100 days to 2012

At the beginning of 2011, I posted about my goals for 2011 here. I was very eager to complete the year on a high and make this the best year. There was enough planning. As it often happens with me, I was able to successfully meet some of the goals. I started working towards some goals and I added few more *NEW* goals and pursued them.

Today, I look back at the months gone by and count the days to 2012. I am trying to assess my performance this year. I am happy to say that I have met the expectations even though I could have exceeded my own expectations in some other way.

To start with January, I started reading the books mentioned for January. I learnt a very important lesson from this experience. I could not finish a book in one go. I needed 2-3 months to fully absorb a book.

Though I felt that I was on track for most of the year, I achieved a lot more which was not present on the Goal Chart.

I participated in http://www.99tests.com/ contests and was in top three in most of them. I added few more books to my collection.

Books in my reading list

2011, I was thinking of not attending any of the conferences and I ended up presenting at THREE conferences!

First of them was at Chennai - BugDeBug conference:

Resources to help a tester

Then I presented at STEP - AUTO conference at Bangalore. 

Summary Slide of my presentation

Finally, my dream came true. I met the Bach Brothers and Matt Heusser in person. I met all my online heroes and friends in person. I was at CAST 2011. I presented at CAST 2011.

The Bach Brothers' Award

Then I had the opportunity to present a webinar for EuroSTAR 2011 and the topic was

'The Joy of Weekend Testing Facilitation'



Weekend Testing Facilitation

I wrote articles for Testing Planet and Testing Circus.

The latest was the mindmap to EuroSTAR 2011. As the Country Ambassador, I presented the following mindmap:

And finally, here I am - analyzing how the year has gone by so quickly.

Close to 100 days and I am focussed on just one book for now

THE CODE

Lets meet in 2012.

Leia Mais…

End of Q1 - Progress Report

I am Back!

Wish I could say that but I know that I am not at my best yet. My best is yet to come. 

Looking back at the three months in 2011, I am happy and disappointed with my progress so far.

First the 'not so good' news: 

• I had few books on my list to complete by March. I started reading all the three books. There are quite a lot to read and learn from each of the books though.
• I wanted to work on my programming skills but that is still a dream.
• I could not fulfill a dream. I realized that I was not yet prepared for it.
• Though I promised many people about many things, that remained as a promise. I did not keep the promise.
• I started getting up late again. I missed the cab few times. I did not practice writing enough.

So, what is the 'good news' after so many 'not so good news'

The good news is that I have realized my mistakes early enough (hope so) and I have started working hard to get back on the right track.

Thanks to all my friends and well wishers - I am working hard towards my goals.

I will bounce back. As they say  - 

“It's not how many times you fall that matters, it's how many times you get back up.”

I will give in my 100 % in the next nine months. Next progress report is due on July 01st 2011.

Leia Mais…