Category: How To

Project Manager – Team Lead – Manager of Development

I have been asked a few times for resources and tips for a new Project Manager, Team Lead, Manager of Development type position.
My tips are a generalization as I can pull out more resources for certain situations.

Tips 
1. Have an open door
2. Don’t tell your team everything that you know. Be selective
3. Be positive in all your dealings
4. Lead by example. Do not ask your team to do anything you would not.
5. Speak clearly
6. If a developer says it will take a week, say two. If a developer says a month, say 6 weeks. Always buffer time.
7. Be real with expectations
8. Be kind, not too strict, but strict enough
9. Careful planning of project details
10. Listen to those above you and below you. You will learn stuff from everyone.
11. You are not the end all be all.
12. Fight for those who deserve it, help those who need it
13. Stay Organized
14. Meet with your team weekly with an agenda, so everyone can be prepared
15. Know what your superiors want from you
16. Know your place
17. Make sure you keep developing
18. Code reviews are a must, even yours ( can be fun for the team )
19. Earn your trust, trust your team
20. Know each team member’s strengths and use them. You cannot be everything to everyone
21. Failure is always an option – learn from each failure and success
22. Reflect on everyone project as there is always something to learn
23. Find a mentor or mentors – they can be good sounding boards

Online Resources 
http://www.fenman.co.uk/activities/training-manual/team-leaders-development.html
http://andrewtokeley.net/archive/2008/05/02/how-to-become-a-development-team-leader.aspx
http://www.atlassian.com/agile/people/teamlead.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_programmer 

Books to Read 
Project Management in a Week By Mark Brown
Survival is Not Enough By Seth Godin
Made in Canada Leadership By Amal; Morissette, Francoise Henein

My Blogs 
http://unlatched.com/blog_What_is_Leadership.aspx
http://unlatched.com/blog_Effective_Listening.aspx
http://unlatched.com/blog_How_a_Senior_can_Help_a_Junior_Developer.aspx
http://unlatched.com/blog_Can_Senior_Developers_Learn_From_Junior_Developers.aspx

Remember: Have fun or you will not like it. Take time off – you need breaks.

Shortcut To Creating Properties in C-Sharp – Revisited

Based on my earlier an post, a I had a question about my technique and if there was a benefit, or could you use MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().Name. Truthfully I did not know the answer until I tried it. I found this new way works, but I also find it is a little tougher to look at style-wise. You need to use stack frames if you nest the routine like I had in my original post.

public class ErrorLogRecord
    {
        public Hashtable _hsh = new Hashtable();

        public DateTime DateOfOccurance
        {
            get { return (DateTime?)_hsh[MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().Name.Replace("set_", "").Replace("get_", "")] ?? DateTime.Now; }
            set { _hsh[MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().Name.Replace("set_", "").Replace("get_", "")] = value; }
        }
        public String ErrorText
        {
            get { return (String)_hsh[MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().Name.Replace("set_", "").Replace("get_", "")]; }
            set { _hsh[MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().Name.Replace("set_", "").Replace("get_", "")] = value; }
        }
    }

Original Referenec Shortcut To Creating Properties in C-Sharp

The Art of Task Delegation

Delegation is a tough skill to master.  Many mangers have trouble delegating tasks to employees because they have trouble giving up control.   A good manager knows their strengths and the amount of work load they can handle without stressing.   A good manager also knows their employees strengths.  Use those strengths to your advantage.  Through the art of delegation, you can harness the skills you don’t have and reduce your stress by reducing your work load.  Delegation of tasks does not mean you are no longer responsible for the task, it only means that you are now managing.  You are still responsible for quality of the work done by the person you delegated the task to.  You still deserve credit for getting the work done, the only difference is you should be sharing the credit with the people who helped you.

Tips for Delegating Work

  • Know everyone’s strengths
  • Follow up with everyone who you delegated work to.   Ensure they are on task and the quality it to your desire.
  • Delegate tasks only to the people you trust.
  • Use a calendar.   Make sure you are following a schedule and that everyone knows the schedule.
  • Make sure everyone has the resources to get the job done. 
  • Provide your knowledge and share your experience.
  • Manage, manage, manage – this doesn’t mean you do the work. 
  • Share the glory, if you get praise, share the praise with those who helped. 

Posting Data From HTML to ASPX

Recently I had a need to have a web site post credentials to another web site.   The first site was standard HTML and the second site was DotNet (ASP.NET).

In this example, we will be passing a user name and password to another site.

Sending Web Site
In your sending website, you will need a log in  panel similar to the one below.

Receiving Web Site
In the form load of your DotNet (ASP.NET) site, you will need the following code to get the values from the request object and then pass to your log in routine.

                NameValueCollection nvc = Request.Form;
                string userName = "";
                string password = "";
                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(nvc["txtUserName"]))
                {
                    userName = nvc["txtUserName"];
                }

                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(nvc["txtPassword"]))
                {
                    password = nvc["txtPassword"];
                }

                ExecuteLogin(userName, password);

Checking Active Process on Sql Server

I have needed to monitor the SQL servers a little more than usual. I am mostly concerned about memory and CPU usage. By properly setting our program names in the SQL connection string, I am able to find the offending applications a little easier. There are times, that I set the application and routine in the connection string when the offending process is not so obvious.

Here is my script that I use to view the offending SQL processes

SQL Query using SysProcess

use master
declare @memlimit as int, @cpulimit as int
set @memlimit = 100 — Memory Filter Limit
set @cpulimit = 200 — CPU Filter Limit
select spid, login_time, last_batch, hostname, program_name, memusage,cpu
from sysprocesses
where ( memusage > @memlimit or cpu > @cpulimit )

Once I have a list of offending processes, I seek and fix the code has the issue. If the process is a closed application like the BlackBerry® Mobile Data Server Connection Service, I check for updates or in rare cases set up a scheduled task to restart the service.

Brother 420CN – Fuzzy Printing

If you have a lack of one (0r more) color do the following:

  • Make sure all carts are full, placed well and are secured. 
  • Insert a new original brother cartridge for the one that shows no color.
  • Press menu then start bk-copy
  • Press four times arrow up quick after another
  • The printer will switch into maintenance mode and all lights will flash.
  • Press 7 then 6 then 4 then start bk-copy.
  • The printer will initialize the cartridges and refresh ink within tubes and print head. After that it does some power cleaning.
  • When finished press 7 then 6 then 3 then start bk-copy.  The printer will run a power purge. 
  • When finished press 9 then 9 to leave the maintenance mode. do run a quality test print.

Repeat until desired results.

updated: 12/1/2013
Newer printers can use the following guide to access the maintenance menu: http://www.refreshcartridges.co.uk/igloo/how-to-the-reset-purge-counter-on-a-brother-printer-with-a-numerical-pad/

Hot Keys

alt-1 – Load help

This week’s code sample is JAVASCRIPT based. It traps a keyup event in a web page that contains this code. The function then goes a step further and looks for the Alt key. Once we have the Alt filtered out we can begin to look for key combinations.

Below the code sample shows traping for numeric keys. The key code is actually an ASCII representation, so therefore you will need to know some common ASCII codes. Our example shows 48, 49, 50 being used. This translates to 1, 2, 3. So in short we are making a routine that will trap the following:

  • Alt-1
  • Alt-2
  • Alt-3

Important Note: Works with IE and FireFox

Try the Alt keys.

function handler(e)
{
	//In NN4, e now holds the keyboard information
	// FOR MSIE4, we can use the event object property
	if ( document.all )
	{
		e = window.event;
	}
	if ( e.altKey )
	{
		switch ( e.keyCode )
		{
			// alt-1
			case 49: put_your_function_here(); break;

			// alt-2
			case 50: break;

			//alt-3 
			case 51: break;
		}
	}
}

document.onkeyup = handler;