Entries Tagged 'Experiences' ↓

I’ve been playing with a few open source CMSs for my new book. And I am actually surprised! Most of them are just so darn difficult to use! Not only they are jargon filled, but they are also unintuivie!

I am looking at both user side and the admin side.

I think WordPress excels in usability. The design is good, and it’s easy to figure out how things are laid. It follows task-centered approach to design. Which is great.

Joomla is confusing. The action buttons are above the form where you fill in the information. That’s very sad. The content adding interface is overly complicated and difficult for an intermediate user too.

Drupal makes me feel I have landed in wonderland! The taxonomy and nodes tangle me! And where is the WYSIWYG interface? That should be on by default!

What’s been your experience? Which CMS is best in terms of usability?

We work on outsourced software development projects. One of the biggest challenges in that is to communicate effectively. We started having weekly telephone calls with customers to improve project execution. Here are some tips on drastically improving your effectiveness of handling conference calls with customers.

1. Connection: Have the number to call handy. And an alternate number to call in case the first does not work. Understand the timezone difference. Where will the client be when you call? Get connected 2 minutes earlier than scheduled.
2. Accent: Just as our clients have accent, for them, we have an accent. Indians have a variety of accents (per their cultural background) and that makes it even difficult for the client to understand what we say. Speak slowly, make sure each word is clear.
3. Disturbances: If there are disturbances on the line, don’t keep saying “are you there”, “can you hear me”, “i can hear you” etc. Keep going slowly. If you did not understand something because of the disturbance, tell the client “I didn’t get what you said (about …)” and let them answer.
4. Echo: Mute your microphone when you are not speaking. You may be on a speakerphone in a conference and the client may get echo of what he is speaking if you are not on mute. The same may happen to you if the client is on speakerphone. You can request them to mute their line while you are speaking. This will even save you some bandwidth if you are using VoIP.
5. Homework: Be prepared for the conference call. A conference call is a meeting. So be prepared with the agenda, be ready with your status updates or questions.
6. Culture Difference: Be aware of the culture difference. Your client’s expectations and understanding will not be the same as yours. The slang will be different. Some clients will be very demanding, some will be easy. Watch for this and act accordingly.
7. Cutting Long Conversations short: You or the client may keep on talking. Cut this short - unless it’s contributing. If the client is repeating himself, check whether you understood what they said, and if you reiterated that to them. Go ahead, explain the client what you understood. This will most probably reassure them that you got what they wanted to say. When needed, remind the client about the agenda and time limit for the meeting. And get back on track. Tell them you “would love to get to work on what’s been discussed. And will give an update at the end of the day”.
8. Correct Grammar: Speak good English. Incorrect grammar can upset the customer. It will not only make it difficult for your client to understand you, but will also give a bad impression of you. Practice speaking.
9. Greeting and Closing: Greet with a “good evening” (or similar, depending on the client’s time). And close with a “Thank you”. At the end of the meeting, summarize the actions to be taken now, and provide an update on when can the client expect to hear from you.
10. Listening: The most important thing on any call, is to listen to the other person! Listen actively. Repeat what the client says in your head. This will help you understand it. If you don’t understand, say what you did, and request the client to explain the rest. Practice listening! This is one thing that can elevate your performance anywhere!

What do you say about this? Are there any other tips you’ve got? Any experiences you want to share? Feel free to comment!

It’s been more than two weeks that we are back from Uruli Kanchan Nisargopachar Ashram. I wanted to write a lot about it, but have been so busy with work that I haven’t written anything!

Overall, the experience was great. Taught many things about health and fitness. And rejuvenated the mind and body!

Here are the core principles of Naturopathy!

1. All disease, their cause and their treatment are one.
2. The basic cause of disease is not bacteria. Bacteria develops after the accumulation of morbid matter when a favorable atmosphere for their growth develops in body. Basic cause is morbid matter and not the bacteria.
3. Acute diseases are our friends not he enemies. Chronic diseases are the outcome of wrong treatment and suppression of the acute diseases.
4. Nature is the greatest healer. Body the capacity to prevent itself from diseases and regain health if unhealthy.
5. In Naturopathy patient is treated and not the disease.
6. In Naturopathy diagnosis is easily possible. Ostentation is not required. Long waiting for diagnosis is not required for treatment.
7. Patients suffering from chronic ailments are also treated successfully in comparatively less time in Naturopathy.
8. After emerging, suppressed diseases can be cured by Naturopathy.
9. Nature Cure treats physical, mental, social (moral) and spiritual all four aspects at the same time.
10. Nature Cure treats body as a whole instead of giving treatment to each organ separetely.
11. Naturopathy does not use medicines. According to Naturopathy “Food is Medicine”.
12. According to Gandhi Ji “Rama Nama is the best Natural Treatment”, means doing prayer according to one’s spiritual faith is an important part of treatment.

I am in Ahmedabad for three days, working with Ashok and the sales team here on our Q2 strategy. Found Robin Sharma’s Greatness Guide 2, and just opened a page to get the inspiration for the day!

And found something Robin calls the “Mirror Test”. Stand in front of a mirror in the morning. Ask yourself: What is it that you can do today, that will take you to the next level of greatness? Personally and professionally? Think through the action, go through it in your mind. Then go ahead and do it. Be bold.

It’s the daily small improvements you do that will get you to greatness. Discover a new level of greatness everyday, with the mirror test!

I am going to take myself to the next level of greatness by pushing through the sales game we created and inspiring the Ahmedabad team today.

This Valentine’s Day marked the first decade of the Magnet brand! Ritesh, Murphy and I started MagNet as India’s first electronic magazine in February 1998. We launched with a special Valentine’s issue, and even had an ecards sections on the debut website.

The name MagNet meant “Magazine on the Net” - Mag + Net. The name stuck, and the ezine too! We had a big fan following and large subscriber base. Those were the early days of Internet in India. We wrote on technology, interesting websites, interviewed tech celebrities, and even had fun sections on the ezine and the accompanying website.

MagNet ezine, and the other ezines we launched, ran till 2001. MagNet WebPublishing Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in May 1999 to support MagNet ezine and do other commercial activities. Part of the team joined the company.

It was completion of a decade, we decided to meet up! Ritesh, Murphy, Sujeet and I met yesterday evening and caught up! Kapil couldn’t join, and Vaishali is in Australia right now. But we had fun!

Ritesh and Murphy continue to lead Indsoft, their hosting and technology company. They have diversified in a lot of other areas - recruitment to hotel and are having a good time. Sujeet is in the US, working on security. Sujeet is a tech genius and finds immense satisfaction hunting down crackers! I continue to lead Magnet, now as Chairman and Chief Mentor of the organization. Kapil is a brand manager in Mudra now, doing what he loves the most - marketing, strategy and creativity. Vaishali is in Australia now, building rich internet apps with Flash and Flex! Not to forget Bhavin, he generously gave us webspace for free, and is now minting money running Indialinks.

(L to R: Ritesh, Sujeet, Murphy, Nirav)

I took some screenshots of the MagNet website and the stuff we did. Have posted them in the Gallery.

We had a great time making the magazine and running the MagNet Interactive website. I believe those were the founding years that shaped our philosophies and principles. Gave us a solid ground in technology and customer service too!

Thanks to all the contributors to MagNet too - all authors, all readers, all tech guys and all critics!

There are numerous stories of the time! If you were a subscriber, or knew MagNet from then, I invite you to share your experiences!