Scrum Transformation: How Transparency Is Offered

I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine over "transparency" and the effect of Social Media. It amazes me how the new generation so easily communicate their day to day activities and how they feel with no fear. With the help of technology they are a generation of openness.

Yet organizations have not caught on to this. To transition to scrum you need a dedication and commitment to transparency. It is not only one of the five scrum values, it is crucial to the success of any transformation. With openness there is trust. Without trust your project is doomed to chaos and potentially fail. In scrum, transparency is offered through the scrum ceremonies. Let's walk through these.

Sprint Planning:

In sprint planning the team and product owner work together in determining what work will get pulled into the sprint. The team should openly communicate when a story is too large or not ready to pull into the sprint. Design approach is established, tasks are openly defined. The team communicates what they plan to deliver. They also communicate what criteria defines done for them.

Daily Stand Up:

The stand up is yet another opportunity for transparency. It is all about sharing information and identifying dependencies. The team should discuss how and what they plan on doing that day. This is all about communicating the plan of the day and what blockers or impediments the team has crossed. The power of the stand up is often under estimated. Many new teams feel it is unnecessary, not really understanding the value it offers.

Demo (Review):

The demo is held at the end of each sprint and facilitated by the product owner or scrum master. It is all about showing the product owner, stakeholders, and or sponsors the work that was completed. The team shares the work that was committed, the challenges over come and listens for feed back. Sponsors, stakeholders, and or product owners provide open feed back to the team. It is important to understand this ceremony is an exchange, and not an opportunity to thrash the team or hide behind requirements. It should have a cooperative and friendly feel.

Retrospective:

The retrospective is an opportunity for the team to openly discuss what went wrong, and how they can improve. It is a tool to review and improve the dynamics and processes of the team. This is another ceremony not used properly and sometimes not performed. If used correctly it should motivate and help solidify the team.

By Leonor Urena

Understanding Shopify and How to Get the Most of It

Starting a small business is one of the best things that you can always do. Being an entrepreneur requires one to always think outside the box and come with solutions that are really good. Entrepreneurship is a very dynamic process that changes rapidly. For instance, starting good business years ago is very different from starting a business today. The biggest factor that has challenged this process is that of technology. Today, for a business to do really well, it is very important for the entrepreneur to think of the best way to incorporate technology into it. Failure to do this will lead the business being outdone by the vicious competitors. Therefore, this article explains a few details about Shopify and how to get the most out of it.

Shopify is a dynamic web application that allows a person to come up with a good web store that he can sell anything imaginable, from goods to services. For one to effectively use Shopify, there is no need to be technical but a lot of interest in trying to discover new things. The good thing is that you do not need to shut down your brick and mortar business model to incorporate Shopify and e-commerce into it. You can still decide to use the two models and creates a better company.

There are many advantages for using Shopify for e-commerce. One, using Shopify for e-commerce is cheap and affordable. Any business can afford to get the services of Shopify. This is simply because the charges go from less than $40 per month . As such, anyone can afford this service. You should note that in the past, e-commerce website designs used to cost a lot of money such that many entrepreneurs were locked out of the industry. Secondly, using Shopify is very easy. All you need is to create an account, get a theme and place in your items. The shopping cart has been designed and all you will have to do is to put your specific details for payment. In addition, thousands of e-commerce stores are now using Shopify as their base platform. The ratings from these firms are very impressive.

To implement a good Shopify strategy, it is very important for one to get a good designer who has been in the industry for a long time. The benefit of this is that when you have an expert, various things are bound to happen. For instance with a good Shopify web designer you will be at a better chance to get a custom designed theme which goes in line with your company's theme. In addition, when you have a good Shopify designer, search engine optimization will be enhanced. As such, it will be very possible for you to rank very high in the search engines. This will have two important benefits to your company. One, you will increase the margins of the business by reducing the cost of marketing. You will also be available to many people without any payment. This will reduce the customer acquisition cost.

By Annie Mishra 

Technology: A Bad Servant or Good Master?

It is indeed well known that technology has been a good servant in that it has made many contributions. Advances in healthcare, education, crime detection, greater business efficiency, improved communications, life enrichment, saved time, and given us the opportunity to have fun such as that involving the personal computer...

However (and it's a very big however), technology has also been described as a bad master for a number of disturbing reasons. So fasten your safety belts folks it's going to get bumpy; here's an overview of those disturbing reasons.

Surveillance and the police state

Following the revelations of Edward Snowden and the extent to which we are under surveillance, it confirms that like a runaway train heading for dystopia we have gone beyond the point of no return: Phone hacking, Global Positioning Satellites (GPS), smart meters of sorts, CCTV cameras (1 for every 11 people in the UK), online chat media monitoring, face recognition technology, plans for cashless societies, cars where there will be no drivers... every brave new world gadget and gismo unwittingly ensnares us.

-Every communication device is spied on. No whisper undetected...

And it doesn't end there. The human micro-chipping agenda continues developing. Then there are plans to have cars fitted with black boxes and V2 transmitters designed to record and track performance data: Monitoring speed, location, direction, gear box and break usage, driver or passenger ID.

Ford motor cars Vice President Jim Farley confessed in so many words that we are already aware of who breaks the law when and how, all this because of the GPS in your car.

Don't fall for the effrontery that these things are only there for your own safety and if you are a law abiding citizen then there's nothing to worry about...

-This glib Orwellian doublespeak belies the fact that the elite hidden powers that be with their enslavement agenda know that they're going to make some pretty darn unpopular decisions and the surveillance and control is there to deal with the anticipated backlash from those 'troublesome people.' You will not have any privacy in the Imperial government Big Brother state.

Drones

Operated by someone sat at a computer, unmanned drones will soon occupy the skies in numbers. Like something out of the Spielberg sci-fi film "Minority Report" they will have the ability to detect body movements day or night, see through walls, recognize faces, take over or spy on emails, text messages and web surfing habits...

The war machine

Armed military drones have been used to seek out and kill the enemy. What you're not told in mainstream media is that reports have come through from medics that the damage done by these drones can mean something like 30% of the deaths or serious injuries were innocent men, women and children.

Electromagnetic Frequencies (EMF's)

Vested commercial interest has tried its hardest to keep the lid on the fact that low frequency electromagnetic radiation such as that produced from cell phones and Wi-Fi can lead to some serious health problems such as depression and cancer. Evidence for this includes "The 2012 Bio-initiative Report" documenting 1000's of pages where ill health has resulted from overuse...

Killing social behaviour

It has been said that technology is killing social behaviour through real human interaction getting substituted for too many communications by emails, text messages and social media websites. Indeed, the latter does not have the qualities of the former so loneliness and for some withdrawn behaviour sets in...

Distraction

Technology has served to distract the masses. Instead of realizing the woes of the world then getting up and doing something that makes a difference many have got lost in endless distraction like those people for example addicted to computer games. Some have formed an inability to focus through too much technology usage.

The hidden powers that be know this and it's been one of their secret weapons.

Dependency

Perhaps the greatest pandemonium for the world could be if some kind of planetary situation happened that would cause the electronics to go down...

To sound off

What's needed is for more people to wake up and realize that technology is used to enslave us. Those aware need to spread the word en masse. As a result more and more awakened individuals will turn away from bad master technology then through their inner being create thoughts, feelings, emotions, meditation, affirmations and prayers... that will produce a different outcome to the one planned by the hidden powers that be.

A real intention to want to make this happen must not be underestimated. To 'spread the word' and do one's 'inner work' are the crucial ingredients needed to create a different reality that will take us into a new paradigm experience based on love, peace and light.

By Paul A Philips

The Best Bluetooth Handset for Home

The Bluetooth handset for home is gradually becoming as omnipresent as the Bluetooth mobile phone. They naturally complement each other in terms of cost efficiency and convenience, especially when using the telephone services. In the near future, as the technology continues to advance further, every cordless phone is expected to become Bluetooth cordless phone. This will allow for automatic pairing with Smartphones and cell phones the moment you enter your home.

Just as the Smartphone industry is currently experiencing a lot of competition as a result of new companies joining in, so is this industry likely to face the same in the coming years, as more companies are beginning to take an interest in the growing market. Having taken over the world of mobile and personal communication, Bluetooth technology is about to become a benchmark feature of small office and home phone system.

Currently, there are more than 3 excellent Bluetooth handsets in the market. Vtech, Panasonic, and Siemens Companies are the industry leaders. Of the three, Vtech offers the best Bluetooth handset for home with a stylish Bluetooth handset that constantly and reliably pair with a wide variety of mobile handsets. However, Panasonic has launched a vicious competitor that is receiving a lot of impressive reviews; the Panasonic KX-TG6583T.

When you arrive at home, your mobile handset automatically pairs with the cordless phone system. You may choose to leave them in the charging cradle or on a desktop provided that they do not surpass the Bluetooth range, which is about 30 ft from your base station. After they pair, it becomes possible for you to answer or make mobile phone calls via the cordless handsets.

The advantages of Bluetooth handset for home

As mentioned above, by pairing with mobile phones and other related gadgets such as earpieces and headsets, the cordless phone hinders or even eliminates the many variances between the Bluetooth phone and cell phone. For instance, upon entering your office or arriving at home, they pair automatically with your Bluetooth handset. This way they allow you to use the cordless phones to answer or make cell phone calls.

It allows you to answer mobile phone calls from any of the various cordless handsets situated in your entire apartment or house.

Generally, they are more comfortable to use compared to cell phones. Most people prefer relaxing and taking pleasure in leisurely phone conversations once at home, instead of dealing with a mobile phone.

Apart from increasing convenience and comfort, Bluetooth handsets for home and cell phones are in fact very complimentary. Together they prevail over various issues, such as dead zones or weak receptions within your home and excessive exposure to mobile phone radiation.

By allowing you to make mobile phone calls from a standard cordless phone, it becomes more opportune to use free mobile phone minutes. In fact, most users prefer to have their landline services disconnected and answer/make all calls using cellular networks. They way they are able to achieve profits within a short period.

Usually, they are either DECT Bluetooth phones or 5.8 phones. The former are immune to interruptions from WiFi, and offer extended talk-time and an excellent handset range. Depending on the model and design of your device, you can pair at least 2 mobiles and use their services to make external calls from any cordless handset closest to you. This is even more compelling for those with mobile phone plans that offer free talk time.

By Sharmistha Chanda

How Firms Can Participate In Ensuring a Free and Fair Market

As the world becomes a business hub, firms are making transactions globally. There is a tremendous increase in trade transactions all over the world. The financial exchange market has transformed over the years with the use of technology to ease the way of doing business. Beneath this increased profitability, it is becoming imperative for trade surveillance system to be enhanced to deal with any eventualities. The organization needs to empower and give the capacity to oversight department to monitor the trades through regulations and the abusive use of technology. Some of the ways the organization can increase the effective trade market surveillance in order to curb unfair trade practices using market abuse technology are listed below.

- With tough laws and regulations, the organizations need to ensure that employees conduct pre -trade market surveillance to ensure that transactions are conducted within the law to prevent any breach of policies that may occur in the process. This will boost investor trust leading to business profitability.

- With the post - surveillance, it monitors the transactions already conducted in companies to ensure they were done correctly following the laid down rules and regulation. This creates a market that is controlled and guiding principles are followed to the latter.

- Business is created with the core mandate of making profit, with an effective market security system installed in the organization structure; the company can know the strength and weakness which need to be addressed for effective market observation in the business trading.

- A good detection will enable a host company to notice any rogue under-dealings and manipulations of activities happening during trading activities.

- The business, through the use of advanced technology, can install a system with a standardized threshold which will be triggered whenever a rogue activity is undertaken in the organization.
- Management should frequently and timely analyse trade activities, reports and monitor the trading patterns to be able to know what is being undertaken by the employees of the organization. The behaviour of the workers should be monitored.

- Investigate, analyse and resolve promptly the cancelled trades in good time to keep the reputation of the organization intact.

- Before traders are able to invest their money, the organization should ensure that the investor has the needed amount which reaches the threshold, and it does not surpass the trading limit. This will make sure that the client does not pay less or more during the trade process.

In conclusion, it is important that the organization managers enlighten the workers about the benefits of using market abuse technology to increase trade surveillance and at the same time the firm should motivate employees to be able to reduce cases of abuse of technology during trade activities.

By Pankaj Pk Sharma

Are You Being Tracked?

The answer to that question is yes. If you use a computer or a cell phone you are being tracked. For this article when I say "tracked" I mean your internet surfing habits, what site you visit, how long you stay on that site and what pages you look at and if you make a purchase. I will discuss location tracking in another article.

All of the major search engines track your movements on the internet. Some do this directly and some will contract with third party companies that specialize in internet tracking. Did you ever wonder why you just received an email from an on-line merchant offering you a deal on a pair of shorts, when yesterday you were on-line looking at a different site for a pair of shorts? Or maybe a deal on a pair of shoes or shirt that will go with those shorts. Without getting too technical, the tracking companies track your habits, then they sell that information to the search companies that will generate advertising that you will get either by email or the next time you are on the web you will see that ad for shorts.

So can you stop the search engines from tracking you? I think the short answer is NO, you can't stop all tracking. But you can do things that will dramatically cut down the tracking.

To stop companies and search engines from tracking, you can try either of the below companies:

• Ghostery - Their web site says that they will educate you as to who is tracking you, then you can make the decision to stop them or not.
• Abine's Do Not Track Me - They say that will stop all known trackers and show you who they are. They also have another program that will mask your email.

Most tracking happens when you use search engines to search for something. To stop that tracking try these search engines:

• DuckDuckGo - This search engine will not track or log any of your internet searches, they use a proxy that gathers search results from multiple search engines then displays them to you.
• Ixquick - This also is a non-tracking search engine who will not track or log your web searching.

Big internet Companies like Google®, Yahoo® and Microsoft® have to make money to stay in business so that they can provide you with a rich internet experience and help you find what you are looking for. Selling ads is one way they do this.

By George Uliano

How to Decide If Scribe Is Right for You

When it's time to buy software for your company, you need to do the research. Regardless of whether you have one office or a hundred, you don't want to roll something out only to find out that it is not right. This means you have to figure out whether the various programs are going to be beneficial. Scribe is a great program that is designed for data migration and data integration. To ensure it is right for you, there are some ways to go about this.

One of the first things that you need to do is schedule a demonstration with a software provider. This ensures you get to see how the software works in person. While there may be websites where you can see a quick video or some screenshots, this only shows you what a company wants you to see. It is more advantageous to get into the program on your own to see how it works and what it is capable of.

During the demo, you can ask a lot of questions to find out how easy it will be to perform various tasks. You may want to find out how easy it is for Scribe to convert from one format to another - and the demonstrator can show you on the spot so you walk away from the demo with all of your questions answered.

You need to be honest about what features you desire out of your software. This means you should familiarize yourself with all of the potential features available and then check to see which ones are relevant to your company. You can then ensure you buy the right software without the need to upgrade a few years down the road.

Compare Scribe to some of the other programs that are out there as well. No matter how you feel about the software and how much you think it will change the way you run your business, it's important to make some comparisons. This will allow you to gain confidence with your decision knowing that you have already looked into the other ones out there.

It is also a good idea to invite others that you work with to check out the program. They may find flaws in a program that you don't. Remember that you are not the only one working with it, so it is important that everyone is on board with rolling out new software. Since everyone will be using it, it will only be fair to involve a few different departments in the decision.

Cost and features are going to be the main items to focus on. If you can afford Scribe and it has all the features you need, proceed. Before you buy from just anyone, be sure they will provide you with the support you need during the rollout phase as well as whenever you have a question. This will ensure you get the best software for your company - and you know who to turn to when there are issues.

Houston-based CRMatic allows you to take control of your customers with a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software system! CRMatic is Houston's premier CRM software provider because we offer a wide variety of CRM software solutions and provide the necessary consulting services to customize any system to match the way your company does business.

By Jeff Weigang