on it..


I have this friend of mine, who happened to be a regular diet of this BUG. He already is like a straw and if more bugs attack him, he would soon be a tooth pick. and BUGS would find it hard to trace him in the plate. Daily when i lunch with him, the common conversation would be around the new BUGs that have come up..And wait...dont take this guy silly...he has his own ways of dealing with this...may be the IT readers would be benefited from this..

1. As soon as you get a Sev1, look if there is any other system involved in it. Just look around the error and if you happen to find, raise the defect in their name. that would take care of the defect for a day. And by the time other team analyze and come up finding that the bug is in your own code, you are safe.

2. Never attend defects that are less that Sev1. Let it qualify and compete with other bugs and come up to Sev1.(He would always be having 2-3 Sev1 in his kitty. So no time for less severe ones)

3. And this one is a approach you can use to keep your managers at their bay. This can help you extend the deadline by a day or even two

Day 1:
morning:
M: Hi T, what about defect# 1234?
T: Hi M, I am still to look into it. I was busy with few other stuffs.
M: oh. OK. I hope you get it fixed soon. Its Sev1.
T: Yes. [ :( ]

afternoon:
M: Hi T, how is 1234?
T: (1234 is doing fine...its me who is suffering) Yes M I just now started looking into it. I got some leads on that, I am working on that.
M: Thats Great

evening:
M: Hope you are done with 1234..
T: Hi M, the initial ananlyzis was not right..but i have got another lead and I am investigating it. should be done by tomorrow.

Day 2:
morning:
M: Hi T, I guess its roses in the morning. you are done with 1234 rt.
T: (gulp!!) err..T, i think the defects root cause is still to be found out, when i check its interaction with system A and its outbound message to system B, the exception raised in that has an essence of system C's outbound message that comes to our system. So we would need to investigate on the possible chance of this error from an outsider perspective, taking all the 3 systems to be culprits.
M: (?????????) I guess you are working hard on this. i hope this gets resolved soon.

by noon:
before M pings
T: Hi M, seems to be an issue with system X. I have raised defect against them.
M: [:S] ok.

and T remains busy till evening or may be night, gets in touch with all the resources possible and gets the issue sorted, which obviously would be a defect in his code. And by next day he is good to go.. In the mean while system X would be searching for possible solution, to which they are not even remotely connected. By the time they realize it, T would have got the issue fixed.

man...this really works... T has learned to survive....



[pic - A Bug's Life]

a for apple...b for ball...

Long names can cause enough headaches at times...especially if you are in the US of A, where we need to put our names in full..either it be your mail id, postal address, filling up forms..rule is..no initials allowed...its easy for Bruce Wills, George Michael, Elton John...but for some one with name Ajay Pathinettam Kandam...it can be hell of a job...
i dont disown my surname... it means a lot to me... i get a lot of respect and am honoured in my hometown because of the surname and i have my whole identity attached to it...

But here in US...its a different story... and the story starts with my name in the records...they missed an "N" in my name and in the client records it reads AJAY PATHINETTAM KADAM..
for them its just an alphabet less... but they dont realize that with the missing of an N they have made me a debtor...mallus who see my name would wonder PATHINETTAM "KADAM"??? they would have heard of Pathinettam Adavu...which of course means last resort..but Kadam?? that would be news to them...they might think..need to watch out for this guy or next thing he will do after shaking hands is..ask for money...cant blame them...my name says it all..and for the ease of processing, they combined the two words and made it pathinettamkadam...which made it even worse to read..even i had difficulty in identifying it...
at times am known as Mr Pathinettam, sometimes Mr Kandam and sometimes K, Ajay Pathinettam..by the time i return back to India, i would have juggled with my name in all the ways possible...and the trouble doesnt end here...
I had a problem with my client laptop and i had to call the support person..and of course they wanted to know my name....in full.. i said..
AJAY...Aae Jay Aae Yee.... Pathinettam Pee Aae tee...
voice from other side interrupted this lullaby...sir can u please spell it like "a" as in "apple"...i said to myself...oh God..I have to do this too...

I had to take my memory back to the kindergarten to remember what all objects we relate the alphabets with..but i dont have a memory so sharp..so had to create new ones...and i somehow managed...

A as in apple
J as in jackal
A as in "another" apple
Y as in youtube

P for pet
A as in apple
T as in tie
H as in hat
I as in India
N as in net
E as in eye -(e as in i ???)...eh..make it elephant..E as in elephant
T as in tie
T as in tie - that will be 2 T as in ties
A as in apple
M as in monkey - (i almost felt like one)

K as in kite
A as in apple
N as in net
D as in..eh.eh..yeah..DOG(should hav stressed more on it,to get rid of my irritation)
A as in apple
M as in monkey

that was a hard task for me..having to spell my name with apples, monkeys and dogs..

leave alone my full name...here people dont know to pronounce even Ajay..they call me Aey Jay...when i hear it..its like A J... next time when someone calls me the same..i should probably reply A Y...and say...yes ma'm thats how u spell my name...A J A Y

nanni aarodu njan chollendu...

mallu's can easily relate to this topic...song from the movie Aham...where Mohanlal is aimlessly wandering and asking these unanswerable/unanswered questions to himself and to God... at 1:30am, sitting in front of my office laptop...even i was in the same mental state as he was...and few unanswerable questions popped up in my mind and the poet in me penned down those...i couldn't resist from writing these words and mailing these to my friends then and there.. more would have flown from my heart..but the angels of sleep didnt allow me to..



nanni aarodu njan chollendu...
2maasam munpe onsiteil ayacha PM inodo?
atho 3kollam munpe select cheytha HRinodo?
nanni aarodu njan chollendu....

nanni aarodu njan chollendu...
3project thalayil vachu thanna mangerinodo
atho thalavedana undakkunna offshorinodo??
nanni aarodu njan chollendu...

nanni aarodu njan chollendu...
ente urakkam keduthunna workinodo
atho enne njetti unarthunna issuesinodo
nanni aarodu njan chollendu....

nanni aarodu njan chollendu...
maari maari theri vilikkuna clientinodo
atho athu kettu theri vilikunna managerinodo
nanni aarodu njan chollendu???



i know these questions would have popped up in all onsite coordinators mind... :)


if my clients/managers/offshore happened to see this..pls take it in a lighter vein and not to be taken into account for my next appraisal.. ;) :D

and non mallus..please excuse..as this post could be written best in malayalam and only in malayalam.. :)

a bottle of beer for Maveli

Onam was again round the corner...a festival thats celebrated by all mallus (keralites) in the true mallu spirit..But that was not my case...I thought of skipping my Onam so that i could go on a long holiday the week after...So here I was..the lone soul in room..(in Chennai would be more appropriate,as all chennai mallus had gone home)..spending time lonely was never an issue for me...i thought i would spend it watching movie in television and also browsing..but soon the boredom bug bit me..never thought being alone would be this boring. the feeling of not being at home for Onam was the catalyst of this boredom...but that was enough to ignite and even explode the feeling of loneliness. So i browsed thru the papers for any decent flicks running in theaters...there are 2 things if u go for a movie at INOX..one is the pleasure of watching the movie in excellent theater and second being the crowd that gets assembled in City Center..no prices for guessing that i meant the crowd of gorgeous gals..
so i booked for "Hey babyy"..though i knew the story...movie was decent enough with excellent comic timings from Akshay n Hritesh...but to my disappointment, the crowd was not as good as i expected. so returned early to home..next thought i had was how to spend the night alone..i didn have to fry my brain too much...i thought..a movie in tv and a bottle of beer...wat a perfect combo...so i started off from home with the new bag company had provided as a part of our IBU celebration...i somehow managed to get a bottle of KF...a chilled one...on the way back i was thinking abt the wonderful way i ll be spending the night...by the time i reached home with beer..it was 10:45PM...i closed the door..put on my shorts n tshirt..and opened the bag....SPLASH...there goes my entertainment for the night...the bottle broke..spilling beer all over the floor..i somehow managed to clean the place in seconds...but i couldnt contain the desire to have a beer...i didnt have the patience or time to change my dress...as the shop closes at 11. I took 60rs from my purse, took my bike keys, locked door and was off in a hurry to the "SHOP" or "SHAAP" as mallus call it..but to my disappointment, the shops were closed..i tried the far off ones too..speeding in my bike... but without success..finally decided to return home empty handed...as soon as i crossed the apartment gate, some instinct started telling me....ajay...something is wrong..u have forgotten something...i always gets the instinct or what u call the inner voice when something goes wrong...and it always comes true also...this time it was the key...i had forgotten to take the flat keys from my purse...
It was close to midnight...me standing in my shorts n t shirts and 60rs to live for the next 3days..there was no place to sleep either...the only way to break in was by breaking the lock...but finding the right man for the job, at that hour was a difficult task...but thankfully managed to find a very opportunist guy, who charged me 150rs for breaking the lock and another 150 for fixing the same... my fate... i had to agree as i was homeless without breaking it...
huh... finally broke in to my own house... later in bed..i was taking account...

A bottle beer...60rs
Breaking lock...150rs
Fixing lock...150rs
The look on my face after the incident...PRICELESS...

3 of us on a mission

"hey...Michael Jackson's coat"...this scream from my friend woke me up from my slumber...we were 3 ppl on our way for a cultural fest and my buddy was supposed to dance to the steps of MJ....and what dance without MJ's get up..so no coat means no dance..we had only an hour or two left for the event to start...we started pressurizing our brains..which were almost rusted out by the lectures in college...idea !!! ...shall rent it from some dry cleaners...an idea that works well in movies...but we were traveling to a place which was unknown to us..so no one would rent it out...again pressure on brain...
suddenly my mobile rang...it was our friend living in the same place where we were heading to...as soon as we attended the call..we shouted.."we need a coat"...didn't give her enough time to even say any excuse...finally she agreed...she borrowed it from her friends uncle...under one and only one condition..it has to be returned in one piece at the earliest...we were planing to return to college as soon as the program gets over...meaning we need to somehow return it at midnight..
we reached the place in an hour and half and there was our friend waiting with the coat..sporting a not so happy smile..."will return in tonight itself na...uncle need it moro for a meeting"..we assured her...promised to return to her by the time she leave the place...
but as usual...the fest started late...we waited for our turn...10:00..10:30..11:00..with each passing moment,we noted that the number of facial muscles she using is fast changing from 17 to 43..from smile to frown...
finally the threshold reached..she said..."am leaving..return the coat tonight itself for your own good"...
And around 11:30 our dance started. He was pretty cool..danced well and was looking kinda MJ in that coat..and by 11:40 everything was over. Our next prob was about returning the coat. anyway we didn have any choice. So we took a bus to her house. As we were not sure of her address, we got down at the nearest bus stop and took an auto...and it was close to 11:55...we were going through the colony in auto,stopping in front of each house and reading the name board. the driver would have got scared, thinking we are some burglars...we were moving at a very slow pace..i had been to her home once so the other 2 friends were depending on me...finally i managed to track her house. Next question was how can we pass the coat to her?gate was locked..her parents might be fast asleep..its not right to knock at a gals house at this time of the night...finally decided to ring her up and ask..sheesh...call was not going...stupid network..but somehow we had to convey that we are waiting outside and wat can be done next?..auto driver intervened..sir...any problem..wat are u up to?..we didn reply...
Finally decided to ring her home no..no option we had...she took the phone in 1st ring.."i expected this...my mob has some prob..so i thought u dumbo's will call to land line..so was waiting"...she came to the balcony in 1st floor..she couldn't talk loudly as her parents were sleeping in the next room..so we had to behave like prehistoric men..communicating in signals..i signaled her.."shall i jump the fence and keep the coat next to the door?? "...atleast that was what i meant to convey...she waved her hand..and in fraction of a second i jumped the fence,placed the bag, jumped back and smiled at her feeling proud of my quick action..she just stared with open mouth..she was speechless for sometime..then as if waking up from sleep..she suddenly started waving her hand...i understood the signal..."Dumbo..take the bag out..papa will kill me if he get to know"...and again i had to put my acrobatic skill to action..in few seconds i was back with bag on hand...
the auto driver stood there puzzled...we 3 guys were standing in front of this gals house and she was in balcony communicating to us through signals..."runaway??" this doubt would have raised in his mind for sure
finally we agreed up on one solution..her cousins friend will come and get it from us at bus stand..we were relieved...no more jumping fences or chances of getting caught for burglary...
we got into the auto..."bus stand"..i said....driver smiled and said..."sir...if you wanted to present that gift, you could have brought a rope, tied this to its end and could have easily lift this up to her...if you had told me ..i would have helped you out...i know how important this hour is for you lovers..."...."wat???? lovers?? gift???" we 3 sat in the auto puzzled...suddenly my friend started laughing...and showed us his watch....time was past 12...and date read 14th Feb...sheesh...Valentine's Day...and all of us started laughing...in between our laughter, we somehow managed to convey to the driver what we were intending to do...but he was not to believe it...finally we reached bus stand...and handed over the coat and took our return bus to college...laughing all the way.....