Swine flu hits my Project!!!

This had to come at some point of time. Every day I get umpteen calls from my wife, parents, inlaws - inquiring about my whereabouts (now I know why cricketers are protesting the WADA rules ;-P), instructing me to wear mask, stop going out in public places etc. Their concern is genuine as they see the media frenzy in TV - about how the virus is spreading in Pune. Just yesterday I was discussing with a friend about how parents of outstation people would be feeling concerned about the alarming situation here and in morning one of my team mates dropped the bombshell.

The team mate's parents who stay in MP have asked him to come back home immediately. The person calls me up in morning informing me that he would like to go on leave with effect from today as his parents are very disturbed with the events. Now the project on which resource is already 3 weeks behind schedule and its on critical path currently. The visibility for the project is high within the organization and the stakes are high. I tried reasoning with him that going on leave will not help and try educating your parents about the measures that organization has taken and all. The team mate comes to office in a disheveled shape. He has a mask on and wearing full jacket. He informs me that he tried his best but of no use. The AR also informs me that we cannot stop any resource from going back home in this kind of scenario. My concern was that this will have a cascading effect. But then the resource drops a bombshell. He tells me that he had been feeling feverish since ysday, had slight cold and is on medicine which has been prescribed by the local GP and if the symptoms persists in couple fo days, he asked him to get swine flu test done. As he spoke with me thru his mask - I just held my breath (hey! it's swine flu around!)but then I had to release it ;-) Immediately I asked him to go on leave :-) and rushed in the loo to wash my hands!!! (couldn't believe I did this!..and what made me do this!) Seeing him in that state I could understand why his parents were concerned. I can see similar symptoms ( worried parents tracking their kids) being passed on to other outstation resources in my team. For me & other senior members of the team - it's like a war situation here on Ground Zero. People want to go on leave and we are on acute shortage of resources. Wearing masks they keep working on- regularly attending calls from worried parents.

Which brings me to more important topic - how to ensure business continuity? people who want to take precautionary leave should have the flexibility from working from home. At an organizational level, perhaps trial versions of critical softwares needed for project should be installed in personal desktops/laptops of the resources. Daily checkin/checkouts can be committed through VPN line or the code can be shared on project ftp server and someone in office can commit the same in SVN repository. Importantly, the client also needs to be educated that given the scenario, there might be some impact to the dates of the project.

Close Encounter with Nano: 1st hand review

The other day while coming back from Shirdi, some 20 kms from Pune, a small toy like car zipped past me. I cried in excitement to my wife who was sitting next to me. "Hey, that's Nano"!! The Nano emblem shining brightly on the bonet of the white, bright car, it raced ahead. Suddenly there was excitement on the road. Like me, few others had also spotted the car. Negotiating the traffic, I tried to step up on my speed to catch up with the car. It was nearly dark and the the commercial traffic was high on nagar road so I had to watch out for all the trucks on my side of the road and overtaking them was not that easy. But for Nano it was a different ball game. The car took advantage of its size and criss crossed between trucks to take up pole positions among other cars on the road - something I just couldn't digest. I mean here I was driving a relatively heavy sized big brother Indica Turbo and this new born cousin from the same family zips past me without giving me much maneuvering chance! Finally as the traffic cleared I managed to catch up with the car and got a good look inside. Drove for some 15 kms along with the car, sometimes over taking it from the left, from right, staying ahead, behind - so that I could get detailed look of the car, its exteriors, interiors, etc. The test driver just gave me a smile, probably understanding what I was upto. My observations about the car: 

- It rocks. It's a tiny, exposive device and has a pretty good grip on the road even on speed of 70kms ph (that was my speed while I was trailing the car for some kms) 

- It's size can be advantage for traffic situations where you need to zip through vehicles. 

- The test driver's height must be 5ft 9 inches and his head was not touching the roof - so that way it's good.  

- I could see orange colored illuminated panel - and there was a small green colored small LCD rectagle box glowing in the instrument console panel - probably the tripmeter which might be electronic. 

- the car was driving on high beam on road and I could see that the light was quite strong - so no problems in that department. 

What I didn't like: 

- As many of you might be knowing, the engine in the car is in back side. I could see some part of the exhaust 'hanging' out - just like it's there in some of the petrol rikshaws. 

- Probably the model that i was racing with was low end as the bumper was very basic dull colored greyish plastic one 

- The bumper in this model was not 'shielding' the part of exaust/engine which I could see dangling out. On few bumps, the exaust 'shook' along with few other parts near the rear end. It gave the feeling as if the entire pack has been loosely tied. It would be interesting to see how the car performs in true Indian conditions, where there are many potholes/bumps on the roads. I suspect the car's belly is prone to attacks from sharp stones or big potholes/gravels  as the ground clearance is not that high. 

Overall, still it's a good car. My wifey certainly liked it and said that she would certainly learn how to drive car provided if I book Nano for her! Personally I feel it's a car more suitable for women, eldery people as they would definitely treat the car with kid's glove.