Book: The Google Story

Author: David Vise with Mark Malseed

I purchased this book for a mere Rs 100/- in Aundh, Pune. I (like many others) always wanted to know the story of Google's success and how Google actually makes money, while providing everyone online with free services, namely its search engine.

The author has given insights into many interesting events and aspects relating to Google and the Google Guys (founders of Google).

Amongst the first ones is - the Google Guys, right from their college days, pursued excellence. This is how they began to build the world's best search engine. And they never bothered about starting a company or how to make profits, from the search engine. The only thing mattered was to build the 'Search Engine' which would cater to all needs, even if it meant 'downloading the entire internet'. This reminds me of the Hindi movie '3 Idiots', where Aamir Khan's character tries to explain to his fellow mates that while studying (or work) everyone should go for excellence and success will follow. For some, this would be a far-fetched idea. But this is what the Google Guys have done and shown a pragmatic example to the world to see.

Among other things that I admired in the book, is how the Google Guys raised start-up money from friends and investors, but continued to pursue excellence. They never let anyone pressurize them and came up with great way to monetize Google and also retain their holding.

Another very interesting event discussed in the book is the Google work culture. The most I liked was the hiring of a full time chef 'Charlie Syers', whose job was to provide great food for the employees of Google. Hence the employees never had to worry about such things, but would only concentrate on their work. With the kind of culture Google created, such as, focus on innovation, providing food, to university like environment, Google must be the dream company to work with.
Frequently, from my own personal experience, I have found that the company's work culture affects the productivity of the employees. And maintaining a good and conducive work culture goes in benefiting the company in the long run.

Some interesting events penned down are how the Google's IPO, deals and competition with Yahoo, Microsoft, problem in China and several objections, litigation, etc were handled. Also new ideas such as digitizing entire books, genetics research, etc are in progress. It really takes courage to go through these things.

Finally, I found few Indian names mentioned in the book and their important contributions. Not just in Google, but the service that they have provided to the world via Google is laudable. (Google News is created by Krishna Bharat.)

Overall a great book to read and has definitely become one of my favorite books.

Entrepreneurs

Good link for start-up companies and entrepreneurs: http://sprouter.com/

O'Reilly's E-books

This link provides lot of O'Reilly e-books on Perl, Php, Java, Unix, etc

http://docstore.mik.ua/orelly/

Book: Rich Dad Poor Dad

Author: Robert Kiyosaki with Sharon Lechter

This book is an eye opener. The author rightly states that in schools/colleges, students learn and acquire and study a skill, so that they can work later on and earn money. What is NOT taught is how to utilize that money. Hence many times, we all come across people who get lot of money in a short while, but again end up becoming bankrupt. Whereas some people, in spite of not having a lot of money, go on to become millionaires. Here is where financial knowledge comes into picture. Hence the author tries to emphasize on developing each one's financial intelligence.

Important things that I learnt from this book are -

• Understanding the difference between assets and liability
• Understanding one's cash flow pattern
• Understanding the different income types

The author has invented a game called CashFlow. The game is similar to Monopoly. But tries to teach how to get out of the daily 'rat race'. I found a great animation of the game on the internet http://cashflow.vo.llnwd.net/o16/cashflow3.swf

Government of India Offices links

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How to plan for the coming new year - by Robin Sharma

Step #1: Evaluate 2009. Do a written story recording what went well this past year and, even more importantly, what areas you could improve on. Also list all your wins and as many high points as you can recall. Get a clear picture of how you showed up.

Step #2: Set Your Theme. Come up with a theme for 2010. It may be "The Year of Financial Freedom" or "The Year of Work Excellence" or "The Year of Fearlessness". But get a theme into a document you can start reviewing every week.

Step #3: Create a Mission. The next step is to develop a one paragraph mission statement and put it into this document. Clarity precedes mastery so the more clear your ultimate mountaintop for 2010 is, the greater your focus will be. And the most positive results you'll see.

Step #4: List Your Big 5. OK, now ask yourself this powerful self-coaching question: "What 5 things need to happen between now and December 31, 2010 for this to have been the single most successful year of my life to date?" Write down those five goals as simply and clearly as possible into this document.

Step #5: Sequence Your Big 5. Now break your Big 5 down into quarterly goals. Set 5 core goals for the first/second/third and fourth quarters of 2010 to ensure you nail your Big 5. Review these every week. Reflect on them everyday if you really want to win. Make these strategic objectives the sole focus of your life.

Step #6: Refocus Every Morning. Life's job is to distract you. Your job is to stay staggeringly focused on what's most important. Take 15 minutes during your morning resetting period to reflect on your goals, to envision your best moves and to track out a day that's productive, passionate and fun.

Step #7: Get Devoted to Learning. The #1 skill of super successful people is that they are relentless learners. While others are wasting time on low-value websites or watching mindless reality tv shows, they are listening to audio programs, studying books on leadership and success and basically creating a rich, beautiful and meaningful life. As you journey through each day of 2010, make the time to fuel your brain with ideas on excellence and creating your absolute best. Nothing's more important than that. And please remember that all it takes is a single idea to transform the way you lead and how you live.

Health Tips

My Ayurvedic Doctor has given me the following health tips -

1. Milk and Fruits should never be consumed at the same time.
2. Milk and Fish should never be consumed at the same time. For both (1 and 2), the interval between consumption of the two should be at least one and half hour.
3. Dahi or Yoghurt should never be heated.
4. Hot Oil (Oils that are hot in nature example mohari) should never be applied to the head/ head hair.
5. In case of gases, kadha of Dhaney (1 spoon) + Badishoop (1 spoon) + little bit of suntha should be made. Take 2 cups of water + above contents and heat it till it becomes 1 cup. Suntha should be added only in winter.
6. When feeling low mentally, drink gold kadha, add a pure gold ring ( no gemstones, etc) to water (4 cups). Heat it till it becomes 1 cup.

How to select good share for buying

How to select good share for buying.

The Parameters

1. Ploughback/Reserves : Looking to buy stocks but worried about how to select them? Are you confused by the various pearls of investment wisdom bestowed upon you by stock market analysts? Well, its time to get a grip on some fundas, which can be a good launch pad to learn your way around stocks. You could start out by understanding the ratios described in this article to come out a winner in stock selection in the long run. Every year, the company divides its net profit (profit left after subtracting various expenses including taxes) in two portions: ploughback and dividends. While dividends are handed out to the shareholders, ploughback is kept by the company for its future use and is included in its reserves.

Ploughback is essential because besides boosting the company's reserves, it is a source of funds for the company's expansion plans. Hence if you are looking for a company with good growth prospects, check its ploughback figures. Reserves are also known as shareholders' funds, since they belong to the shareholders. If a company's reserves are twice its equity capital, it can reward its shareholders with a generous bonus. Also, any increase in reserves will push up the share price.

2. Book Value Per Share: This ratio shows the worth of each share of a company as per the company's accounting books. It is calculated as: Book Value per share = Shareholders' funds/Total quantity of equity shares issued

Shareholders' funds can be computed by subtracting the total liabilities (money owed to creditors) of the company from its total assets. It can also be calculated by adding the equity capital to the company's reserves. Book value is an old record that uses the original purchase prices of the assets.

However it doesn't show the present market price of the company's assets. As a result, this ratio has a restricted use when it comes to estimating the market price of the shares, but can give you an estimate of the minimum price of the company's shares. It will also help you judge if the share price is overpriced or under-priced.

3. Earnings Per Share (EPS): One of the most popular investment ratios, it can be computed as: Earnings Per Share (EPS) = Profit Post Tax/Total quantity of equity shares issued This ratio computes the company's earnings on a per share basis. E.g. you own 100 shares of ABC Co, each having a face value of Rs 10. Assume the earnings per share is Rs 10 and the dividend declared is 30%, or Rs 3 per share. This implies that on every share of ABC Co, you earn Rs 6 each year, but you actually get Rs 3 via dividend. The balance of Rs 4 per share goes into the ploughback (retained earnings). Had you purchased these shares at par, it implies a return of 60%.This example shows that instead of looking at the dividends received from to company as the base of investment returns, always look at earnings per share, as it is the actual indicator of the returns earned by your shares.

4. Price Earnings Ratio (P/E): This ratio highlights the connection between the market price of a share and its EPS. Price/Earnings Ratio (P/E) = Price of the share/Earnings per share. It shows the degree to which earnings of a share are protected by its price. E.g. if the P/E is 40, it means the share price is 40 times its earnings. So if the company's EPS is constant, it will need about 40 years to make up for the purchase price of the share, after taking into account the dividends and the capital appreciation. Hence low P/E means you will recover your money quickly.

P/E ratio shows what the market thinks about the earnings potential and future business forecast of a company. Companies with high P/E ratios are the darlings of the investors and thus enjoy a higher market rating. In order to use the P/E ratio properly, take into account the future earnings and growth projections of the company. If the current P/E ratio is low, as against the future prospects of a company, then the shares make an attractive investment option. But if the company is saddled with losses and falling sales, stay away from it, despite the low P/E ratio.

5. Dividend & Yield: Dividend is the portion of the profit that is distributed amongst shareholders. Companies offering high dividends, normally don't have much of growth to talk about. This is because the ploughback required to finance future development is insufficient. Similarly, those companies in high growth sector don't give any dividend. Instead here they give sharp capital appreciation, which ultimately will lead to higher dividends. So it makes much more sense to invest for capital appreciation instead of dividends. Rather it makes more sense to invest for yield, which is nothing but the association between the dividends and the market price of the shares. Yield (dividend yield) can be calculated as: Yield = (Dividend per share/market price of a share) x 100

Yield shows the returns in percentage that you can expect via dividends earned by your investment at the current market price. It is more useful than simply focusing on the dividends.

6. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE):

ROCE is the ratio that is calculated as - Operating profit/capital employed (net value + debt)

To get operating profit, add old taxes paid, depreciation, special one-off expenses, and special one-off income and miscellaneous income to get the net profit.

The operating profit is a far better indicator of the profits earned by the company instead of the net profit. Hence this ratio is the better indicator of the general performance of the company and the company's operational efficiency.

It is one of the most useful ratio that lets you compare amongst the companies.

7. Return on Net Worth (RONW):

RONW is calculated as RONW = Net Profit/Net Worth

This ratio gives you an idea of the returns generated by investing in the company. While ROCE is an effective measure to get a general overview of the profitability of the company's business operations, RONW lets you gauge the returns you can earn on your investment. When used along with ROCE, you get an overview of the company's competence, financial standing and its capacity to generate returns on shareholders' finances and capital employed.

8. PEG RATIO: PEG is an essential and extensively used ratio for calculating the inbuilt worth of a share. It helps you decide whether the share is under-priced, totally priced or overpriced. To derive the ratio, you have to associate the P/E ratio with the expected growth rate of the company. It assumes that higher the growth rate of the company, higher the P/E ratio of the company's shares. Vice versa also holds true.

PEG = P/E/expected growth rate of the EPS of the company. In general, a PEG lesser than 0.5 is a lucrative investment opportunity. However if the PEG exceeds 1.5, it is time to sell. These are some of the most critical ratios that must be considered when purchasing a share. Read up extensively on the financial performance of the company you choose to invest in, it will be a huge help in arriving at your final decsion.

Source: BankBazaar.com

Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Author: Stephen Covey

This is among the best self help books available. As I read many books, I tend to classify them into 4 categories -

• Books that are less interesting and also have less content value - not much worth learning
• Books such as some story books which are interesting but don't teach a lot
• Books that are interesting and also provide a lot of value - teach lot of good stuff
• Books that may seem not that interesting but have huge value. They teach a lot. For instance, during school days, one feels that some subjects are interesting, but some are not. But still they must be learnt, because they have high content value. They teach a lot. I call these books - study books

This book is a study book in self - help. Some parts may feel less interesting, but the content in the book is extremely useful. In many things, it changes the paradigms of the person.

Among the most useful content that I found was

• Concept of interdependent people
• Synergy
• Win/Win solutions
• Planning based on weekly basis
• Quadrant II lifestyle

To know more, read the book - just wonderful.

How to do things -- Links

http://www.ehow.com/ --- How To Do Just About Everything

http://www.indiahowto.com/ ---- how to (Local website - related to India)

Book: The Alchemist

Author: Paulo Coelho

This is one of the best books I have read so far. This book is about a young boy who goes about pursuing his dreams. He follows his dream to become a shepherd. He further dreams of a treasure and gathers up the courage to follow that dream. He learns many many things in the process. A wonderful fable that teaches as it delights. The book teaches us to get out of the comfort zone. And to understand the Language of the World.

This quote is widely used in the book - "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it".

In the SRK Hindi movie, Om Shanti Om, this quote was translated and widely used.

The ending is especially for anyone who wants to pursue his dreams, but may be thinking of the pros and cons and eventually decides not go ahead.

Exit Interviews

This is another good article from mindtools.com

Exit Interviews

Getting Feedback from Departing Staff

Do you want to know what is really going on in your organization? Then talk to people who are leaving. Departing employees may leave for very good reasons, and learning what these are can help you improve your company's performance. All you need to do is find out what these reasons are!

The information collected in an exit interview can give you a unique perspective on how satisfied your people are, as well as on the performance of your organization. People tend to be brutally honest about their experiences in an exit interview – they no longer have to please their bosses, and they have little to fear by being honest. Because of this, the feedback you get from exit interviews can be very useful for identifying problems with operations, performance and staff retention.

Your exit interviews may reveal a common theme. You can then focus on this and turn it into a catalyst for change. Perhaps your salary and benefits package is not generous enough? Maybe your promotional opportunities are too limited? Or perhaps you might hear consistent complaints about a certain manager, and decide to investigate the issue yourself. If you aren't conducting exit interviews you're missing out on some really great information!

Video lectures from IIT -

http://www.nptel.iitm.ac.in/index.php

Logos

Link of different logos of different websites such as Google, etc - http://www.allmyfaves.com/

Dr B R Ambedkar books

Huge list of books and resources of the great 'Dr B R Amberkar'

http://drambedkarbooks.wordpress.com/dr-b-r-ambedkar-books/

Software Engineering Resuorces

Huge list of links for software engineering,  software process improvement, SPIN, ISO 9001, etc.

http://www.tantara.ab.ca/info.htm#extrainf

Manual installation of Php 5.2

I was trying to install Php 5.2. But I faced several problems while doing so. My OS is Windows XP. Php website is http://php.net/. I downloaded the windows installer. But it was quitting abruptly. Then I had to switch to manual installation. A comprehensive document is already provided on this linkhttp://www.php.net/manual/en/install.windows.manual.php. But I extracted the main points from the manual so that installation will be easier for me, if needed again. The steps also include configuring IIS.

Following are the steps:

1. Download the zip file (windows binaries) from http://www.php.net/downloads.php
2. Extract the zip file to C:\php
3. By default there are 2 .ini files - php.ini-dist and php.ini-recommended. Use php.ini-recommended and rename it to php.ini. Set the necessary settings required for the application to be built in php.ini. Copy php.ini from C:\php to C:\Winnt.
4. Copy php5isapi.dll from C:\php to C:\Winnt\system32
5. Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Internet Services Manager
6. In ISM, select 'Default Website' Properties. Go to ISAPI Filter tab. 'Add' new filter. Filter Name -> php and Executable -> C:\php\php5isapi.dll
7. In ISM, Select 'Home Directory' tab. Press 'Configuration' button. Add ext -> php and executable -> C:\php\php5isapi.dll
8. Restart IIS service
9. Test php installation.

Book: The monk who sold his ferrari

Author: Robin Sharma

I had heard a lot of about this book. Several times I had searched in the library, but it had already been issued by other people. Fortunately I got it this time. My expectations were very high from this book. And this book surpassed all my expectations. Hats off to the author!!!!

This is probably among the best self-management books that I have read so far. Lot of timeless and priceless secrets are shared in this book. Well many self-improvement books have them. So what is special in this book. In addition to the explanation of the secrets, techniques are given how to actually implement them in daily life. This is practical stuff. Many things are new and I had definitely not heard/read them before. And since all of this is written in the form of a fable, it is more interesting.

This is a book worth reading by everyone especially, working people. When I mention this book to anyone, they have heard about it. They know it is a self-management book. But have not found time to read it. My humble suggestion to such people is to take some time from their busy schedule and read this book. It is only 200 pages!

Finally, Robin Sharma has created his own social networking type of website called http://www.successnation.com

Project planning - risk management links

Software Program Managers Network: http://www.spmn.com/

Info of risks on Software Engineering Institue: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/risk/risk.faq.html

Risks Digest: http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks

Earned Value Analysis: http://www.acq.osd.mil/pm/

Make the Most of the 'Present' which is Now

Make the Most of the “Present” Which is Now - by Pushpa Sreenivasan

via Oracle Corporation Recruitment Blog by david.talamelli on 2/22/09

When you look around, you notice the usual buzz of high-pressure work has diluted. With it we are gifted with abundance of time. Though it’s a gift that we have received in abundance, a lot of us don’t seem to have realised so. Here are some simple tid-bits about how we can make the most of the present, which is “now”:

1) Increase your Network: While I was attending a conference titled women 2:0, the senior speaker was mentioning how she also networked with various people within her organisation despite her hectic schedule. She would fix lunch sessions with different people everyday. I know, lunchtime is precious for you to relax and don’t want to include business. Why not mix business with pleasure? Its not everyday you go and have lunch with unknown people. Consider doing it once a week. Fix up to have lunch with a colleague from a different team. Think about the gain in return. Firstly, you get to know your colleague better and you never know you may just discover you and him share passion for a same thing. Secondly, you are not going out of your way spending your time to do this but utilising your lunchtime. Thirdly, you build your network. Fourthly, you are taking a first step to come out of your comfort zone and making an attempt to feel comfortable with strangers. Try it and see the results.

2) Develep hobbies: Each one of us is gifted with 24 hours of time every single day. When you look around, you find how some people are multiskilled while some are not. Sometime back, this is what our VP Jan had to say in one of his meetings with the team. He insisted we pick up one hobby every year and excel in that. Just imagine the number of skills we would have picked up after 10 years. It is going to be astonoshing imagine 10 new skills apart from climbing your regular career ladder. For this to happen, you have to devote at least 30 minutes to 1 hr every day religiously from your schedule. Are you saying, “Where is the time”. Save time and invest in these hobbies. This surely will take you a long way.

3) Multitask: Another best way to increase your productivity at work or at home is by multitasking. It’s an art that you can gain expertise with lot of practice. Look for various things around you that can help you multitask. Lets say you have sent a document for a print out and the printer is 20 meters away from your desk. Combine this with a micro break from your work, to network with a colleague on the way and pick up your print out. You have done 3 things at a time than doing 3 things individually.

4) Reskill: “If you want what you never had, do something that you have never done” so goes a saying. In order to reach more heights in your life, make skills development as your religion. Along with your regular work, enroll to a course, which will add another degree to your career but also gives multidimension to your life. This way, your primary goal of climbing your career ladder is taken care of. Also you will achieve your secondary goals of adding more degrees. At the end of it all, you are more skilled than people around.

5) Productivity: If you want to know how productive you were at your work, take a look at your activities on a day-to-day basis. Though your productive hours at your work need to be 9 hours, we all know we are not putting in all 9 hours. There is some wastage time in the process. Considering all that, your productive hours at work will be anywhere between 5-6 hrs only. You need to fill in as many activities as possible in these 5-6 hours. Make the most of 5-6 hours to get all that you want out of 9 hours.

6) Avoid time stealers: They say, “Time is like a coin. Don’t allow somebody else spend your penny”. What I mean by this is, don’t allow somebody else spend your time. These could be unwanted emails, interruptions for calls, invitation for casual conversations or any of these sorts. Find out what is stealing your time and put a full stop to it and save it for yourself. Make your own judgement to say “no” for any stealers.

7) Use calendar: One of the very best ways to save time and make the most of it is, use the calendar. It not only works like your personal organiser, but also helps you plan your day. One of my colleage uses the calendar diligently. At the end of every week, when he looks at his calendar he knows very well what he did best, where he erred and what has to be the scope of improvement for the coming week. On the day he takes off, he strikes the sheet. This I think is the first step to becoming great in your own life.

8) Discipline: Consider this. You want to take a break from work and walk into the cafeteria. It is up to you if you want to spend an hour there or stick to 10 minutes break. Discipline goes a long way in shaping your outlook towards time. That’s why it is said “invest time and not spend. Investment leads to returns”. Discipline your usage of time and invest it in various other streams to see the returns.

9) Read one article per day and use it: Develop this brilliant habit of reading one article per day apart from your regular dose of newspapers and books. Subscribe to articles that are widely available on the net free of cost and read them atleast one per day. The insight that is gained through these is unmatchable to any learning that you get.

The author of this article has been with the Oracle India Recruitment Team for the past three years and can be contacted at pushpalatha.sreenivasan@oracle.com