We’ve been progressing on our journey towards a higher degree of Agile, and the tool that we’ve been using historically is Microsoft TFS (currently upgraded to version 2017 Update 2). We have a multitude of teams that work on the same product, for the same release, but on different projects/features. Sometimes a team will be working on multiple releases (that are at different stages in their life cycle), or a project (if it’s big enough) may involve multiple (Scrum) teams.

TFS, from an Agile perspective, has been challenging to adapt. So with a very large initiative that we have under way, for a multi-team effort, the team took the approach of Area Path=\Project X, with Iteration Paths = \Project X\Sprint Y. Which led to some confusion in that it seems duplicative in that if you want to measure the project burn down, if all work items are under the Project X iteration path, why bother setting and querying off the Area Path as well.

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A group of us at our Teletrac Navman – Pleasanton, CA R&D location spent some time at the Pleasanton Senior Center in conjunction with the Open Heart Kitchen to prep and serve lunch to the elderly. Was great to spend some time and give back to our community, and we got to meet some great folks in the process.

Big thanks to our volunteer team: Irani Muni, Jennimel Ocampo, Jayalalitha Pallatadaka, Deepthi Kendyala, Gopinath Sundharam, George Chemparathy, James Buxton, Esther Howard, Rishabh Nanda, Vadym Strashkin, Vadim Shiryayev, and Tariq Ahmed.

#fortivecares #TeletracNavman

This weekend a bunch of us from #TeletracNavman (a #Fortive company) joined Habitat For Humanity (East Bay Silicon Valley chapter, #HabitatEBSV) for a Build-A-Thon in Fremont, CA.

With a huge turn out of volunteers, we split up into teams building the core housing units, fence line, and a large brick wall. We got assigned to wall duty, and the team was determined to build the best gosh-darn wall ever!

Learned that the houses aren’t giveaways. The owners pay a mortgage and are responsible for it like any other homeowner, but the amount is adjusted to something affordable based on the family’s income. One of the future homeowners who was there helping on the build gave a moving speech on how much this means to him, as well as a few prior recipients who have continued to volunteer on builds.

Habitat did a great job at organizing, keeping everyone energized, well-fed, and well-hydrated. Thanks to all who participated, it was a lot of fun (and now I know how to make mortar/grout/concrete)!

#BuildMore #FortiveCares

Shout out to our team: Paresh Nagda, Claude-Nicolas Fiechter, Rishabh Nanda, Esther Howard, Nathan Todd, James Buxton, Larry Freeman, and Tariq Ahmed (me).